Investing In and Protecting Children"Each and every child in this country is valuable because they are our future as a society. We cannot afford to lose a single child to ill-health, under-education, abuse, addiction, jail, or gun violence. America’s highest goal should be for every child to grow up to be a successful young adult -- healthy, educated, free, secure, and a good citizen." John Kerry
Here is some of what John Kerry has done and will do to make America a better place for children and families:
Increase the Child Tax Credit: John Kerry was part of bipartisan legislative effort to ensure that more families share in the recently passed tax cuts. Democrats and Republicans worked together to amend President Bush’s tax proposal in 2001. This proposal made the child tax credit partially refundable so that the majority of low-income working families can double the credit from $500 to $1,000. An additional 16 million families will now benefit from this credit.
Job Training and Opportunity: John Kerry championed federal funding for the YouthBuild program. YouthBuild helps at-risk youth obtain an education and take responsibility for their lives and their communities. Over the past decade, more than 20,000 YouthBuild students have built more than 7,000 housing units in their neighborhoods.
Eighty-five percent of the students who complete the YouthBuild program either secure a job or go on to post-secondary education.
Expand Access to Health Care: In the wealthiest nation in the world there is no reason that any child should go without health care.
John Kerry vigorously supported the creation of the Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, which marked the largest investment in children's health care since the inception of Medicaid. But we still have work to do to provide high quality health care to all children.
Early Education for All: John Kerry works hard to strengthen early childhood education. Numerous scientific studies have shown that high-quality early education and care provides huge private and public investment returns. High quality early childhood education programs get kids ready for school and in later years cut crime and increase job productivity by giving young children the opportunity to learn skills early on that enable them to become responsible, contributing citizens.
Again and again, Kerry has supported increases in quality early childhood programs like Head Start and child care. His Early Learning Opportunities Act, which became law in 2000, helps families by providing funding to expand and coordinate early childhood development efforts. He believes we should continue to expand quality programs so that children can get off to a good start.
Provide More Quality After School Programs: John Kerry believes
after-school programs are a cost effective way to reduce crime and help kids. The hours between 3:00 in the afternoon and 6:00 in the evening are when kids are most likely to commit crimes, become victims of crimes, smoke, do drugs, have sex and engage in other risky behavior. The reason is simple: 75 percent of women with school-aged children are in the workforce, yet high-quality, affordable childcare after-school is hard to come by. That means 5 to 10 million kids are unsupervised after school and many children get into trouble.
Enforce Child Support: More than half of the children born in the 1990s will spend some of their childhood in a single-parent family. For many of these children government-collected child support is an important source of income. Although child support collection rates are improving, they are still too low.
That is why John Kerry backs legislation to ensure that children receive the child support money they are owed and deserve.
Enforce and Improve Gun Safety: John Kerry is greatly concerned by the number of children who are killed or injured by handgun violence.
To protect children from the accidental firing of a weapon, he has introduced legislation that would set minimum safety standards for gun locks.
Expand Substance Abuse Treatment: More than two-thirds of the parents involved in the child welfare system need substance abuse treatment, but over-burdened agencies can provide treatment services for only less than one-third of them. Children whose families do not get appropriate treatment are more likely to remain in foster care longer and to reenter foster care after being returned home, costing taxpayers far more than the cost of good treatment.
Senator Kerry is a strong supporter of the Child Protection/Alcohol and Drug Partnership Act and believes that addressing the link between child abuse and neglect and substance abuse by parents is crucial.
Expanding Access to Quality Child Care: Making child care more affordable and available to families is one of John Kerry’s top legislative priorities.
Kerry has introduced legislation to increase child care funding by $11.25 billion over the next five years.
In 2002, Senator Kerry received the “Powerful Friends Recognition Award” from the Federation for Children with Special Needs and Parents for Residential Reform for his “outstanding leadership and national voice on behalf of children with disabilities and their families.”
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(522 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
