This paper introduces the special issue on race, child welfare, and child well-being. In doing so, I summarize the evidence of racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent findings demonstrate that, compared to white children, black and Latino children are more likely to have experienced poverty and food insufficiency, to have had parents lose their jobs, and to be exposed to distance learning and school closures during the pandemic. I argue that though COVID-19 has indeed worsened racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being, it has also served to place a spotlight on the American welfare state’s historical mistreatment of low-income families and black and Latino families in particular. Consider that around three-fourths of black and Latino children facing food insufficiency during the pandemic also experienced food insufficiency prior to the onset of the pandemic. Moving forward, analyses of racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being during the pandemic, I argue, must not only consider the economic shock and high unemployment rates of 2020, but the failure of the American welfare state to adequately support jobless parents, and black and Latino parents in particular, long before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.

本文介绍了有关种族、儿童福利和儿童福祉的特刊。在此过程中，我总结了 COVID-19 大流行开始后儿童福祉存在种族/族裔差异的证据。最近的调查结果表明，与白人儿童相比，黑人和拉丁裔儿童更有可能经历过贫困和食物不足、父母失业，以及在大流行期间面临远程学习和学校停课的风险。我认为，尽管 COVID-19 确实加剧了儿童福祉方面的种族/民族差异，但它也使人们关注美国福利国家对低收入家庭，尤其是黑人和拉丁裔家庭的历史性虐待。考虑到在大流行期间面临食物不足的黑人和拉丁裔儿童中，大约四分之三在大流行开始之前也经历过食物不足。展望未来，我认为，对大流行期间儿童福祉的种族/民族差异的分析不仅必须考虑 2020 年的经济冲击和高失业率，还要考虑美国福利国家未能充分支持失业父母，以及尤其是黑人和拉丁裔父母，早在 COVID-19 大流行到来之前。