Lee, Hoyer Host Poverty Task Force Meeting to Address Childhood Mental Health in the Pandemic

Press Release

Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) hosted a virtual meeting yesterday with mental health care experts and advocates to discuss the mental-health challenges facing children in poverty that have resulted from or been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joined by other Democratic Members of the Poverty Task Force, they heard from Dr. Vonnie McLoyd, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, and Erin Fox, Program Officer and Director of the Children's Forum at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), about the 2019 NASEM report "Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty" and recommendations to support the psychological development and well-being of children. Dr. Jennifer Kaminski, lead health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention's Office of the Associate Director for Policy and Strategy, also joined to discuss new research and findings about the impact of the pandemic on childhood mental health.

According to the CDC, policies intended to provide economic security have demonstrated evidence of positive impacts on children's mental health, and may be an under-utilized prevention strategy for children's mental health as a way to reduce the number of children and families who need other support services.

"There is no question that COVID-19 has had a severe mental health impact on children, who have had to face real obstacles to obtaining the education and socialization so critical to healthy development," said Task Force Chairwoman Barbara Lee. "This is even more true for youth of color and from low-income families. Research has shown that Black and Brown communities have the highest prevalence of mental health disorders, yet the least access to mental health services. The federal government must immediately address these disparities and the psychological distress amplified by the pandemic. I thank my co-chair Leader Hoyer and over 100 of my colleagues who have joined my call for the establishment of a new baseline for anti-poverty, and for social welfare programs that reflect community needs through the Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity. We must always remember that poverty is a policy choice, not an inevitable part of society."

"This is a critical topic for policymakers to understand," Leader Hoyer said following the meeting. "Children living in poverty already face hardships and poorer outcomes on a range of metrics compared to their peers from higher-income groups. The pandemic, with school closings and social distancing, has posed new challenges for low-income families and children. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that the youngest Americans from the next generation all have access to safe, healthy, and nurturing environments in which to grow and learn. I'm proud of the work we've done in my state of Maryland over the years to launch and expand a network of early learning hubs -- Judy Centers, named in memory of my wife, who was an early-childhood educator and administrator -- which provide a range of services, including mental-health services, to low-income families with young children. We need to do more across the country so that we better understand and can better address the challenges of childhood mental health among low-income communities."

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