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Washington – Advocates today applauded the introduction of bipartisan legislation to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that deny federal assistance to nearly one million homeless children and youth.The U.S. Department of Education estimates that nearly 1.3 million children and youth in America are homeless. Children and youth face the same problems as other homeless Americans, including hunger, health problems, and increased risk of exploitation and violence. But because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses a different definition of “homeless” than other federal agencies, the bulk of the nation’s homeless children and youth cannot get basic HUD-funded assistance. HUD’s...

Washington – The bipartisan children’s advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children today applauded President Barack Obama’s proposal for increased federal investment in children’s early development and education. According to First Focus’s Children’s Budget 2014, just four-tenths of one percent of federal spending during federal fiscal year 2013 was invested in the care and education of nearly 25 million children under school age. The White House proposal, released today, would strengthen family tax credits and increase funding for high quality child care, voluntary home visiting, Head Start and Early Head Start, and universal pre-Kindergarten (pre-K). Key elements of the...

Milwaukee Journal SentinelBy Bruce LesleyIt's encouraging that Wisconsin is making progress on child abuse ("Annual report finds fewer Wisconsin child abuse deaths in 2013," Jan. 5). But accelerating progress requires action in Washington as well as Madison.The biggest federal child abuse and neglect funding source is restricted to offsetting states' foster care costs. That shrinking funding stream covers less than half of foster children today, and it's projected to drop 45% by 2024. States tap other social services funding to cover the shortfall, but that just shifts resources from one set of kids and families to another. Worse yet,...

Washington – The bipartisan children’s advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children today sent a letter to members of the United States House of Representatives, urging opposition to floor amendments that would add anti-child provisions to legislation (H.R. 240) funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.“Last week, House Speaker John Boehner spoke of building a ladder for children to reach the stars. This week, the House is voting to pull the ladder out from under millions of children,” said First Focus Campaign for Children president Bruce Lesley.The letter details concerns with two of the...

Billings GazetteBy Bruce LesleyMontana has important work to do on child abuse and neglect ("Let's strengthen Montana's child safety net," Jan. 4). But progress requires action in Washington, too.The biggest federal child abuse and neglect funding source is restricted to offsetting states' foster care costs. That shrinking funding stream covers less than half of foster children today, and it's projected to drop 45 percent by 2024. States tap other social services funding to cover the shortfall, but that just shifts resources from one set of kids to another...Read more

CNBCBy Bruce LesleyFormer U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor did something in his Monday commentary ("Here's what Congress needs to do in 2015") most politicians never do: put children first. His observation that 8,053,000 children will be born during this Congress is a powerful reminder about the consequences of congressional action or inaction. Those consequences aren't just measured in news cycles dominated, elections won, and legislatures controlled. They're measured in children's lives.What's missing from Congressman Cantor's commentary is the sweeping range of issues before Congress with the potential to fundamentally impact America's children. But, using...

Progress IllinoisSPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The clock is ticking on federal funding that helps struggling parents with young children.The Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program will expire in March unless Congress takes action. A coalition of 750 organizations, including 36 in Illinois, has sent a letter asking that the program continue as it has for decades...Read more

The OregonianBy David SarasohnAs the new Congress imagines endless imaginative new ways to gut the Affordable Care Act, there's another major federal health care program that everybody likes, that's been particularly important to Oregon, and that hangs on a funding stream that runs out next year.Congress, of course, seems in no hurry to get to it...Read more

The Register-GuardBy Bruce LesleyWith all the big-money lobbyists on Capitol Hill, it’s sometimes hard to find a public servant who’s looking out for the little guy. But this year, Oregon’s Sen. Ron Wyden spent a lot of time and energy looking out for the littlest of us all: children.Wyden shepherded through Congress important legislation that will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children, including more than 9,500 in Oregon every year, scarred by abuse or neglect. Foster children have faced trauma most of us cannot imagine and no child should have to endure. Worse yet,...

The Chronicle of Social ChangeBy John KellySenate and House leadership received a letter today, signed by 750 organizations and local politicians, urging them to maintain a federal program meant to assist struggling young mothers and mothers-to-be.The Home Visiting Coalition asked leaders in the letter to fund the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program at its current level of $400 million “in the lame duck session or as one of the first acts of the 114th Congress before the MIECHV program funding expires in March 2015...Read more