This year, I’ve urged our child advocates and partners of Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) that it’s time to re-examine everything, following the counsel to “do our first works over” from author and civil rights activist James Baldwin. Given the last year, this admonishment is necessary for those of us who advocate for children, and valuable for the entire nation. As President Trump prepares to deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term, it would serve him well to heed Baldwin’s advice as well.
Following more than a year of sweeping changes, the president and his cabinet should take stock of the harm that has unfolded nationwide and consider what they must change to adequately serve everyone in this country, especially our children. If we do not hear such repentance in his remarks, we must lock arms as neighbors and do it ourselves.
Since President Trump was inaugurated a little more than a year ago, I have traveled the breadth of the nation, from Washington, DC, to Portland, Oregon, from Columbia, South Carolina, to Clinton, Tennessee. In each place, I heard directly from young people, parents, caregivers, educators, and neighbors about how the choices in Washington show up for them at home. Their reactions have been telling: fear and confusion abound on how Trump administration policies will ultimately impact our children in a time when the state of their union is not at all strong.
Our children deserve a nation that prioritizes their well-being—our health as a nation can only be measured in the quality of life our children lead. The State of America’s Children is precarious. Unless tonight’s speech pledges to move us urgently toward viable solutions, the onus is on each of us to ensure our children can begin again.
For CDF, dignity, hope and joy are not imaginary aspirations—they are the practical evidence of child well-being made manifest daily. Our children should be able to play freely in parks, walk safely to bus stops, and learn in schools as sanctuaries. Instead, violence robs young people of peace and play. As too many Black and brown young people face trauma from guns, policing, and carceral systems that unfairly target them, this administration has chosen to intensify the violence they face. Aggressive immigration tactics and the nationwide deployment of federal enforcement agents continue to disrupt neighborhoods, schools, parks, and places of worship. At least 3800 young people have been taken into ICE custody since the start of the current administration, permanently scarring their spirits and psyches.
In America, every young person should be able to fulfill the dream of doing better than their parents. Today, however, research shows children and families are experiencing less housing stability and economic mobility. Roughly 90 percent of children born in 1940 earned more than their parents; today only about half of children do. Instead of meeting new economic challenges with care, the Trump Administration and Congress have exacerbated these challenges through executive actions, reconciliation measures, and government shutdown threats—all of which serve to reduce and destabilize federal investments in housing, nutrition assistance, income supports, and child welfare prevention.
As child poverty soars to a reported 16.3 percent, our neighbors need wages that support their families. Instead of enacting effective support systems for low-income families like a permanent, universal family and child allowance, this administration and Congress continue to stymie family care legislation.
All young people should enjoy regular, nourishing meals and active lives, marked by positive social adjustment, sustainable environments, and healthcare homes for their bodies and minds. But while roughly 14 million children go without nutritious food—or any food at all, President Trump has supported historic cuts to SNAP and WIC, taking American children’s food security from bad to worse.
The issues impacting our children are interconnected and compounded, and require deliberate solutions be applied urgently in their favor.
That includes restoring and fully funding the U.S. Department of Education instead of continuing efforts to dismantle that essential federal agency. What’s transpired at the department has proven particularly disturbing over the last year. Weekly press releases and posts to social media from Secretary McMahon’s office celebrating the elimination of DEI initiatives in schools, fostering a more hostile environment for millions of Black and brown students. Cost-cutting measures already eliminating $168 million in Community School grants, which fund instruction and school-based social services in low-income communities. And severe reductions at the Office for Civil Rights—which enforces civil rights laws such as Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act—have left children vulnerable to bullying, discrimination, and harassment based on their race, color, or national origin. These rollbacks put already vulnerable children at greater risk without recourse or protections they need to thrive.
In the United States, where we spend roughly four times more per person on incarceration than we do on education, we should instead focus our efforts on initiatives that promote positive youth and workforce development with culturally-responsive pedagogy and equitable education funding formulas. In his address today, the president should address these inequities as well.
President Trump must understand that many people across America are uncertain and frustrated and will be watching this speech wondering what he plans to do to fix that. Children’s Defense Fund will be watching. But more importantly, children and families will be watching too.
The State of the Union is an opportunity for the Office of the President to re-examine everything an administration has done—and frankly, everything the nation has ever done. President Trump must acknowledge the threats imposed on the well-being of children and young people over the last year, in pursuit of his vision of “greatness”.
Mr. President. Use your time to outline concrete steps to reverse these harms and ensure every child gets the real support they need to unleash the joy in growing up. Anything less would betray the trust of the Office and call the American people to new forms of creative resistance in service to our children.
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Watch President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, and track what the president says about issues affecting young people. Download our BINGO card as a guide.