It is time that policymakers adopt a radically different approach to investing in community supports for all families in the community. Both federal and state policymakers must accept a broader definition of evidence that includes evidence from the community and evaluate programs and funding proposals according to this expanded evidence standard.
In the words of one counselor CSSP interviewed who serves Native American youth, “On my team, I have three native clinicians from the local communities and [culture is] kind of weaved within the clinical approach… [Many young people] don’t have anybody who is knowledgeable about culture or in a position to teach them. Or maybe
Young people deserve to feel supported and loved. They deserve access to affirming and inclusive health care; to caring adults who fully support and honor their development; to schools that promote their growth and learning; and to communities and friends that respect and support them. Unfortunately, despite knowing what young people need, policymakers in many
LGBTQ+ youth deserve to be affirmed and surrounded by a loving community—whether they are living at home with their families or in foster care. While there have been some positive shifts over the past year, there have also been an incredible number of attacks on LGBTQ+, and specifically trans, young people. As we look toward
Parenting is both joyful and challenging, deeply fulfilling and also incredibly hard. Even in the best of circumstances, parenting carries physical, emotional, and financial demands. Parents face daily stressors; financial pressures, demands on their time, concerns about their children’s exposure to technology and social media, and worries about their well-being, health, safety, and futures. Parents
As we look toward 2025, we have an important opportunity to promote economic security by advancing unrestricted cash assistance, or a guaranteed income, for young adults and families with children. There is real momentum behind unrestricted cash, as the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit in 2021, pandemic-era stimulus checks, and local guaranteed income
Heading into 2025, the challenges young people and families face are significant, but so are the opportunities. There is energy around passing an expanded Child Tax Credit, new and much needed attention to the stressors parents face and the mental health toll parenting can take, and a bipartisan commitment to re-orient supports upstream, before families
The Census Bureau released data this week indicating that families with children experienced high rates of financial hardship and economic insecurity for a second year in a row, as policymakers have allowed critical pandemic-era investments in children and families to expire. Lawmakers’ decision to sunset investments in children and families over the last two years has had predictably devastating results. In 2022, when the temporary expansion of the CTC expired, child poverty more than doubled, from 5.2 to 12.4 percent, and as this week’s Census data show it remained high in 2023. In 2023, refundable credits still lifted 6.4 million people out of poverty, including 3.4 million children; the CTC alone lifted approximately 1.4 million children out of poverty. But because lawmakers have failed to reinstate the CTC expansion, refundable credits are doing less to reduce poverty than we saw in 2021, when 9.6 million people were lifted out of poverty by refundable credits, and 5.3 million people, including 2.9 million children, were lifted out of poverty by the CTC alone.
Safe Havens II: We Must Affirm and Protect Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender Diverse Youth in Out-of-Home Systems, developed by CSSP, Children’s Rights, Lambda Legal, and Unicorn Solutions, includes an update on important law and policy protections and attacks on LGBQ+ and TNGD young people along with recommendations for system improvement from young advocates with lived experience in out-of-home systems.
During the pandemic, the expanded Child Tax Credit was a lifeline for millions of families. However, I was one of the many who couldn’t benefit from it. Why? At 15, I gave my baby to family members. But because the adoption was never finalized, I actually ended up owing child support—and only found out after it had