We all say, "We care about our kids—after all, they're our number one priority."
But shouldn’t we test that sentiment?
To back up our words with actions, why don't we pass a law to make our commitment to every child real?
All kids get a card—the Kids-Are-Priority-One card—and they can show it to ensure that they receive:
- vital services like medical and dental care
- behavioral health care to address trauma
- transport to support services and recreation
- tutorials at school to succeed at learning
- early childhood learning programs for healthy development
- youth mentors who serve as healthy role models and support
- job training to become self-sufficient
- safe and stable housing
- a secure food supply
“But wait,” you say, isn’t it their parents job to provide that? Well, it sure should be.
But the fact is, many children don't have access to these vital services and programs. And as a result, they fall behind in school, experience trauma, and suffer in silence. In the worst-case scenario, they turn to substance misuse to deaden their pain, and the downward spiral continues.
For those who insist that we could never afford such a program, trust me: we already pay for the aftermath of not making each kid a priority—in the form of millions of taxpayer dollars going to social workers, police, courts, ER visits, prisons, and funerals.
We can debate what troubled parents should or shouldn't do all we want—but the kids are bystanders in crisis.
So, what's it gonna be? Will all our nation’s children become our #1 priority, with a chance to study and work hard to succeed—or do we continue to doom many of them to lives of trauma and hardship?
It's time to choose.
Dominic Cappello is the co-author of Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and maltreatment (with Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD) and the developer of Resilience Leaders, an ACEs prevention program focused on ensuring all children and families have access to vital services for surviving and thriving. www.ResilienceLeaders.org
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