New Mexico is the Worst State in the Country for Child Wellbeing

The Annie E Casey Foundation recently released their 2022 Kids Count Data Book. The report revealed New Mexico is the worst state in the country for child wellbeing. The report included “data across four domains — economic well-being, education, health and family and community — and ranks states in overall child well-being.”

A summary of the newly published report concludes, “the incidence of anxiety and depression among kids has spiked,” and “across the United States, 9% of all high schoolers attempted suicide in the years before the most recent federal survey.”

In a recent article by KOAT the executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, Amber Wallin, did her best to put a positive spin on the damning report:

“In 2011, 37% of our high schoolers were not graduating on time. Now, that’s down to 25%. So that’s significant progress.”

Amber Wallin, New Mexico Voices for Children

That’s great and all, but we are still ranked dead last in the nation in education. While I appreciate Amber’s optimism, I am not encouraged. Instead, I noticed another statistic she cited:

“COVID-19 was especially hard on children’s and teens’ mental health. Our numbers went from about 11% of children who are experiencing anxiety or depression to 13%.”

Amber Wallin, New Mexico Voices for Children

Covid lockdowns, mask mandates, and social distancing have been blamed for the increase in anxiety and depression in our children in New Mexico and elsewhere. Mental illness has been linked to the increase in human trafficking. Operation Underground Railroad, an organization that fights human trafficking, describes this link between mental illness and human trafficking on their website:

The U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline Report lists mental health concerns as one of the top five risk factors for human trafficking. Traffickers seek to exploit and manipulate individuals with vulnerabilities such as mental health conditions.

According to the British Columbia Government’s resources on human trafficking, mental illnesses may limit a person’s ability to consent and assess risk. Furthermore, individuals with mental health concerns may be more isolated than others, which can make them more susceptible to the tactics that traffickers use to make them feel safe and accepted.

Once trust has been earned, perpetrators prey on the person’s feelings of shame and low self-esteem to trap them in a cycle of abuse. Traffickers may also use rewards and punishments to build an emotional connection with those they exploit; this is referred to as trauma bonding.

Operation Underground Railroad blog, “The Link Between Mental Illness and Human Trafficking”, A Risk Factor for Human Trafficking

Depression and anxiety make children vulnerable to predators who look for such vulnerabilities. Children longing for validation and connection to others fall prey to trafficking, sometimes repeatedly. A story on the Operation Underground blog written from the perspective of a victim described this process of vulnerability, to opportunity, to abuse, and then repeat:

I never had a safe environment at home, and my first encounter with a predator was when I was 13 years old…So when I met this guy, he was 23 and I was 13. He told me that I was unlike any girl that he’d ever met, and that he really loved me and all this stuff. I believed him. It was my first time experiencing something like that….

…For me, keeping that love meant that I did what he said – including being in pornography that he sold and kept all the money from. That is the main way that I was trafficked….I had no idea that was even what was happening until later when I had some space between me and those situations. I just thought, Well, he loves me, and this is what people do when they love you….

…I think it starts and you don’t even realize it, and then all of a sudden it’s out of control…Learning more of the story can help people need to see the warning and the signs leading up to these things. If you see a child that’s being abused and can step in or prevent it, you’re potentially helping them for generations…If you don’t step in, someone will. And it’ll be someone that you don’t want to step in.

Operation Underground Railroad blog, “O.U.R. SURVIVOR ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER NICOLE SHARES HER EXPERIENCE OF BEING TRAFFICKED.”

According to the World Population Review, the Human Trafficking Statistics by State in 2022 ranked New Mexico as 19th worst, at a rate of 3.01/ 100k. That is worse than the National average of 2.8/ 100k.

So, we know that New Mexico is ranked as the worst in child well- being, that there has been a “spike” in depression, and that depression is one of the major risk factors for human trafficking. I worry about our children. We MUST do better for them.