child care - Digital Library Collections

Preface
In 1998 the Children's Defense Fund celebrates 25 years of research, public education,
policy development, and advocacy for children. We also celebrate the 30th anniversary
of the Washington Research Project, CDF's parent organization and a pioneer in the
public interest law movement.
The Poor People's Campaign, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last crusade, attempted to
move America beyond civil rights to address social and economic needs to assure families',
children's, and America's future. That is what CDF has been trying to do and will
continue to do until we succeed. I never dreamed it would be so hard for America to do
what is right and sensible for children. But I am very proud and grateful for the significant
progress that we and others have achieved for children. Billions of dollars in new child
investments and major new education, child care, child health, and child welfare laws,
regulations, and protections now reach millions of children.
For example, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (94-142), the
forerunner of today's Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, established a federal
right to education for children with disabilities. It has yielded $40.4 billion in special
education funding since Fiscal Year 1976. CDF's first report, Children Out ofSchool in
America, documented the exclusion of children with disabilities. Before 94-142, Office of
Education data showed 37.5 percent ofschool-age children with disabilities were unserved
by schools. Today fewer than I percent are neither evaluated nor served.
The Child Care and Development Block Grant has provided $7.1 billion since 1991 to
help parents work and children receive better-quality child care. We seek to expand its
funding in our 1998 campaign to ensure quality and affordable options for all parents of
preschool and school-age children.
The $48 billion State Children's Health Insurance Program (CH~), created in 1997,
will reach 5 million children over 10 years when fully implemented. Past Medicaid child
health expansions have given millions more children a Healthy Start, and child immunization
rates are rising again, thanks to the Vaccines for Children Program. An unpaid Family
and Medical Leave Act was finally enacted in 1993. More than 17 million children have
received a Head Start and are succeeding in school and in life. Millions more children
have new protections against child abuse and neglect, live in permanent adoptive homes,
and are able to get enough food, thanks to the expansion of family and child nutrition
programs.
But no victories are ever final, as we have seen in repeated attacks to dismantle the
safety net for poor, disabled, and immigrant children and families. That is why we are
continuing to build a movement by developing a critical mass ofleaders and strengthening
community capacity in order to make it un-American to hurt children and to finish the
task ofgiving all children a decent, safe, and happy future. The nearly 300,000 people who
stood for children on June I, 1996, at the Lincoln Memorial and who continue to stand in
their communities provide the foundation for the next stage of movement-building for
children and families.
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CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND IX