Who Speaks for Children?
The infrastructure of children’s advocacy is disappearing when children need it most. Here's why it matters — and what you can do.
I want to be direct with you, our other readers on Substack, and in our email list. Like other groups advocating in this environment, the work is harder right now than it has ever been in our 20-year history.
The threats to children are immense, and many recent policy decisions at the federal level have left children bearing the consequences. Just as children need greater support, our partners in the child advocacy space have been disappearing, and we are facing many of the same financial pressures.
At a time when children need our voices more than ever, there are fewer groups left to demand accountability from our federal, state, and local lawmakers to do right by our children.
Thus, on behalf of kids, we need your help.
To understand why that ask matters — and why losing First Focus on Children would leave a gap no one else can fill — it helps to know what Washington’s own leaders say about who is doing this work.
Why This Moment Demands Strong Voices for Children
At the end of 2024, Springboard Partners conducted a survey of “ ether leaders” in Congress and in federal advocacy to ask a simple question: Who speaks for children?
Out of more than 100 organizations named, First Focus on Children received the most mentions of any organization — more than double the runner-up. Congressional staff and national nonprofit leaders identified us as the leading cross-sector voice for kids in Washington: recognized for the Children’s Budget, our congressional relationships, our willingness to call it as we see it (regardless of who is in power), and our role owning the multi-issue children’s advocacy lane that few others occupy in the United States.
I share that not as a brag, but because it matters for what I’m about to say.
The Infrastructure of Children’s Advocacy Is Eroding
First Focus on Children is facing a financial crisis that threatens our future.
Since children cannot contribute to or become paid members of our organization, we have relied on the philanthropic community for our support. Unfortunately, philanthropy is currently navigating an increasingly uncertain landscape, which has created significant disruption in our funding support.
Over the years, children could count on a network of national organizations working across children’s issues. Today, many of those organizations are gone. These were organizations that spent decades building the case for kids — Every Child Matters, Voices for America’s Children, the Council for a Strong America, Parents Action for Children, Public Education Network, the Alliance for Children and Families, and others. Each closure has meant less advocacy, fewer watchdogs, fewer coalitions, and fewer voices demanding better policy outcomes for children.
Among organizations that advocate across the full range of children’s issues, First Focus on Children and First Focus Campaign for Children are among the last national voices still standing.
And maybe not for long.
To stabilize our finances, we need to raise $300,000 in the coming weeks. We have already raised $64,000, but we have a long way to go.
Like so many others in the field of child advocacy, we are struggling with funding reductions. We are, quite frankly and transparently, currently running a deficit as a result of a few funders who once enthusiastically supported this work pulling back — out of fear, due to a shift in priorities away from advocacy, or because several foundations that had prioritized funding for child advocacy have closed.
Our core funders have responded with increased and deeply appreciated support, but others have left the space at a time when the need for children’s advocacy has never been greater. New threats to children arise every day, and as the challenges have grown, the resources have grown thinner.
If First Focus on Children is forced to scale back, or if we were to go dark entirely, there is no obvious organization waiting to fill that gap. The bellwether survey confirms it.
Children can’t wait for someone else to step up. The reality is that there may not be someone else.
That someone is you.
Children don’t have lobbyists.
They don’t write checks to campaigns.
They don’t vote.
They depend entirely on adults who are willing to show up, speak up, and fight for them — even when it’s inconvenient, even when it’s costly, even when the political winds are blowing the wrong direction.
That’s what we do with the help of supporters like yourself. That’s what we’ve always done.
We call “balls and strikes” and ask politicians to answer this simple but elegant question: “Are their actions good for children?” It is a modest question, and yet, it makes some politicians quite uncomfortable. Out of fear, a few funders have chosen to wilt away or go dark.
With your help, we wish to continue standing up and fighting for kids.
Here’s How You Can Help
If our work, our advocacy, our creation of a unique and comprehensive policy agenda, our Children’s Budget and accompanying Babies in the Budget, our Legislative Scorecard, or even this newsletter has meant something to you, here are five ways you can help right now:
Donate to First Focus on Children. Consider making a tax-deductible donation to First Focus on Children. Every dollar goes directly to our educational activities, policy development, the Children’s Budget and Babies in the Budget, our legal work defending children’s rights, and our capacity to keep fighting when others have stepped back. Please give at www.firstfocus.org/donate.
Donate to First Focus Campaign for Children. If you are more interested in our direct advocacy work — including our lobbying activities, our Legislative Scorecard, and our honesty in calling “balls and strikes” as to “Who’s for Kids and Who’s Just Kidding?” — please make a donation to First Focus Campaign for Children at https://campaignforchildren.org/donate/.
Upgrade to a paid subscription. If you’ve been reading Kids Can’t Wait as a free subscriber, this is the moment to consider making it a paid subscription. A subscription at $50 per year — less than $1 a week — or $5 per month directly sustains this newsletter and our work. I write this newsletter with the independence this moment demands, and your support makes that possible. We have had a few funders slink away out of fear of this Administration, but we are committed to speaking up for kids regardless of the political and financial blowback we are feeling.
Share this post. Current federal budget and policy decisions are having a serious impact on our nation’s children: investments in children are declining, the number of uninsured children is growing, infant and child mortality rates are rising, child hunger is increasing, child poverty has more than doubled since 2021, the uninsured rate for children is rising, and homelessness is growing. Most Americans are unaware of these consequences. The plight of children is invisible to many in this country, particularly as the share of children in households continues to decline. Forward this post to a colleague, share it on social media, or send it to someone who cares about kids. Every new voice in this fight matters.
Become an Ambassador for Children. Beyond giving, you can commit to reaching out to your members of Congress to express support for good legislative proposals for children and opposition to harmful ones. Few things hit lawmakers more than direct contact from a constituent. Here is how to become an Ambassador for Children: https://campaignforchildren.org/ambassadors/.
The Stakes Are Real
I’ve spent much of my career working on children’s policy — on Capitol Hill, in state and local government, and now leading one of the country’s premier nonpartisan child advocacy organizations. I’ve seen what happens when children have champions in the room, and I’ve seen what happens when they don’t.
Right now, the room is crowded with people fighting for everybody else’s interests but their own.
Children need someone in the room demanding support for their needs and best interests.
That is the work we do.
Your support, whatever form it takes, helps make sure children have a seat at the table.
With your help, we will keep doing it.
Kids can’t wait.
P.S. If you can only do one thing, please make a donation at www.firstfocus.org/donate. We need to raise $300,000 in the next few weeks and have raised $64,000 toward that goal. Any help would be greatly appreciated.