Sankofa: Reaching Back, to Move Forward – Reflecting to Better Support Families Now

The Adinkra symbol and concept, Sankofa, of the Akan people, often depicted as a bird reaching back to retrieve what it carries while moving forward, teaches an enduring truth: we must return to what has been in order to reclaim what is needed for the future.  Sankofa is not about nostalgia. It is about wisdom, accountability, and action.

That feels especially important as I reflect on the beginning of this year. Families across the country are experiencing strain and hardship, as investments in the programs and policies that support families are reduced or eliminated. Parents are struggling with the rising costs of gas, rent, food, and utilities. Children and families are experiencing fear and trauma with the growth of ICE enforcement in and around our homes and schools. Too many parents cannot afford healthcare for themselves and their children. These are not disconnected challenges. They are the consequences of policy and programmatic choices distributing support, opportunity, protection, and burden unequally.

This is a time for wisdom, accountability and action.

I am reflecting on this idea of Sankofa as millions of families file their taxes and eagerly await refund checks, which for many are an economic lifeline. There are very few things that are more foundational for families than economic security. Economic security enables us to provide for and spend time with our families– and to do what we need to address crises when they arise, whether it is a heath emergency or loss of a job. Economic security is central to the work we are doing at CSSP and a core element of the North Star we are working toward.

We have a lot of wisdom about how to effectively promote economic security for families. One highly effective tool is the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The CTC is a federal tax benefit that families can receive as a refund at tax time and helps with the costs of raising children. It is a critical resource for families now, and we have seen it do even more for families in the past. When Congress expanded the CTC temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, it lifted 3.7 million children out of poverty, reduced food insecurity, and improved the mental health and well-being of parents. The CTC is the single-most proven policy for promoting family economic security and wellbeing.

Unfortunately, Congress let the expanded CTC lapse, and last year moved further in the wrong direction when it excluded more children from the credit under H.R 1. Today, 19 million children will not receive the full credit of $2,200 per child because their families incomes are too low, and almost four million children are excluded from the credit entirely because their parents are not eligible for Social Security Numbers—including 2.7 million citizen children.

Now is the time for accountability. Drawing on the recent words of my colleague, Elisa Minoff, “Raising children is expensive and costs are only going up. The Child Tax Credit can provide support at this time of year, but parents and caregivers need support year-round. There are better policies to relieve financial stress. We can and should do more.”

Parent-informed research points to the action we must take, including several clear recommendations for strengthening the Child Tax Credit.

1. The CTC should be available to all children. In order to support the children who need it most, the full credit should go to children in families with low or no income, and children in immigrant families should be fully eligible for the CTC.
2. The CTC should be available via monthly payments. The monthly delivery of the CTC in 2021 helped millions of families keep up with their bills during the pandemic and provide their children new and enriching experiences.
3. The CTC should be increased to help with the rising costs of raising children. Parents recommend that the CTC should be increased to at least $500 per month per child, or $6,000 annually per child. The maximum benefit should also be adjusted for inflation to keep up with the rising cost of living.

We have seen the impact of what an expanded CTC can do for families and we’ve heard from parents about what they need to promote the health and wellbeing of their children. Now is the time for policy to reflect that wisdom.

Sankofa calls for us to do more than remember. It calls us to retrieve what is necessary from the past and carry it forward with intention.  In this moment, that means reclaiming the conviction that policy should serve, and not punish people. It means insisting that children deserve support simply because they are children. And it means refusing to accept preventable hardship as normal or inevitable. We can, have, and should do more.

The widening gaps we are witnessing each day are not accidental and they are not inevitable.  They are the product of policy choices, and those choices can and must be replaced with better ones – to policy that is responsive to what families need. This work is exactly why CSSP remains committed to advancing solutions shaped by community wisdom, scientific inquiry, rigorous evidence, and the voices of those most impacted.

As we move forward together, let’s bring what we know with us. Let’s root our decisions in the knowledge that children and families do best when policy responds to what they need; when parents can make ends meet, plan for the future, and have time to nurture their children. Let’s work together to make sure no family has to accept anything less. We have the collective wisdom, we know what children and families need to be successful, now we owe it to them to move forward together with purpose.