THE CARE AGENDA AND THE CHILD AGENDA
Over the last half century, child advocates have been building a policy agenda for children that recognizes the need for government to make them the first focus of attention. On a bipartisan basis, many investments have been made to advance child health, early learning, school success, child safety, and child security in a nurturing home and a safe, stable and supportive community., At the same time, these investments have not kept pace with the changing economy and the new challenges for raising children to be healthy, educated, and reach adulthood ready to compete and lead in a world eomy and raise their own families. The biggest gaps in federal investments are precisely in the areas addressed in the care agenda.
1. CARE AGENDA -- ORIGINS AND ELEMENTS
In 2020, the Biden-Harris campaign defined a care agenda in its 2020 policy paper, “The Biden-Harris Plan for Mobilizing American Heart and Talent to Create a 21st Century Caregiving and Education Workforce.” It called for nearly $100 billion annually for new investments in caregiving and education as a critical component of the nation’s infrastructure. While easy to dismiss as rhetoric and unrealizable promises, this agenda, along with the child tax credit, formed a major part of the American Rescue Plan Act enacted in 2021, a time-limited step to create that infrastructure. It was part of the 2022 Build Back Better legislation which passed the House but fell a few votes short of passage in the Senate.
Many Congressional champions continue to press for each of its provisions, and the White House continues to advance it. In his April 9th speech celebrating caregivers month, President Biden further described this as a $500+ billion agenda and proposed the way to finance it. Vice-President Harris has committed to championing it, including further recommending expanding the CTC to $6,000 for children under the age of one.
CHILD TAX CREDIT: Expand the CTC to at least $3000 per child and make it fully refundable – benefiting ALL families with children (making the tax system fairer) and reducing child poverty in half.
PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE: Create federal paid family leave to join all other advanced nations in enabling parents to stay home with a newborn or sick family member without losing their job or sacrificing their ability to meet basic family budget needs.
CHILD CARE AND PRE-SCHOOL: Reduce the costs of child care to no more than $10 per day and increase through government support so families with young children can balance their breadwinning and nurturing roles.
HOME AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES. Provide direct care services to over 700,000 adults and children with disabilities and special needs to be able to stay at home, taking burdens and stresses off families and and enhancing the lives of those receiving care.
2. THE CHILD AGENDA -- ORIGINS AND ELEMENTS
Voters and office holders recognize that government has no greater responsibility than the healthy development and education of the next generation – but children themselves cannot pool their lunch money to hire lobbyists to promote their interests and child policy often takes a back stage in federal and state policy. In 1973, the Children’s Defense Fund was established for precisely this reason and was the first forceful organizational voice for children in Washington, DC. Since then, the child advocacy community has grown at both the federal and state levels (although its financing pales in comparison with that of private sector interest groups).
Children require support – from their parents and from their communities and from government – throughout their development and there is not a single program or policy that can ensure that. Today’s leading overall child policy advocacy organizations – including First Focus, the Partnership for America’s Children, the Children’s Defense Fund, and Save the Children, among others – have defined an overall agenda that includes public policies and investments across child health an nutrtion, early learning and development, school success, safety and community support, and economic security, with an undergirding emphasis upon advancing equity (see the Partnership Vision and Priiorites for one iteration).
In addition, child advocates have also recognized that, at the federal level, the most important actions and greatest gaps in investments are those related to health, early learning, and family economic stability and nurturing.
The care agenda alone does not encompass all of what government needs to do, but it provides a new foundation that will be transformative in providing children and their families what we need to secure our future.
Children represent one-quarter of the population, but current federal investments in them represent less than ten percent of the federal budget. As a variety of reports show, the gap is greatest when child are starting out their lives (birth to five), precisely the area where the focus of child care, the child tax credit, and paid family leave investments matter most.