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Even before the COVID-19 crisis, it was getting tougher to raise a family in Hawaii. A released in June shows that pre-pandemic, our children’s economic well-being plummeted from 25th to 44th in the nation.

When we talk to caregivers across the state, their stories mirror the data. Summer Yadao is one parent who knows this firsthand. A mother of three, she’s been juggling her full-time job with having to care for her kids. With rising costs and limited public support for families, it’s challenging for families like hers to make ends meet.

“People are working three or four jobs” to pay for groceries, rent, utilities and cell phones — not to mention all the little things for work and school — Summer told us. “It’s depleting to your body, your soul, your ability to care for your children, your ability to function.”

This struggle is reflected in the 2021 KIDS COUNT Data Book, which explores how families in all 50 states are faring and is released annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Collecting and analyzing data from all across the country takes some time, so this report uses data from 2019 — the latest available.

We should all be concerned that Hawaii dropped to the bottom 10 states in children’s economic well-being. It’s a major red flag that the economic situation for families is so precarious, without even taking into account the pandemic’s impact. It took our state’s lowest-income families a decade to recover from the Great Recession. Now, we are once again facing the threat of a greater share of our keiki growing up in economic hardship, which can have long-lasting effects on education and future employment.

In this year’s Data Book, Hawaii also dropped from 17th to 26th in overall child well-being rankings. The overall rankings take into account economic well-being, education, health and family and community context.

Two statistics in particular explain our state’s sharp decline in economic well-being. First, Hawaii fell to 49th in the nation for the percentage of children in households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing. In 2019, 38% of children in our state were living in households that were housing cost-burdened. Second, one in 10 teens aged 16 to 19 were not attending school and not working in 2019, placing them at 47th in the nation.

The pandemic is likely to worsen those trends. The warning signs are here already: As of March 2021, 61% of Hawaii households with children reported losing employment income since the start of the pandemic, according to the Census Bureau (in comparison, the national average was 49%). This wide gap highlights the disproportionate economic effect of the pandemic on Hawaii’s families with children.

To create an equitable and expansive recovery, our state’s lawmakers must prioritize investing in children and their parents.

This year’s record was mixed. Legislators saved many essential programs that help families stay safe and provide children a strong start in life from budget cuts. Investments in these programs help our communities thrive. But some programs still saw troubling cuts. Unfortunately, we may see fewer children attending early learning classes because of cuts to the Preschool Open Doors program and charter school early learning programs.

With the knowledge that our children were falling behind the rest of the nation even before the pandemic, our leaders and community must act boldly to prevent their well-being from deteriorating further. Legislators must work to restore and expand child care and early learning programs, boost the Earned Income Tax Credit and enact paid family and sick leave.

“We’re all scared and trying to figure out how to survive,” Summer said. “It’s time to make things more even and balanced.”

When the state invests in keiki, we all see the benefits. It’s not just the right thing to do — it’s the smart thing to do for our economy, community and the future of our state.