By James Barron, Santa Fe New Mexican
Feb. 3, 2021
New Mexico — ranked 50th among the states in recent years for measures of child well-being — had been making improvements, an Albuquerque-based nonprofit says in a new report.
But the coronavirus pandemic might have erased those gains.
New Mexico Voices for Children on Wednesday released its annual Kids Count Data Book, which found the state’s poverty levels improved in 2018 and 2019, along with other indicators that help chart child welfare. The report also noted, however, there are signs that in 2020, the pandemic set back years of progress.
According to a survey conducted in October and November, the report said, 52 percent of New Mexico adults living with children said they had lost income, and 49 percent said they experienced difficulty paying for usual household expenses in the prior week.
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