TAMPA, Fla. — School starts this week. You've got all your kids' supplies, lunches and snacks prepped. You're ready for the first day of classes. Well-- physically, but what about mentally?
A new report put together by the Casey Foundation ranks Florida 35th across the nation for child well-being. The report looks into four main categories: education, economic indicators, health and well-being and family and community indicators.
"We continue to rank in the bottom half of the states," Norín Dollard, a senior policy analyst with Florida Policy Institue said.
This year is the first time the 2022 Kids Count Data Book took a look at mental health in children and found that in Florida, children experiencing anxiety or depression increased by nearly 22% from 2016 to 2020.
"As far as a school psychologist, school social workers and school social workers... there are far fewer of those positions in Florida to meet with the national standards," Dollard said.
There are a lot of factors impacting a child's overall well-being, including poverty, according to Dollard.
"We still have one in five kids in Florida who are living in poverty," he said. "In a state with four million children, that's a lot of kids."
Poverty is one of the several concerns currently impacting children. Schools across the country and here in Florida are reportedly experiencing a teacher shortage.
"It's a crisis for our schools and our students," Rob Kriete, the president of the Hillsborough County Teachers Association said.
After a tough few years of learning impacted by COVID-19, students may be seeing a different face leading their class for the first few weeks of school.
"It does become a huge concern, so we're going to do everything we can to make those kids comfortable and do everything we can for them," Kriete said.
"But it becomes much more of a challenge than ever before."
For resources on mental health, click here to be directed to the National Institute of Mental Health.