During the pandemic, tens of thousands of children in California lost a caregiver due to Covid. Since then, these kids, who are predominantly Black, Latino and Indigenous, have experienced instability, economic precariousness and grief that will carry long-term impacts.
This year, the state is launching an initiative aimed at helping them, as well as children who were in the foster system at the time: baby bonds.
More than 58,000 children will be eligible.
Baby bonds are state-run trust funds that children can access once they reach the age of 18. Advocates and legislators across the United States are increasingly looking to this model not only to support specific groups of underserved children, but also as one step in closing the racial wealth gap and eradicating childhood poverty.
Since tracking started in the 1960s, the national child poverty rate has hovered around 20%, far higher than most wealthy countries. Pandemic-era…
