How Housing, Economics, and Child Care Can Affect A Baby For Life

Your young child’s brain grows at an astonishing rate.  During the first year of life, your child’s  brain rapidly  develops – creating more than 1 million neural connections per second - as your baby absorbs sensory information from seeing, feeling, and hearing the world around them.  

Your child’s earliest learning activities strengthen the development of those neural connections even more and lay the foundation for social and emotional development, speech and language learning, and communication skills that start their journey into adulthood. 

By the time your child is three years old, their brain has expanded to 80 percent of its adult volume, and complex cognitive abilities surface. This is why the quality of your child’s early education is so vital to later development and success. The social and cognitive development in the first three years of your child’s life form the foundation for lifelong learning, health, and well-being.

What happens if a child grows up with economic instability, or precarious housing and the many other struggles that often accompany poverty? In this article, we will explore how housing, economic conditions, and child care affect a baby and form those important foundational factors that direct a child for life.

Housing

Healthy growth and development during infancy are directly related to the living environment. This means that a safe, nurturing home life leads to success on many levels. Housing conditions, security, safety, and exposure to environmental conditions all contribute to the health and development of a child. 

However, a housing shortage exists across the United States and families with children before March 2020 had more housing instability than families without children. In 2020, over half of African American families with children were homeless at some point during the year. 

Raising young children in an environment of housing instability or homelessness harms the development, health, and well-being of those children. Research shows many negative outcomes to children from housing instability, ranging from poor child health and low birth weight to developmental issues. Studies also indicate that infants in families going through homelessness have a greater risk of developing serious health issues such as low weight and respiratory problems, compared to infants in stable home environments. 

One solution to family housing instability is the Bringing Families Home program. This California project offers financial assistance and housing-related services to low-income families. Over 1,200 families have found permanent, long-term housing through the program since 2016. 

Oregon state officials passed bills in 2021 to help unhoused families and protect renters by increasing access to affordable housing. The plan includes $550 million for new and existing affordable housing and emergency shelter development. Similar programs in other states could also prove beneficial.

Economy

Another foundation for family health and well-being is economic stability. Economic stability is key to housing and food security and a sense of safety. Economic stability is also connected to systemic racism and racial wealth gaps: children of color have a higher risk of being born into poverty and, as a result, a greater chance of food insecurity and having to cope with associated hardships into adulthood. 

One key factor affecting economic stability for all families is the wage gap that still exists between genders. Men, on average, continue to earn more than women, which means single mothers have a great disadvantage.  The largest wage gap is between white men and black women. 

The living conditions for a child during infancy and toddlerhood have an enormous impact on  that child’s health and development. Health and development during the early years have a life-long impact not only on the healthcare system but also the judicial system and social services needs. 

Federal funding, as part of the pandemic relief program, has addressed some of these issues and expanded social service programs. Studies also indicate that child poverty levels have dipped, setting a record. Decreasing from 9.7 percent in 2020 to just 5.2 percent in 2021. Experts suggest the drop is partly due to the Child Tax Credit and food benefit program expansion.

Child Care

Care options for children in the United States span the spectrum. However, many hurdles exist in securing a seat for any given child. Issues such as a lack of child care services to cost create difficulty for working parents. The pandemic-related school closures kept children home and affected work-from-home situations for many working parents. The isolation, social distancing, and other pandemic protocols all affected the health and well-being of many children. Child care providers are still dealing with this while juggling teaching duties and maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment.

Although financial assistance is available for families struggling to meet basic needs and affording child care, only 4.2 percent of families that qualify receive the funding. The main reason so many eligible families have not been able to take the monetary support is supply. 

Statistics show that 75 percent of toddlers in center-based care and 93 percent in home-based care are on the receiving end of less-than-good quality child care. Many families across the country live in what has been termed child care deserts – a community, or region, that either has no child care or is underserved.

Child care providers have also had it rough in recent years. Although the sector has struggled for some time, the pandemic hit the industry hard. Capacity limits, lockdowns, closures, and various protocols all affected care in various ways. Children who used to attend fun, learning programs with others their age were either without child care or at home being cared for by a babysitter, nanny, traveling teacher, or a parent who was splitting time between work and child care. The lack of consistency hurt the health, development, and well-being of the children.

Final Thoughts

For today’s children to grow into productive members of society, they need the right balance of multiple stimuli. As their brains develop in the first years of life, they require quality teaching to assist with their health and well-being. Environmental conditions such as housing, economic stability, and child care all contribute to the development of a young child. Without consistency and balance, issues may arise later in life that can be traced back to the early years of learning. This is why it is so important to ensure our children receive what they need early in life to benefit them later.