Child Health
We will continue to demand accountability and systemic change on behalf of Black children and families across this country. We urge elected officials at all levels of government to enact policy that pushes further and to seek radical change to dismantle the systems that create tragedies like these.
Child Welfare
The Children’s Defense Fund is proud to join an amicus brief on behalf of the City of Philadelphia in the Fulton v. the City of Philadelphia case. As we argued in response to the South Carolina waiver and the Notice of Proposed Rule Making law year, discrimination in any form is harmful for children. In a time when there is a huge shortage in foster families and when more than 125,000 children are waiting to be adopted, allowing agencies to turn away LGBTQ adults who want to provide loving, stable families is diametrically opposed to the best interest of the children those agencies are meant to serve.
Child Poverty
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the nation’s core cash assistance program, turns 24 years old this week. And since birthdays are a natural occasion for self-reflection, this presents the perfect opportunity to highlight why TANF must be strengthened to fight for racial justice and help families afford their basic needs.
Child Welfare
On Friday, August 7, Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL) and Ranking Member Jackie Walorski (R-IN) of the Worker and Family Support Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee released the bipartisan Supporting Foster Youth and Families through the Pandemic Act (H.R.7947), which provides critical supports to children and families in the child welfare system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Education
The Children’s Defense Fund recently joined 53 other civil rights nonprofits in calling on the U.S. Department of Education to withdraw an interim final rule that would require school districts to divert more COVID-19 relief funds to private school students under the CARES Act than is actually required—or intended—under the law.
Immigration
Economic stimulus payments, also known as cash assistance, help families make ends meet during this crisis and they also support children’s well-being and healthy development. Politicians must act swiftly to ensure the next COVID relief package is the most robust and inclusive yet, and that must include our immigrant neighbors and their children. Let’s live up to our values and do right by our kids, no matter where they come from or what they look like.
Education
Every child deserves access to high-quality and equitable educational opportunities without fear of discrimination or criminalization. In July, Senators Murphy and Warren and Representatives Pressley and Omar introduced the Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act (S. 4360/H.R. 7848), which takes a critical first step toward this equity by re-prioritizing support for students rather than criminalization and over-policing of schools.