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Why We Think Babies

It’s time to make the potential of every baby a national priority. See what families across the country say they need to thrive and share your story. What would you want our elected leaders to know about raising babies and toddlers today or the challenges of providing families with young children the support they need?

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Paid Leave

“Going back to work when your baby is six weeks old is no mother’s dream, but my job was on the line.”

– Anna Akins (LA)

Anna and her husband Gabriel, worked full time, but neither had paid leave available through their jobs. After Anna exhausted most of her unpaid leave to give birth to her son, Gareth, she had to return to work after just 6 weeks. As a newborn, Gareth was often ill with major allergies, asthma, and other complications. Without the benefit of paid leave to allow her to care for his complicated health needs, Anna was ultimately forced to resign from her job – at great financial cost to their family. Paid family and medical leave would have provided Anna’s family with more financial flexibility to ensure Gareth’s safe and healthy development.

Child Care

“The biggest struggle of parenthood has been finding affordable and trustworthy care for our children.”

– Britney Lombard (CO)

Britney and Adam are working hard to build financial stability for their family, but find themselves continually thwarted by lack of quality, affordable child care for their young children. Initially, facing full-time child care costs greater than her income, Britney was forced to cut her hours to work part-time. But when Adam started his own small business, and their children no longer needed more costly infant care, Britney returned to work full-time, calculating that the slim margin of profit was necessary for their family. Working families like Adam and Britney should have access to the quality, affordable child care options they need to help their children thrive.

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health

“By promoting the social-emotional health of infants and young children, we have the potential to positively impact the trajectory of a child’s life.”

– Kerrie Schnake (SC)

Kerrie has always been drawn to the way babies experience the world as a brand-new place. For babies, everything is worthy of exploration, a new and interesting discovery. Today, Kerrie has dedicated her work to promoting healthy social-emotional development for infants, toddlers and their families, or infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH). As director of the South Carolina Program for Infants/Toddler Care, she guides the state’s efforts to build understanding of IECMH among professionals who work with children and families. She also leads efforts to strengthen South Carolina’s IECMH workforce. Kerrie knows that the better community members understand IECMH, the better we can prepare young children for a healthy future.

Early Head Start

“Early Head Start has been a blessing to me as a young, working mother trying to get back into college.”

– Kaylah Dessausure (DE)

On a shoestring budget and without much family support, Kaylah worried about how to give her baby, Kodah, the best start in life. Kaylah’s local Early Head Start program was able to connect her with a variety of community resources, helping her meet Kodah’s nutrition and medical care needs. She was also offered child care through Early Head Start, that provided Kodah with rich opportunities for healthy social and emotional development while she worked. Early Head Start provided Kaylah with the comprehensive support she needed to give Kodah a strong start.

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