Advancing Policy for Kids Will Require a Change of Mindset!

2021 started off looking like a year during which kids and their families were finally going to have their moment at the center of our federal policy.  The Biden administration’s proposed economic plan included major investments that would provide real support for most American families with kids.  Included in this set of plans were investments in childcare, universal pre-k, school lunch programs, paid family leave, and improvements in health care coverage for both kids and pregnant women.  In addition, the plan would have extended and enhanced the changes in the Child Tax Credit that had been temporarily made earlier.  This change alone would not only have been our single greatest opportunity to reduce child poverty, but also would have provided additional financial resources to 90% of American families who are doing the hard work of raising kids.  The unfortunate truth is that as I write this in March of 2022, none of this policy has been enacted.  The temporary improvements that were made in the child tax credit have expired, and most pundits have declared “Build Back Better” dead.  Although it is widely expected that some smaller version of an economic plan will make its way through congress this year, few expect any of the significant social spending programs that would have benefited kids and their families to a part of this new effort.

Why can’t we seem to get positive kids policy changes over the finish line?  As you may recall, part of my early time with Leading for Kids was spent travelling to other countries where kids were objectively doing better than they are here at home.  One of the things that struck me was that in virtually every country I visited, citizens looked at the support of families with children as a key function of government at all levels.  This was the case in both wealthy and poorer countries, as well as in more conservative as well as more progressive ones.  This support is an expectation that citizens have of their government, and while there are debates about spending levels and details of programs, most of these countries are ensuring that families have the resources to maintain a basic standard of living that allows them to successfully raise their children.  In many ways, these countries view government support of families in the way we in the US view our national defense – a core function of government with broad support.  As a reminder, the appropriations bill that was passed this month which did not include any of the child and family support programs in the original “Build Back Better” plan spends more than 50% of the discretionary budget on the military – more than the administration requested. This is not meant to be a critique of our military spending, but a reminder that our budgetary spending reflects our priorities.  Why don’t we seem to be able to raise the salience of the many policies that we know we could lift the trajectory of childhood in America?  

Research that Leading for Kids is now doing in partnership with our colleagues at the Frameworks Institute, suggests that American cultural mindsets about kids and families may be the biggest impediment we have in getting kids policy done.  Among the many important findings of this work is the fact that Americans, in general, tend to downplay the role of systems outside of their own family in their children’s lives.  They are especially wary about the role of government.  This fear of government interfering with the role of the family is a new powerful wedge issue that has been effectively used by a variety of candidates in recent political races.  Research done by Frank Luntz for the Bipartisan Policy Center showed that both Liberals and Conservatives have their own, but different, set of concerns about government involvement in providing support for kids and families.  These mindsets are a big part of what is keeping us from enacting the kinds of policy that would make a difference in the lives of kids and their families.  Our current child advocacy framing – the language that we choose to use to talk about policy- doesn’t seem to be effective in moving our strong cultural belief that government should stay out of the lives of children and their families.   Over the next few months, the team at Frameworks will be testing some new ways of talking to people about the potential of a productive and supportive relationship between government and families – one where , as is the case many other places around the world, government provides the support that families need to raise their kids, and every child has the ability to thrive.  It is my hope that the findings from this next phase of our project can help the public see the productive role that government could play in supporting the hard work of raising kids and unlock the potential of centering kids in all of our policy.