Continued reliance on institutional placements puts our nation’s children—especially Black children—at risk of lasting harm to their health, development, and well-being. Congress must prioritize effective community-led, family-focused, youth-centered programs to ensure young people have the resources and supports they need to thrive within their families and communities.
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Criminal convictions create life-long barriers to employment, housing, and education that directly impact the conditions for children and families. Clean Slate is a crucial step toward racial and economic justice, addressing some of the deep racial disparities that are evident at every stage of the criminal legal system, and providing pathways to more full participation in our neighborhoods and communities, which is essential to the well-being of children, youth, and families.
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Too often, Black children are treated as adults and their normal adolescent behaviors treated as delinquent. The criminal justice system furthers this adultification by disregarding children’s age and pushing them—especially Black children and other children of color—into a punitive system that was not designed with their needs in mind. Children deserve trauma-informed and age-appropriate responses to their needs.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Children shouldn’t have to wait until maturity to begin to internalize the words, “love yourself”! Better representation in books, tv shows, and news media should start now: through empowering our children to be their genuine selves, encouraging them to engage with a variety of books and media, and showing them that they are the right person to make a change.
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This school year, as concerns loom large for many families, children need protection from COVID-19, mental health supports, safe and supportive school climates, opportunities to finish learning, and certainty and reassurance about their futures.
Read MoreInstead of doing more to address the trauma that unaccompanied children have experienced, Gov Abbott's order undermines the very systems that we have put in place to care for them. Harm to children should never be tolerated and our organizations will always speak up for any child in harm’s way.
Read MoreTemporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a key economic support program to help families with children who have very low incomes through a variety of services. TANF marks 25 years in August 2021, a landmark which invites both reflection and reckoning.
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