National Archives - Page 32 of 256 - Children's Defense Fund

Child Poverty

CDF Joins Call to Extend USDA's Nationwide Waiver Authority to Ensure Child Nutrition Programs Can Continue to Operate

USDA's authority to provide a nationwide waiver, even if it increases program costs, is set to expire on September 30, 2021. We, the undersigned organizations, ask Congress to extend USDA’s nationwide waiver authority to September 30, 2022 to ensure they have the flexibility needed to respond to the pandemic and ensure that the federal child nutrition programs continue to operate and provide healthy snacks and meals to the students who need them.

Child Poverty

CDF and Nearly 800 Organizations Urge Congress to Include Essential Anti-Hunger and Anti-Poverty Provisions in the Build Back Better Reconciliation Bill

We urge Congress to protect the size and scope of the package and the critical investments that will reduce food insecurity, poverty, and racial disparities and improve nutrition in this country.

Still Reconstructing

October 8, 2021 | National

Child Poverty

Work Requirements Would Undermine the CTC's Impacts on Racial and Economic Justice

We know that more than half of Black and Latino children were previously excluded from the CTC because their families did not make enough money to qualify, and re-imposing this racist policy could exclude millions of children of color and reverse the gains our nation has made thus far. As Congress works through  the Build Back Better reconciliation package, the CTC should be  strengthened to reach every  child,  not weakened by cuts or undermined with work requirements.

October 6, 2021 | National

Education

This Month, Act to End the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline

The cradle-to-prison pipeline targets Black children and other children with marginalized identities. We must end school policing and exclusionary discipline and invest in student supports instead so students aren’t pushed out of school and into harmful systems.

October 4, 2021 | National

Congress, Don’t Play Political Football With Children’s Futures

October 1, 2021 | National

Child Poverty

The Build Back Better Act’s Child Tax Credit: How the bill gets us one step closer to a true child allowance

In early September, the House Ways and Means Committee approved their portion of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), which includes and extension of the American Rescue Plan Act’s Child Tax Credit (CTC) through 2025. While this proposal falls short of making the program permanent, the plan includes many substantial and important improvements to the CTC. Unfortunately, these improvements are at risk of being weakened as Congress negotiates the Build Back Better package. Congress must not weaken this plan, as these critical changes are necessary to ensure families are able to rely on and benefit from this program for years to come.

Child Welfare

A Time for Altruism

Foster youth are on the cusp of a crisis in the middle of a pandemic. If our representatives in Washington D.C. don’t act fast, thousands of foster youth will age out of foster care on October 1st, and many more will lose a lifeline to flexible cash assistance that young people like me fought for. We need Congress to pass legislation that extends the protections included in the Supporting Foster Youth and Families Through the Pandemic Act immediately.

September 27, 2021 | National

Listening to Heal Our Children

September 24, 2021 | National

Child Welfare

The Ensuring Medicaid Continuity for Children in Foster Care Act of 2021 (S. 2689) Would Lead to Significant Unintended Consequences for Children in the Care of the Child Welfare System

Exempting QRTPs from the IMD exclusion would undermine the goals of Family First, weakening the standards of quality and leading more children to be placed in large-scale institutions, rather than promoting placements with family, as the law intends.