Dear John,
In case you missed it...this week the Voices for Human Needs blog examines the plight of 167,000 kids who have lost parents or primary caregivers to COVID-19 and details the future of caregiving in the U.S. We report on West Virginia parents who worry about the loss of the expanded Child Tax Credit payments and look at the status of Build Back Better legislation in the Senate. Finally, we release CHN's latest COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, a by-the-numbers look at how the pandemic is affecting our country's most vulnerable people. Please share!
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This week on the blog...
Hidden Pain: 167,000 have lost parents or caregivers to COVID-19. What are we going to do about it?
December 14
More than 167,000 children – roughly one out of every 450 in the U.S. -- have lost a parent or other primary caregiver to COVID-19, according to a new, bipartisan report released last week by COVID Collaborative and Social Policy Analytics. The report, Hidden Pain: Children Who Lost a Parent or Caregiver to COVID-19 and What the Nation Can Do to Help Them, offers a roadmap to support and provide for these children, roughly half of whom are in elementary or junior high school. READ MORE »
How Build Back Better supports caregiving and why it urgently matters
December 14
The care economy – including child care, home and community-based care, and paid family and medical leave – is intricately linked to the economic well-being of not just families in the U.S. but the country overall. And the provisions in President Biden’s Build Back Better plan that support care infrastructure are critically needed, right now and in years to come. Those are some of the conclusions offered by a trio of experts who testified before the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth last week in support of both the Build Back Better plan and a stronger domestic work force. READ MORE »
End of Child Tax Credit payments a worry for WV families
December 12
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The final round of the federal government's Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments ends today, unless Congress votes to extend them before the year is up. Holly Bradley, a farmer in Pocahontas County, said the extra money she has received this year through the CTC has helped keep her family afloat, and losing it would be a setback. "I feel like that's going to leave a lot of folks having to choose between what bills they pay," Bradley asserted. "And what food they're able to put on the table, and if they can make rent or not." READ MORE »
Build Back Better: Will Congress be the Grinch who steals Christmas hope?
December 17
With time expiring in 2021, leaders in the U.S. Senate joined faith leaders this week for a Capitol Hill news conference to urge passage of the Build Back Better Act. Within a day, their quest grew more challenging, as President Biden and congressional leaders acknowledged they were not ready to enact this historic legislation before Christmas. The Senate will return on January 3, a week earlier than originally planned, to resume work on the bill. READ MORE »
CHN's COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship
December 17
The 61.2 million children get coal edition. This week, the U.S. marked two sad milestones. More than 50 million COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed since the pandemic began, and more than 800,000 people have died. The highly contagious omicron variant is here in the U.S. and is ricocheting through Britain and parts of Europe; on Thursday alone, Britain reported 88,376 new infections – the highest number since the pandemic began. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing. READ MORE »
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