Monroe County, N.Y. — After nearly two years since the first COVID case was reported in Monroe County, many families are still struggling.

The Children’s Agenda conducted a first-of-its-kind poll of Monroe County parents. The responses from 400 parents countywide identified issues their children and families are facing and solutions they support.

The survey identified three areas of greatest concern to parents:

• Affording and accessing resources to care for their children, including 4 out of 10 families losing income during the pandemic and widespread concerns about the costs of child care and health care.
• Pandemic disruptions in schools have resulted in 5 out of 10 parents saying at least one of their children has fallen behind academically.
• The mental health impact of the pandemic has also been widespread with 5 out of 10 parents saying at least one of their children has struggled with mental health issues.

The findings will be used to advocate for systemic supports that will help ensure children and families thrive as our community recovers from the pandemic.

“I think systemically changes to support families as a whole will help us will help us through anything in the future and certainly make up for what we have lost during this pandemic for children and families, whether it is mental health supports, child care supports, developmental services supports, academic supports,” said Kimberly Dooher, suburban parent and a leader of Parents Helping Parents of Monroe County

The Agenda mentions these concerns are widespread throughout the county, in both urban and suburban communities.

Parents in the city of Rochester are additionally concerned about neighborhood safety with 4 out of 10 saying that improving the safety of their neighborhood is one of the most important issues to address, according to the survey.

“We need to work on the whole child, the whole family, the whole community,” said Dooher.

For more information on the Children’s Agenda click here.