Racial and ethnic disparities are evident across many indicators related to child well-being, starting with prenatal care and extending through child poverty and rates of single-parent families.

Early prenatal care helps ensure a healthy start in life. In Westchester County, 69% of African American and 73% of Hispanic mothers in Westchester County received early prenatal care compared to 86% of White mothers.

Infant mortality, by contrast, is highest among African American babies, with 5.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2018-20, followed by Hispanics at 3.6 and Asians at 3.3 – all above the rate for Whites at 2.3.

Structural racism in the form of lower levels of access to prenatal care, lower levels of adequate health insurance, discriminatory treatment by health care providers, and the racism that expectant mothers experience in their daily lives at work and in their neighborhoods are all factors contributing to these disparities.

Poverty rates are 2-3 times as high for Hispanic and African American children in Westchester County. In 2018-22, 15% of Hispanic children and 20% of African American children in were living in poverty, compared to 8% of Asian and 7% of White children.

Higher rates of single parenthood can be one factor contributing to poverty. In 2018-22, 64% of African American families were headed by single parents, as were 43% of Hispanic families, 22% of White families and 11% of Asian families.

Current and historic policies have placed particular strain on African American and Hispanic families, including criminal justice and incarceration policies, disinvestment in communities of color, ineffective and/or underfunded schools and discrimination in the job market.

Other child well-being indicators include:

Lead poisoning: In 2020, 0.2% of children tested in Westchester County had elevated blood lead levels, a decline of 70% since 2007.

Child care: In 2022, just 1.4%, or about 2,100 children, participated in subsidized child care – a declining level since the high of 2.1% in 2011 and below the 2.3% rate statewide.

Disengaged youth: In 2018-22, 5% of Westchester County youth were neither working nor in school, lower than the state and nation (both 7%) and lower than 2008-12 when the rate was 7%.