While data shows progress in well-being of kids and families, will proposed federal cuts change it?

Kids Count gathers national and state data annually to see how children and families are faring across the nation. It looks at health insurance numbers, poverty rates, youth deaths, reading scores and more.

Wyoming ranked 23rd among all 50 states this year. It had the fewest kids living in high poverty areas, but it also shows that 19,000 Wyoming children, 15% of the state’s youth, live in poverty. The state ranked third highest for 4th graders reading at proficient levels.

One data point that stood out for Micah Richardson, associate director of policy for the Wyoming Women’s Foundation, was the number of young deaths.

“The number of young deaths in Wyoming has dropped. It makes me think a little bit about the resources that we’ve started to put toward the 988 suicide hotline,” she said.

To Richardson, this is why the Kids Count data is important. It allows advocates in this space to reflect on what policies that can impact children and families have been implemented or not.

“ The number of single-parent families has increased, which can make it more difficult for families to make ends meet,” she said. “If you don’t have that dual income coming or if supports aren’t coming in from both households, it can just be trickier.”

Roughly 10,000 children in the state lack health insurance. Wyoming tends to be low in this area, which is why the Wyoming Women’s Foundation has advocated for Medicaid expansion year after year. But this time around, Richardson is worried for a different reason. The Trump administration has proposed cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance marketplace and SNAP. If those cuts come to fruition, many parents will lose funding, and in turn, more children could.

“ If there are cuts and more people are not able to access Medicaid, then one would think those numbers would increase on the child side as well,” she said.

Richardson said the long-term impact of these potential cuts will be seen on families and children.

“ Being able to take care of yourself is going to make you a more productive human, is going to provide less stress in your family, right?” Richardson said. “All of it ties in together and makes for children more able to come to school ready to learn because they’re fed, they’re cared for, so that stress is not there at home.”

Those potential cuts are in the Big Beautiful Bill. The U.S. Senate is currently reviewing it. Some hope it will be on President Trump’s desk by July 4.