National

  • Child Welfare

    A New Investigation Found Waivers to Allow Discrimination in Child Welfare are Not in the Best Interest of Children

    The House Committee on Ways and Means recently released the findings of a year-long investigation into a waiver the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) granted South Carolina in January of last year. CDF was one of 11 organizations asked by Representatives John Lewis and Danny Davis to submit expert testimony for the investigation. We proudly and unequivocally believe that discrimination is never in the best interest of children and that truly serving children requires affirming their identities and the identities of their caregivers.

    | National

  • Child Health

    Jacob Blake and the Violence Against Children

    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.

    | National

  • Child Welfare

    CDF Joined an Amicus Brief on Fulton v City of Philadelphia to Make It Clear Discrimination is Harmful for Children

    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.

    | National

  • Child Poverty

    TANF, it’s Time to Grow Up

    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.

    | National

  • Child Welfare

    House Ways and Means Subcommittee Releases Bill that Provides Much Needed Support to Children and Families in the Child Welfare System Due to COVID-19

    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.

    | National

  • Education

    ED has an Obligation to Direct Funding to Children who Need it Most

    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.

    | National