Hi Jack,

The special session closed this past week, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual Kids Count Data Book showing that 152,000 Arkansas children face more significant obstacles due to poverty.

So, while our leaders in Little Rock spent their time giving tax breaks to the wealthiest and most well-connected people in our state, Arkansas kids dropped in rank to 43rd in the nation for their well-being.

Arkansas children are suffering, and it’s past time for our leaders to do something to improve their lives.

Our children deserve more opportunities and support – and as your next Lieutenant Governor, I won’t stop advocating for policies that will improve our outcomes.

We MUST ensure kids' basic needs are met. The report stated that Arkansas children need stable housing, nutritious foods, safe communities, and their families to be financially stable to foster positive mental health and wellness. And when kids need access to mental health care, they should have evidence-based quality care that considers their experiences and identities when and where they need it.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families made the following policy recommendations to AR legislators, and I stand with them:

• Extend postpartum coverage for new mothers on Medicaid. Right now, women insured under pregnancy Medicaid lose their coverage 60 days after delivery. We should expand that to 12 months, as 34 states and the District of Columbia have done or are in the process of implementing.
  
  
• Provide presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women, allowing them to be approved for Medicaid coverage quickly based on their income level. 
  
  
• Allow children and babies in the lowest-income families to keep their ARKids First health insurance for a full year of continuous coverage, rather than kicking them off their insurance when their family incomes fluctuate month-to-month.
  
  
• Change the state-level policies that unnecessarily make it more difficult for Arkansas families to obtain SNAP benefits and to get enrolled in the WIC program – the nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children.
  
  
• Require scientifically-based sex education in schools, and make it easier for Arkansans, including teens, to obtain long-acting contraception.
  
  
• Overhaul harsh policies in the state’s cash assistance program, which is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. We need to 1) eliminate the family cap now that parents have fewer family planning options and 2) increase the monthly benefit level, which is $203 for a family of three.

Now is not the time for tax cuts for the wealthy. It's time to invest in children and their futures. We can and must do better.

You can review the complete national and state reports here.

More soon,

Kelly