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The presidential candidates participated on Wednesday in the first of three presidential debates. This debate was focused on discussing domestic policy, but among the discussion of the economy, jobs, education, and taxes, one critical issue was overlooked: our nation’s children.Specifically, Pres. Obama and Gov. Romney failed to bring up the incredibly prevalent issue of child poverty. Today, 1-in-5 children live in poverty. This number has risen consistently over the past few years. According to a recent analysis by our partners at First Focus, the national child poverty rate has risen from 18 percent to 22 percent between 2007-2010....

The 2012 presidential and vice-presidential candidates will participate in a series of debates in the coming weeks to showcase to voters where they stand on important policy issues. Three of the debates will focus at least in part on domestic policy, which means three great opportunities for candidates to put kids front and center. And that's what America wants to hear about; a recent First Focus Campaign for Children poll found that 63 percent of the country's voters want the candidates to focus more on children. That's why we’re partnering with the Commission on Presidential Debates and MomsRising.org to...

Last night, California Governor Jerry Brown signed two landmark legislation to help detained and deported immigrant parents:The Reuniting Immigrant Families Act (SB1064, sponsored by Senator Kevin deLeon) prioritizes keeping children with their families and out of the public child welfare system when possible. SB1064 authorize more time for child welfare agencies to find and reunite detained and deported parents with their children or find placement with a relatives, regardless of their immigration status. It requires the California Department of Social Services to provide guidance on filing special immigrant relief options and for working with foreign consulates regarding the custody...

In a recent First Focus Campaign for Children poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, likely voters were asked about their views on children’s issues and how well they felt policies regarding children were being handled today. The results revealed an overwhelming concern for our nation’s youth. The results also highlighted that many adults are not optimistic about many of the challenges facing our youth. The majority of those surveyed (56 percent) indicated that they believed the lives of American children have gotten worse over the last ten years and that they (59 percent) were not confident that life for our...

Upon completion of both parties’ national conventions, the Federal News Service analyzed transcripts of language choices made by speakers at each convention. With this, the The New York Times created an interactive toolallowing users to compare mentions of issues important to them at the two conventions. The reoccurring use of particular words and phrases provides insight into which issues matter most to these political parties. Of course, there are some distinct differences between the words used at each convention, but an interesting middle ground also exists.Family/Families: 252 mentions in Charlotte, 147 mentions in Tampa"...to...

Juana Reyes is an undocumented single mother of two U.S. born citizen children who sold tamales in front of Walmart in Sacramento, California for years. Her troubles began when she was arrested on June 28, 2012 for trespassing and Reyes was identified as a deportable alien by the local sheriff’s department. Though she had no prior criminal record and the trespassing charges were eventually dropped, Reyes was locked up in county jail for 12 days and her children were placed in foster care because the arresting officer refused to turn the children over to numerous relatives who came to...

A recent report by the White House highlights severe cuts to public education as we begin the 2012-2013 school year, and we near the final stretch of a Presidential Campaign that introduces two drastically different versions of a federal budget, which with an impact on our schools.According to the report, since the end of the recession in June 2009, 300,000 educators have lost their jobs -- 7,000 in the last month alone. The White House report released Saturday, Investing in Our Future: Returning Teachers to the Classroom, focuses strongly on what the loss of teacher jobs will mean: larger...

As an advocacy organization that advocates to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions, we have been closely following the coverage of the announcement of Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as candidate for Vice President. We have read a lot about Rep. Ryan’s role in writing the House fiscal year 2013 budget, and what this plan would mean for the country. But most of that coverage has surrounded Rep. Ryan’s controversial proposals to overhaul Medicare (a clear breakdown of those changes can be...

As the news was announced that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney had selected Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate my heart sank. Not because Chairman Ryan is a year younger than I am nor because I think he isn’t qualified for the Vice President’s job. I was disappointed because I have studied Ryan’s plans to tackle the budget deficit and I have real concerns that his proposal to rein in federal spending would have a serious negative impact on the health and well-being of our nation’s children – especially those who are most vulnerable.The numbers are not in dispute....

While I am new on the immigration policy advocacy scene – I’ve only been working for fair immigration policies for children and youth for about six months – what I’ve seen in that short time has been enlightening and moving. It has been great in these few months to meet young undocumented activists, people like Gaby Pacheco, Cesar Vargas and Tolu Olubunmi, and hear their stories of having the odds stacked against them but overcoming those hardships to achieve great things. I was also able to attend the DREAM Act Graduation earlier this summer, where the energy and passion of...