According to a research carried out between 2009 and 2017 on health care among children and youth in California, the percentage of children who had health insurance coverage increased from 90 percent to 97 percent. The number of children aged, 0 to 18, enrolled annually to Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was about 68 percent in 2018. This was higher than the national enrollment which was 59 percent. An average of 50 percent of children were enrolled in MediCal in 2018. The number of children receiving care in a medical home was 43 percent between 2016 and 2017 ( Child and Youth Health Care in California , 2021) .
The number of child victims who faced abuse and neglect reduced by 13.6 percent between 2013 and 2017. The number of children living in out-of-home care reduced by 5.14 percent between 2016 and 2017. The number of children who were killed by a firearm reduced from 171 to 162 between 2016 and 2017. The number of children arrested in 2017 were 51603 with 13.8 percent being for violent crimes.
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California has one of the highest poverty rates in America. Approximately 24 percent of children aged between zero and five years live in poverty. Many efforts have been made to reduce child poverty. These efforts include offering food stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). These efforts have reduced the poverty levels among young children by 14 percent. In 2016, the unemployment rate in California was four percent and 19 percent of children were food insecure (Bohn & Danielson, 2017) .
According to a study in 2014, 64.9 percent of three-year olds, 39.4 percent of four-year olds, and 11.9 percent of five-year olds were not enrolled in kindergarten. California offered subsidized child-care and preschool for 434000 children in 2016-2017.The number of high school graduates in 2016 was 83 percent. There were 39 cases of suicide in children aged between 10 to 14 and 187 cases of suicide in those aged between 15 and 19.
Most California residents live in poverty due to its high cost of living. Housing costs are relatively higher in California than in other states. This has made majority of the residents to be housing burdened. This means that the low-income residents don’t have enough to pay for decent housing. If they can afford the decent housing, fewer resources are left for other basic needs such as food, health care, and education.
Unemployment and low wages among adults with children is another factor that affects child poverty. These two factors influence children’s well-being since children cannot access quality health care or education due to insufficient funds. Infant mortality rates increase since parents cannot afford healthcare during and after pregnancy. This promotes drug and substance abuse, early pregnancies, malnutrition that leads to other health conditions. The drop-out rate among children from poor families increases and some of them engage in crime to fend for themselves or their families. Therefore, cases of juvenile arrests, gang membership, and child and youth deaths.
The sectors that require prioritization are the economic well-being, health, education, and finally child safety. Economic well-being of children can be improved through the creation of more employment opportunities and increasing wages. This will reduce homelessness and child poverty in general. Accessibility to health care for children can be improved through reducing the premiums paid for child insurance programs. The government can also sponsor health programs that promote the treatment of children through grants and subsidies in hospital costs.
Child educational achievement can be improved through offering of subsidies in school fees and scholarships. Child safety can be reduced through creation of awareness to parents on children’s rights, punishment of child abusers, and eliminating gangs in communities. By employing these interventions, child well-being will be improved and maintained across the state of California.
References
Bohn, S., & Danielson, C. (2017). Reducing Child Poverty in California A Look at Housing Costs, Wages, and the Safety Net [Ebook]. Public Policy Institute of California.
Child and Youth Health Care in California . (2021). [Ebook]. Retrieved from http://www.kidsdata.org
