News

Decline in rate misleading and Fast Facts about children, youth and homelessnessGovernment data released yesterday grossly undercount homeless children, youth and families, and set the stage for conflict over the proper direction of local, state and federal resources and policy. The 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part I (AHAR), published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), estimates that 53,692 parents and children experienced homelessness during the agency’s January 2019 count.Congress and local communities use HUD’s homelessness figures to help inform determinations about priorities for funding, services, and action. Yet educators, service providers, and child advocates say other...

First Focus Campaign for Children (FFCC) is pleased that Congress has produced an appropriations package for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) that includes important investment decisions for our kids and several policy provisions benefitting children. “We applaud the bipartisan effort to finalize an appropriations package that prevents another disastrous government shutdown while making crucial investments in America’s children,” said FFCC President Bruce Lesley. “As we head into the new year, we urge Congress to prioritize children and address the unfinished business left from this deal.” We support the spending package for meeting the overall target of funding for non-defense discretionary (NDD)...

First Focus Campaign for Children applauds budget progressUrges lawmakers to ensure timely resources for childrenThe budget caps and debt limit deal reached by Congressional leadership and the Administration this week eliminates the threat of economic disaster stemming from the U.S. defaulting on its debt obligations as well as deep programmatic cuts that would have been triggered under the Budget Control Act of 2011. We applaud this progress and urge the White House and lawmakers to continue working to make certain that vital federal resources are available in a timely manner to meet the growing needs of America’s children.“We are very relieved...

Today, the Trump Administration has proposed yet another rule that will make it harder for families with children to put food on the table. The administration is seeking to limit state options for Broad Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE), which is an important tool that reduces red tape and administrative burden for low-income families enrolling in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) if the family is eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) assistance. SNAP is a critically important support that helps families afford groceries when they are struggling to make ends meet, benefitting more than 18 million children who...

A second bill, on child care, also provides vital supports for families WASHINGTON—The Economic Mobility Act of 2019 (H.R. 3300), passed yesterday by the House Ways and Means Committee, offers the most important poverty-reducing tax measures in at least a decade for residents of all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories. This legislation also takes an important first step toward cutting child poverty in half within a decade: expanding the refundability of the Child Tax Credit and increasing it from $2,000 to $3,000 per year for qualifying children under age four.“We already know that we can...

The First Focus Campaign for Children applauds the introduction of S. 1733, The Protecting Immigrant Families and Improving Immigration Procedures Act of 2019 by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).As our national shame and crisis continues to unfold at the U.S. southern border, Sen. Feinstein’s legislation would help shield children from imminent danger. “Time and time again the Administration’s enforcement-only approach to immigration reform uses children as collateral damage and even bait for enforcement practices,” said Bruce Lesley, president of the bipartisan child advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children. “We continue to urge the Administration, as well as Congress, to put...

First Focus Campaign for Children 2018 Congressional Scorecard ranks child protectors2018 was a terrible year for children. It was the year they were caged at the U.S.-Mexico border and that two of them died in U.S. custody. That the number of children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reportedly fell by more than 840,000. And that the Center for Homeland Defense and Security recorded 56 children — the highest number in any single year — killed in their classrooms at the hands of a shooter. First Focus Campaign for Children, the leading multi-sector bipartisan...

It’s hard to believe we’re here again. Apparently, the inhumane treatment enforced by the Department of Homeland Security under departing Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was not inhumane enough for the Trump Administration, which reportedly is once again considering family separation as a policy option. The so-called “binary option” would force families seeking legal asylum in this country to waive fundamental Flores Settlement protections, clearing the way for the government to warehouse them in unlicensed detention facilities or to force them to turn their children over to the federal government. This is a false choice as both options would cause immense harm...

Undocumented youth who were brought to the United States as children, known as Dreamers, and families dependent on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections must be given relief from the fear and uncertainty for their future that they have experienced since the Trump Administration rescinded DACA and TPS protections in 2017. While we are encouraged by ongoing litigation efforts and judicial proceedings to protect these families, there must be a permanent solution that only Congress can provide. Therefore, First Focus Campaign for Children applauds today’s introduction of H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act of 2019 introduced by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard,...

On March 6, 2019, lawmakers introduced the American Family Act of 2019--our statement below: “I applaud the leadership of Congresswoman DeLauro and Congresswoman DelBene, as well as Senators Bennet and Brown to introduce the ‘American Family Act of 2019’ that would create a child allowance, significantly extending the current child tax credit to reach the families who need it most. The bill would increase the benefit substantially, make it fully refundable, establish a young child tax credit, authorize advance payments on a monthly basis, and adjust the benefit for inflation.  The introduction of this legislation comes on the...