The Crucial Early Years

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Anyone who has raised a child from birth knows firsthand how defenseless a newborn baby can be. No other animal is so helpless for so long -- so dependent on adults for food, shelter, attention, instruction and a nurturing environment in which to develop and grow. Scientists have learned that babies subjected to repeated trauma or stress or left unattended for too long may suffer neurological effects that can, in extreme cases, be irreversible. But as a society, the U.S. seems to have forgotten the needs of its youngest children. Of the 12 million American babies and toddlers under age three, a staggering number are at risk of harm that could last a lifetime, according to a new report by Carnegie Corp. of New York, a major philanthropic foundation. Many of the statistics cited were already known, but pulled together for the first time, they paint a disturbing picture of the plight of America's most vulnerable youngsters:

-- Nine out of every 1,000 U.S. babies die before their first birthday -- one of the highest infant-mortality rates in the industrialized world.

-- About 60% of two-year-olds still haven't had shots against the most common childhood diseases.

-- One-fourth of U.S. babies live in families with annual incomes under the federal poverty level ($15,000 for a family of four).

-- One in 3 victims of physical abuse is a child less than one year old.

Much of the trouble may be related to the breakdown of the traditional family. Because of divorces and births out of wedlock (the U.S. has one of the highest teenage-pregnancy rates in the world), nearly one-quarter of children live with one parent. And by choice or necessity, more than half of mothers of infants work outside the home, often having to struggle to find and afford quality child care.

The Carnegie report has no shortage of recommendations -- from improved prenatal instruction for expectant mothers to four-month paid parental leave for all employees -- and Dr. David Hamburg, the foundation's president, says he intends to be a "pebble in the national shoe" until something gets done.

Originally funded by Andrew Carnegie, the philanthropist whose money built 3,000 libraries around the world, the foundation has the means and the political connections to press its case. Hillary Rodham Clinton worked for Carnegie in the early 1970s, and Bill Clinton served on one of its task forces when he was Governor of Arkansas. The Administration is already giving lip service to the Carnegie study: Hillary Clinton is scheduled to be the keynote speaker when its recommendations are unveiled at a conference in Washington this week. The question is whether the White House will follow up by proposing legislative remedies.