Young children have a right to be counted in the Census

A birth certificate is one of the most important documents we have in our lives. It is proof that a
government acknowledges our existence. It allows children to register for school and even cross
international borders. Globally, one in four children under the age of five do not have a birth
registration and, therefore, do not officially exist, according
to data from
UNICEF.

It is for this reason that Article 7 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child makes immediate birth
registration a human right.

In the United States, birth registration is effectively universal. But there is another way the
government acknowledges a child’s existence — one that arguably has a greater influence than a
birth certificate on their well-being: the decennial census.

The decennial census influences how much funding a child’s community receives over the next 10 years.
These funds help build schools, subsidize child care, and underwrite many other programs children and
families rely on, including health insurance coverage and federal housing and nutrition support
programs. If a child is not counted during the decennial census, this critical funding will not be
allocated to the community where they live.

Sadly, we know that one million young children, those under five years of age, were not counted in the
2010 Census; 70,000 of them in
New York City alone. We know this because the Census Bureau conducts post-enumeration studies,
which use birth registration records, as well as death and net migration records, to evaluate the
accuracy of the census count.

Young children are undercounted in the census for a variety of reasons, but about 80% of the time, they
are missed because a household returned their census form but did not include their young child on it.
The
Census Bureau investigated this issue recently, and included among the reasons were concerns
about the child’s privacy. In fact, 25% of all households with young children surveyed during this
investigation were extremely concerned or very concerned about the confidentiality of their responses to
the upcoming 2020 Census.

However, there are very strong laws in place to protect everyone’s privacy, including children.

Census Bureau employees must follow rules in Title
13 of the United State Code, which protects the privacy of information on individuals collected
as part of census activities. Violating these rules is a serious crime and may result in sentencing of
up to five years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both. By law, census responses cannot
be shared or used against individuals by any government agency or court in any way—not by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, not by the Central Intelligence Agency, not by the Department of Homeland
Security, and not by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is through this example that we see
the importance of a child’s right to privacy, a right addressed in Article 16 in the Convention on the
Rights of the Child.

Everyone must know that the census is safe, but many families may not be informed about the measures the
Census Bureau puts in place to protect a person’s privacy. In the same Census Bureau investigation into
the undercount of young children mentioned above, the Bureau also found:

Everyone, but especially households with children, and even more specifically households with young
children must be informed about the census, its process, its uses, and also its benefits. This need
speaks to Article 17 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognizes the role of mass
media in ensuring access to information that promote a child’s well-being.

We at Citizens’ Committee for Children launched the Every Child Counts NYC! campaign
alongside our local, statewide, and national partners because we know the census count has real
implications for children and their families in New York City, and everyone has the right to be informed
about it.

Again, counting everyone in the city during the
Census is not just about the numbers. It is about
ensuring the well-being of children and families in terms of their economic and housing security, access
to critical health, nutrition, and education programs, and many more federally
funded programs guided by census data.

Keeping Track of New York City’s Children: 2020To learn more about the ways Census funding
impacts the lives of New York City’s children and families, read our latest data book online
here.

The current global public health crisis—the COVID-19 pandemic—has brought an additional layer of
challenges that households face in being counted in the 2020 Census. Now, more than ever, it is essential that we count young children and ensure a fair and accurate Census.