Changing Head Start Rules Would Rob Kids of Skills They Need for School and Life bit.ly/4hQI2x5

Did you know the U.S. House of Representatives once had an entire committee whose sole purpose was to investigate, report on, and publicize issues related to children and their families? Did you know that the committee's work helped inform almost every major piece of child and family policy in the '80s and early '90s (and many beyond)? And did you know that despite the committee expiring in 1993 for reasons that had nothing to do with its merits, no Congress has since brought it back? Well, @BruceLesley and I think it's high time the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families makes a reappearance, and we argue in a joint article that doing so should be one of the first acts of the 120th Congress when they're sworn in this coming January. "Give children and their families desperately needed attention. Give lawmakers places to see the whole child. And give the country a regular accounting of whether its government is meeting its obligations to the next generation. Congress has committees devoted to people and interests powerful enough to demand attention. Children deserve dedicated attention precisely because they cannot."

Pleased to co-author a piece with @ehaspel on why the next Congress should re-establish the House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families. Our children can't wait. (1)

When 2.3 Million Children Disappear from Medicaid, Ask Why brucelesley.substack.com/p/w…

NEW exclusive from me: Health officials moved money out of the Office of Minority Health to help pay for the ballooning costs of RFK Jr.'s security wsj.com/politics/policy/rfk-…

The U.S. is the world’s only nation that has failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The world stands at a crossroads. Despite extraordinary progress driven by cooperation and shared purpose, we face unprecedented backsliding on child rights, gender equality, international law and investment in children. Today, we ask world leaders at #UNGA: What kind of future will you choose to build for children?  unicef.link/4gsOOYy

How States are Using Children’s Cabinets for Positive Child Outcomes bit.ly/4xZVRzP

Karim Daoud was detained by ICE on the same day he went to pick up work authorization documents. He was then held in the Elizabeth Detention Facility for over 9 months.

It is a testament to his community that he is home with his children today.

The Trump administration this week quietly released an update to a major survey on civil rights in schools that was scrubbed of all data related to nonbinary students or bullying based on gender identity. to.pbs.org/4gLoWrn

A timely follow-up to my remarks at yesterday's Judiciary Committee hearing. The Constitution is clear. The President and his GOP colleagues cannot overrule birthright citizenship.

Trump’s Deregulation of Head Start Would Imperil Early Childhood Education in Poor Communities - @janressinger - buff.ly/CwEUrYK

Pierre Damas Bel did everything the "right way." He came to our country legally to study. He was an honor student, a soccer player, and dreamed of being a doctor. In July, ICE made him wear an ankle monitor. He wrote that he felt a shame and humiliation he never could've imagined. Days later, he died by suicide. He was 20 years old. This is what cruelty as policy looks like. It falls on real kids, real families and real communities. They deserve so much better than this. Pierre deserved so much better. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/spr…

HHS wants to cut Head Start's 133 pages of standards to about a dozen, handing ratios and screenings to state licensing instead. In Mississippi one teacher per four 2 year olds becomes one per a dozen. About 80 percent of Head Start kids would see worse ratios. nytimes.com/2026/09/01/opini…

A Child’s Citizenship Does Not Depend on a Parent’s Paperwork brucelesley.substack.com/p/a… Here we go again. The Administration is proposing to gut birthright citizenship from another angle. Enough already.

Refusals of vitamin K shots for U.S. newborns rose 57% from January to June. Babies are born with very low levels of vitamin K, which helps blood to clot. Without the injection, they are 81x more likely in their first 6 months to have life-threatening bleeding in the brain or gut. reuters.com/world/us-refusal…

US could ask parents to prove citizenship or immigration status to obtain passports for children | The Guardian theguardian.com/us-news/2026… For children, a birth certificate is all that is needed. Again, this Administration is attacking children to try to punish adults.

The Hidden Congressional Clawback How a 2003 Medicare formula is costing states a record $23.2 billion this coming year and shortchanging children’s programs. BRUCE LESLEY brucelesley.substack.com/p/t…

BREAKING: This U.S. born citizen was deported to Mexico in April. During a traffic stop, Brian Morales told immigration officers that he was born in Colorado, and offered to show his birth certificate. They refused to listen and deported him. Today, he’s back in Texas.