The full report: “Impacts of the COVID pandemic on parents and young children in 2021”

Published December 17, 2021

In the late summer, we posted a blog post on our initial learnings from the Best Starts for Kids Health Survey and what families had shared with us so far about their experiences during the pandemic.

Today, as we share out our final report, we want to thank all the parents and caregivers who participated for their deep experiences, knowledge, and time. Sharing what we’ve heard helps Best Starts and our partners continue to adapt and support our children, youth, and families in our ongoing COVID-19 response, centering Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities who are most impacted by racism and the pandemic.

More than 7,000 parents and caregivers with young children across King County participated in the survey and shared their stories on how the COVID pandemic has impacted wide-ranging parts of their lives, including health and emotional well-being, childcare, experiences with schooling, family relationships, and economic challenges and meeting basic needs. Read on below to hear from them:

Please note: We have updated this report on May 25, 2022 after noticing an error on page 46. It previously stated that 40 people took the survey in Russian and 66 in Somali, but should have said 40 in Somali and 66 in Russian.

View the Executive Summary in EnglishSpanishVietnameseChinese.

Two faces, one with a mask, looking into a camera.

Measuring Indigenous identities: learnings from Best Starts’ evaluation team

The exclusion and erasure of Indigenous people in data is rooted in colonial research practices that are deeply embedded in Western systems of data. Indigenous people have always a collected, analyzed, and shared data in their own ways that have been ignored and discounted by many “mainstream” data projects. This underscores the need to rethink race and ethnicity measures with Indigenous people, organizations, and Native nations.

Save the date for King County Youth Leadership Summit

Save the date: King County Youth Leadership Summit on May 30

Save the date for King County's Youth Leadership Summit! This is a conference to unite young leaders and aspiring change makers from across all regions of King County. What: King County Youth Leadership Summit When: Saturday, May 30, 2026, 9:00...