Our Children Oregon released the 29th annual Oregon KIDS COUNT Data Cards featuring state and county-level data, complementing the simultaneous release of the 2022 KIDS COUNT Data Book, a 50-state report on how children and families are faring. Both these resources shed light on the health, economic, education, community, and environmental challenges impacting children in Oregon.

Oregon findings show that many indicators of child well-being saw some improvement: the rate of children in poverty fell from 21% to 15%, children living in families where caregivers were struggling to maintain steady employment dropped from 34% to 27%, and families burdened with spending 30% or more of their income on housing went down from 43% to 31%.

Amidst these improvements, however, the mental health challenges among Oregon youth have soared. Data show over 117,000 Oregon children struggling to make it through the day as the effects of the coronavirus crisis linger. Between 2016 and 2020, the rate of Oregon children ages 3-17 who had experienced anxiety and depression during the first year of the COVID-19 crisis rose from 11% to 16.1%, exceeding the national average of 11.8%. Further, nearly one-in-six Oregon youth saw their needs for emotional or mental healthcare go unmet during the pandemic as they couldn’t access a healthcare provider.

“These positive shifts, however small, show that what we do as advocates, state leaders, and community members matters. We know what it takes to have healthy, thriving children and youth,” said Jenifer Wagley, executive director of Our Children Oregon.

The pandemic years have taken a toll on everyone. Economic uncertainty, including housing stability, has had an outsized effect on many children and families experiencing financial challenges, leading to increased anxiety and stress. The mental health challenges brought by the pandemic have compounded conditions that made life harder before the coronavirus, with disparate challenges affecting children of color and of other marginalized identities, abilities, and backgrounds.

“There are many nuances regarding youth mental health in Oregon and the United States, and each data point only tells part of the story. Gender identity and race and ethnicity play major roles in facing systemic and interpersonal marginalization, accessing quality mental health services, and navigating stigmas around accessing this care,” shared Jyoni Tetsurō Shuler, research manager at Our Children Oregon.

Mental health is a critical part of the overall health of children and youth, impacting all facets of their lives in and out of school. Children have their best chance of thriving when they can learn skills to manage anxiety and benefit from quality mental health care services that they can access easily and without stigma, and that meet their unique experiences and identities.

Our Children Oregon joins the Casey Foundation in calling for lawmakers to heed the U.S. surgeon general’s warnings and respond to our youth mental health crisis by developing programs and policies to ease mental health burdens on children and their families.