MONTPELIER – How are the children? That is the question we should be asking with the same discipline and transparency we apply to state revenues: reviewed regularly, measured honestly and reported for all to see.
We love our children. Yet too many of them fall victim to neglect, instability and despair.
The data tell a sobering story. There are more than 1,000 juvenile delinquents in Vermont. Research suggests that roughly 80 percent of serious juvenile offenders will be arrested again as adults. For many, the path is tragically familiar: repeating cycles of trauma, instability and broken opportunity that often span generations.
If we are serious about changing outcomes, we must ask: How do we break this cycle?
Frederick Douglass offered the answer more than a century ago: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” His words are not just poetic, they are practical. Prevention is almost always less costly, both financially and socially, than remediation.
In Montpelier, we routinely search for efficiencies to reduce the cost of government. We renovate state buildings to save energy, consolidate school districts, debate leasing versus buying vehicles, and scrutinize contracts line by line. We apply rigor and long-term thinking to infrastructure and budgets.
But when it comes to perhaps the most profound question of all, How are the children?, we lack the same sustained, statewide focus. There is no comprehensive, measurable plan that aligns our efforts around a single goal: ensuring every Vermont child has a real opportunity to succeed.
In the 1990s, under the leadership of the late Con Hogan, Vermont’s Human Services Secretary, strengthening children and families was a central organizing principle of state policy. Communities were engaged. Prevention was prioritized. Questions like, “Are children entering school ready to learn?” and “How do we strengthen families before a crisis hits?” were front and center.
Today, we do important work: feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and expanding childcare. These efforts matter. But too often they address problems after families have already reached a breaking point. Prevention as a first strategy has faded from view.
The executive and legislative branches share a responsibility for changing this trajectory. If we truly want to reduce long-term costs, in corrections, health care and human services, we must invest earlier, smarter, and more deliberately in children and families.
There are too many lost children right in front of us.
The question remains: will we measure their well-being with the same seriousness we measure our balance sheet?
David Yacavone represents Lamoille-Washington in the Vermont Legislature, including Elmore, Morristown, Woodbury, Worcester and Stowe.
