Global Child Thrive Reauthorization Act scheduled for markup today
Members of Congress reached across the aisle to protect some of the world’s most vulnerable children this week, introducing legislation aimed at investing in early childhood development in some of the globe’s poorest countries.
The bipartisan Global Child Thrive Reauthorization Act of 2025, introduced by Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), and Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.), would integrate early childhood development interventions into foreign assistance programs serving young children and appoint a Special Advisor at the State Department to lead this work. The House Foreign Affairs Committee was scheduled to review the bill today.
“We are grateful to Reps. Castro, McCormick, Fitzpatrick, and Olszweiski for working to protect and advance the well-being of vulnerable babies and children around the world,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley. “We urge Congress to pass the Global Child Thrive Reauthorization Act because it is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. Strong early development in childhood builds healthier, more stable societies, reducing the conditions that fuel conflict, migration, and extremism. And children who thrive become adults who live longer and healthier lives and contribute more to their societies and economies.”
More than 250 million children are growing up with stunted brains and bodies due to the worst aspects of poverty, according to the medical journal The Lancet. This legislation would ensure that U.S. foreign assistance serving young children addresses their fundamental need for nurturing care and protection from abuse, neglect and trafficking, so that they can grow to their full potential.
Research has shown that investing in the health, nutrition, nurturing care, protection, and education of children from birth through age 8 pays off more than almost any investment later in life. For every $1 invested in early childhood development, economists estimate a 13% return on investment.