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, 73%  of African American and 79% of Hispanic mothers received early prenatal care compared to 87% of white mothers.

Infant mortality, by contrast, is highest among African American babies, with 5.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2016-18, followed by Hispanics at 4.0 and Asians at 3.6 – all above the rate for whites at 2.

Structural racism in the form of lower levels of access to prenatal care, lower levels of adequate health insurance, discrminatory 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 children of color in Westchester County. In 2016-20, 16% of Hispanic children and 17% of African American children in were living in poverty, compared to 6% of both white and Asian children.

Higher rates of single parenthood can be one factor contributing to poverty. In 2016-20, 65% of African American families were headed by single parents, as were 43% of Hispanic families, 24% of white families and 15% 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 2018, 0.3% of children tested in Westchester County had elevated blood lead levels, a decline of 75% since 2000.

Child care: In 2020, just 1%  participated in subsidized child care – a declining level and below the 2.7% rate statewide.

Disengaged youth: In 2016-20, 4% of Westchester County youth were neither working nor in school, lower than the state and nation (6% and 7% respectively) and lower than 2000 when the rate was 8%.