Blogs Archive — Page 13 of 35 — Children's Defense Fund

Youth Justice

Responding to the Needs of Children After Police Violence in Rochester

The use of chemical agents like pepper spray or tear gas poses immediate and significant physical harm and trauma to children, which is why New York’s rules prohibit their use on children in state facilities. Now, state lawmakers here in New York are advancing legislation to make the same rules apply in our neighborhoods and communities. The rationale is clear to anyone who saw the bodycam footage from Rochester. It is not acceptable to pepper-spray children.

Early Childhood Health

Families Need Paid Leave During COVID-19 and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the health and economic consequences of limited access to paid leave. Workers are often forced to go to work when they or a loved one is sick because they cannot afford to lose wages or risk job loss—which has significant impacts on public health and individual health and well-being.

Health

Black, Latino, and Indigenous Families Are Bearing the Brunt of the Crisis But Not Receiving Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

Nationwide, only five percent of COVID vaccines have gone to Black Americans and only 11 percent have gone to Latino Americans, according to available data. Our leaders must ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and work to address the longstanding racism that has caused this crisis.

Glenda’s Black History Month hero

The CDF Freedom Schools® program is rooted in the history and vision of the Civil Rights Movement, and Black leadership propels the program to this [...]

Health

Hesitancy for COVID-19 Vaccine Amongst Black Communities and Communities of Color Is Not Without Cause

The hesitancy by Black, American Indian and Latino communities stems from the long-standing distrust of the government in the distribution of equitable resources and access to quality healthcare, notwithstanding state-sanctioned violence.

Child Welfare

Biden Administration Halts Taxpayer-Funded Discrimination Rule for Foster Care

On February 10, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agreed to a court order halting the Trump-era License to Discriminate rule, one day before it would have gone into effect. This rule, first introduced in November of 2019, would have rescinded regulations that provided blanket non-discrimination protections from HHS-funded programs. Without those protections, child welfare providers using taxpayer funds could have turned away eligible foster and adoptive parents simply because of their religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity and discriminated against the children they are meant to serve on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

In Defense of Children

Category

Author

Tag