Youth Justice

  • Child Health

    The American Jobs Plan Will Help Ensure a Strong Economy and Future for Our Children

    The American Jobs Plan is the first of a two-part effort to invest in our children’s future and build towards a stronger and more equitable economy—with provisions to address long-standing racial disparities and funding designated specifically for underserved Black communities and other communities of color. Congress must now build on President Biden’s proposal and invest in our nation’s most precious resource—our children— ensuring we do not return to a fragile and inequitable status quo.

    | National

  • Child Poverty

    The State of America's Children® 2021

    Since the Children’s Defense Fund last published our annual State of America’s Children report in February 2020, our children have experienced a year of unprecedented upheaval due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a racial reckoning years in the making. Every aspect of children’s lives has been impacted by these shifts more quickly than data can track; even the most recent available data sets do not fully encompass how this past year has shaped our lives. This, of course, includes our 2021 State of America’s Children report. Because, as one element of the report makes clear, “Our Children are Not Immune.”

  • Child Health

    What the American Rescue Plan Act Means for Children and Families

    Today, Congress took the final step to pass the American Rescue Plan Act, which President Biden is expected to subsequently sign into law. The $1.9 trillion relief package, for which President Biden’s proposal served as the foundation, marks a bold step forward in the fight for our children’s future. The American Rescue Plan Act will provide immediate relief for children and families, work to address the racial and economic injustices that COVID-19 has exacerbated, and take a long overdue step to address our nation’s shameful child poverty crisis, cutting child poverty in half in 2021.

    | National

  • Youth Justice

    Responding to the Needs of Children After Police Violence in Rochester

    The use of chemical agents like pepper spray or tear gas poses immediate and significant physical harm and trauma to children, which is why New York’s rules prohibit their use on children in state facilities. Now, state lawmakers here in New York are advancing legislation to make the same rules apply in our neighborhoods and communities. The rationale is clear to anyone who saw the bodycam footage from Rochester. It is not acceptable to pepper-spray children.

    | National

  • Youth Justice

    CDF-NY 2021 HALT Memo of Support

    The Children’s Defense Fund-New York (CDF) submits this memo of support for the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, S.2836/A.2277A.

  • Youth Justice

    CDF-NY Memo of Support for S4002/A5449

    Children’s Defense Fund-New York writes in support of S4002 (Brouk)/ A5449 (Meeks), which is a necessary first step in reform and protects children from chemical agents in our communities.

  • Youth Justice

    Raise The Age - New York Memo of Support for S4002/A5449

    In light of the recent incident in Rochester where a 9 year old girl experienced a mental health crisis and was physically restrained with handcuffs and pepper sprayed by police, we are confronted by the failure of our response to children in mental health crisis and the criminalization of Black children in New York.