The United States has yet to take the final step of ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The document, a treaty among nations, would protect and promote the rights of all children to be protected from harm and be given the opportunity for optimal health, education, and happiness in safe and loving homes and communities without the toxic stress of poverty, racism, gender, disability, and other discrimination. Even with disagreements on interpretation of the text, isn’t the issue of children’s rights a non-negotiable starting point?
The poorest people in the United States are babies and toddlers. The toxic stress of poverty is deepened by systemic racism in our policies and personal practices. Too many families start to wobble on the thin line of success and tragedy: high maternal morbidity rates among Black women, unpaid leave for the birth, adoption or illness, underfunded and unavailable affordable and quality child care, health care that is too high in cost and too short in coverage; a federal minimum wage far below a livable wage; and gentrification without attention to the impact on communities of color and the push out of neighborhoods from the loss of affordable housing. COVID-19 has exacerbated these challenges, from upending financial security to children’s learning and play routines.
It is time to flip our approach on reducing disparities from incremental movement to bolder steps based on our strong foundation of developmental science. Young children need nurturance and responsive caregiving, and they need opportunities to explore their world and construct their learning. Children gain access to these experiences when families receive adequate support and children have access to high quality and culturally supportive early learning.
January 2021 is the start of new legislative sessions at the federal, state and local levels. We know what we need to do. Early intervention for children with delays and disabilities should be a top priority. Without question, we must work more assertively to end systemic discrimination, structural racism, and implicit bias. We must lean in on a strengths-based approach to the positive development of children of color and immigrant families. We need to make the robust, increased investment that gives children a guarantee instead of a waitlist for child care, Early Head Start and Head Start, and other comprehensive programs. The state of our nation is reflected in the state of our children and families. If we treated the wholesale well-being of every child and family as a right, it would direct us to a better place as a country.
