THE FIRST FOCUS CAMPAIGN FOR CHILDREN LEGISLATIVE SCORECARD
Our nation’s children face an array of problems, including poverty, violence, abuse, neglect, hunger, education inequity, poor nutrition, homelessness, lack of health coverage, infant and child mortality, and family separation in mixed immigrant households. These issues demand attention, policy solutions, political will, and action that make children a priority.
Unfortunately, kids are far too often an afterthought in Congress. The problem is that children don’t vote and don’t have Political Action Committees (PACs) that garner and demand attention.
Consequently, children are facing a variety of problems that are impacted by federal policy, including:
- Declining Federal Investments in Children: The share of investments in children has declined from 7.98 percent of the federal budget in FY 2015 to 7.21 percent in FY 2019. The President’s FY 2019 budget proposal elimination of 44 children’s programs and real cuts of $20 billion in spending on children would have caused funding for children to drop to just 6.45 percent of the federal budget.
- Rising Uninsured Children: After two full decades of decline since the enactment of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 1997, the uninsured rate has grown for each of the last two years, including by more than 10 percent in 2018.
- High Child Poverty: Although child poverty has been dropping in recent years, 11.9 million children (16.2 percent) lived in poverty in 2018, which is 54 percent higher than for adults. The U.S. rate of child poverty is the 2nd highest among 29 developed countries with rates highest among the youngest and most vulnerable children. A landmark report from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released last year estimates that child poverty is costing the nation over $1 trillion annually.
- Rising Child Suicide Rates: The suicide rate nearly tripled for children aged 10-14 from 2007 to 2017 and increased 76 percent for people aged 15-19. Suicide is now the 2nd leading cause of death for children in both age groups.
- Increasing Child Abuse and Neglect: After years of decline, there has been a 10 percent rise in the number of children placed in foster care largely due to increased levels of substance use, including but not limited to opioids. Furthermore, between FY 2013 and 2017, the fatality rate for children from abuse and neglect increased by 11 percent.
- High Infant Mortality: The U.S. rate remains far higher than in countries with comparable Gross National Product (GNP). According to the Peterson Center on Healthcare and Kaiser Family Foundation, the U.S. infant mortality rate is 71 percent higher than in comparable European nations.
- High Rates of Food Insecurity: In 2017, 12.5 million children lived in food-insecure households, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Department’s report finds “food security to be statistically associated with various outcomes involving health, nutrition, and children’s development….”
- Rising Child Homelessness: The number of identified and enrolled students by the U.S. Department of Education as experiencing homelessness at some point during the school year increased 7.3 percent, from 1.26 million students in school year 2014-2015 to 1.36 million students in school year 2016-2017.
- Mistreatment Children of Immigrants: Federal policy should ensure that the “best interest of the child”, but federal agencies are separating migrant families, placing children in detention centers for lengthy periods, failing to provide basic health and safety protections to children, and compounding the trauma facing immigrant and migrant children.
Now, more than ever, children need policymakers to be their Champions and Defenders who are willing to focus on, support, raise their voices in support of, and attach their name to legislation that would improve the lives of our nation’s children. They also need lawmakers to actively oppose legislation or regulatory and administrative actions that would harm kids.
In an attempt to recognize and thank those lawmakers in the first session of the 116th Congress who actively worked to make children a greater priority in the halls of Congress, we are pleased to present our 2019 First Focus Campaign for Children (FFCC) Legislative Scorecard.