Letters and Correspondence

We commend a draft bill from Rep. Beutler on behalf of at-risk pregnant women and support your draft bill, released on September 11, 2018, to address the health and well-being of pregnant women and infant children.View the letter.

First Focus Campaign for Children, in collaboration with the Children’s Leadership Council, sent a sign-on letter with more than 60 children’s advocacy organizations to the Farm Bill Conference Committee, urging its Members to reject the House’s nutrition title and instead adopt the Senate’s provisions in order to protect access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for hundreds of thousands of families with children.View the letter.

First Focus Campaign for Children sent this letter to Senator Sherrod Brown's office in support of the Full-Service Community Schools in Distressed Communities Act. This bill has the potential to influence the lives of children and save a generation from the consequences of the opioid crisis.

First Focus Campaign for Children applauds the introduction of the Maternal CARE Act and the opportunity to to reduce the number of African American women who are at risk of maternal and infant mortality.Excerpt:African American women face a high risk of maternal mortality and their children have significantly higher rates of infant mortality than white and Latino children of the same age. As a children’s advocacy organization, First Focus believes all children, and moms, regardless of their race or socioeconomic status, must have a chance to build a bright future.

First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter to Congress in support of the Hallways to Health Act, which expands the School-Based Health Center Program.Excerpt: These centers are a vital source of medical, behavioral, and oral health care services for children with limited access to care. According to the School-Based Health Alliance, there are over 2,300 “school-based clinics that serve students and communities in 49 of 50 states and the District of Columbia.” First Focus has long supported strengthening our nation’s most vulnerable children’s access to health care. The expanded program would encourage children to adopt healthy behaviors and would give...

First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter to Congress in support of the Refund to Rainy Day Savings Act.Excerpt:The Refund to Rainy Day Savings Act would take advantage of the unique moment in the year when a significant number of Americans receive a tax refund.  S.3220 would allow tax filers to defer 20% of their tax refund in a “Rainy Day Fund” set up by the Secretary of Treasury where it would accumulate interest before being deposited directly into the filer’s direct deposit account six months later. The bill also would modernize the Assets for Independence (AFI) grant program and...

First Focus Campaign for Children and 60 other groups sent a letter to the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies regarding the crisis of family separation and detention.View the letter.Excerpt:We the undersigned organizations are writing to express our profound concern over the cruel and harmful practice of separating families at our southern border. We request that you act to help swiftly reunite families and ensure this is done in a manner that absolutely protects the children, upholds legal standards prohibiting family detention, and increases government transparency for the public....

The Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early Act (PREEMIE Act) focuses on strategies to reduce the devastating toll of preterm births, has had a positive and measurable impact on our understanding of the root causes of prematurity, which in addition to exposing children to a host of negative health and developmental conditions, is one of the leading causes of infant mortality.View our letter of support.

The Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early Act (PREEMIE Act) focuses on strategies to reduce the devastating toll of preterm births, has had a positive and measurable impact on our understanding of the root causes of prematurity, which in addition to exposing children to a host of negative health and developmental conditions, is one of the leading causes of infant mortality.View our letter of support.

First Focus Campaign for Children stands with more than 500 other national, state, and local organizations from across the country that wrote a letter to Congress in opposition to the $7 billion in CHIP cuts proposed in H.R. 3. As the letter reads, “The nine million children and families who depend on CHIP have already faced months of uncertainty, when its funding expired before Congress took long-overdue action to extend CHIP funding for ten years. After breathing a short sign of relief, however, the long-term stability and protection these families fought to ensure is once again in jeopardy. Our...