FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FEBRUARY 8, 2017

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Amid sweeping changes by the incoming Trump Administration, First Focus Campaign for Children has issued its policy recommendations with a clear “do no harm” standard toward policies that impact America’s children during the first 100 days of the new presidency.

These child-focused recommendations come in light of President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech in which he acknowledged the universality of the rights of all children, saying: “And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams and they are infused with the breath of life by the same Almighty Creator.”

Top recommendations from First Focus policy experts include:

  • Improving the health of children by funding the CHIP program, reducing asthma triggers, and protecting against lead poisoning;
  • Applying a “do no harm” standard for any repeal-and-replace measures of the Affordable Care Act;
  • Ending child poverty by strengthening family tax credits and setting a national Child Poverty Target;
  • Ensuring immigration policies protect child safety and well-being by protecting DACA and providing increased support to unaccompanied minors;
  • Reauthorizing the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childcare Home Visiting (MIECHV) program to ensure the best start in life for young children; and
  • Focusing on child abuse and neglect response efforts to support children in foster care and end human trafficking.

In a statement First Focus Campaign for Children President and CEO Bruce Lesley said, “The recommendations we are putting forth are bold. We will not shy away from issues that impact every citizen – including the 16 million children that will be born in this country be born over the next four years. Those children deserve to be met with and be assured of a bright future.”

Read the entire list of child policy recommendations at CampaignForChildren.org.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions
First Focus Campaign for Children is a bipartisan nonprofit children’s advocacy organization that advocates directly to ensure that children and families are a priority in federal budget and policy decisions.