Read our most current Results for Kids

Policy Matters: Tens of thousands of Washington children will benefit from Children's Alliance advocacy efforts this year. They'll hold onto their health insurance, gain greater access to food assistance programs and have healthier choices in school stores and vending machines.

• Saving Health Coverage for Kids
• Reforming Child Welfare
• Action for Hungry Families
• Junk Food Out of Schools!

Saving Health Coverage for Kids

Result: 25,000 low-income children retain their health coverage

Every month Amy looks at her bills and knows there isn't enough money. Her work as a home health assistant just doesn't cover the basics for her family. Sometimes, she faces the tough decision of paying the phone bill or paying for heat. At least she doesn't have to worry about health care for her children, who qualify for Medicaid.

A potentially devastating provision was tucked into the state's healthcare budget in 2003. Tens of thousands of families, who in the past were considered low income enough to receive publicly funded health care for their children, suddenly faced monthly premiums of $15 to $25 per month per child. To those who don't struggle to cover their monthly bills, it may not seem like a lot, but advocates estimated these premiums would mean at least 25,000 Washington children would lose access to medical care. They'd lose annual check-ups. They'd lose regular vaccinations. They'd lose prompt treatment for an ear infection or ongoing management of asthma.
This year's advocacy efforts began in the fall of 2003, when the Children's Alliance and others lobbied hard to influence the Governor's budget, then the supplemental budgets passed by the Senate and the House. Our goal was to roll back these new premiums entirely. When the gavel came down on the Legislative session, though, thousands of low-income families still faced new monthly premiums.
Our work did not stop there. The Children's Alliance approached Governor Gary Locke and successfully argued that too many children were losing health insurance for the premiums plan to move forward. Locke agreed and in June of this year invoked his executive authority to the premiums this year.
Thousands of children will lead healthier lives as a result.

Reforming Child Welfare

RESULT: After 6 years in court, a lawsuit settlement offers a genuine opportunity to fix the state's broken foster care system, "home" to 8,000 children in Washington.

By the time David was 16, he'd been through 8 foster homes. When he was 10 his mother went off on a drug binge, leaving him scared and alone. Every time he moved into a new home it was like starting over again. And the therapy he got was so minimal it wasn't much help. There was little chance that, when he turned 18 and was released from the foster care system, he'd be able to go to college.

This year, the Children's Alliance made adolescent issues - including reforming the foster care system - a priority. We took advantage of our strong relationships with other child advocates and with the media to speak out for children and youth at critical junctures.

We approached the Children's Administration, under the new leadership of Uma Ahluwalia, to raise a number of concerns about deficiencies in the state's child welfare system. Adolescents and their families were not getting the treatment and prevention services they needed. And children in foster care continued to bounce from home to home without the support services they, their families and their foster parents needed.
When the results of a federal review were released in February, Washington's child welfare system had failed to meet standard in nearly every category. The Children's Alliance immediately went to the media arguing for reforms, for increased funding and for settlement in a long-running lawsuit against the state brought on behalf of foster children.
We saw many of our recommendations in the improvement plan the Children's Administration was required to develop in response to the federal review, including a section that specifically addressed the needs of adolescents.
The Children's Alliance started using the media to push for a settlement in the foster care lawsuit at the end of last year and continued through the first half of 2004. The Braam v. State of Washington lawsuit had been winding its way through the courts for six long years.
Newspaper articles and editorials around the state picked up our message that it was time to settle the lawsuit so we could move the fight for a better foster care system out of the courtroom and into foster homes. Foster children had been waiting far too long.
In August, the settlement was announced. It is a settlement with great potential to improve the lives of foster children, if it is implemented well and supported by adequate funding. As we move into the next legislative session, you can be sure that the Children's Alliance will continue to act as a powerful voice for children and youth in the public eye and before our elected officials.

Action for Hungry Families

RESULT: Hundreds of children get access to school meals for the first time. Food assistance is opened to thousands of Washington families.

When school lets out for the summer, the Bradley family heads for the local food bank. That's because their 7- and 10-year-old children are no longer getting a free breakfast and lunch in school-a critical piece in helping the Bradleys keep the family fed. Their children take advantage of a special summer program at the school, but they don't get any meals there and come home hungry. Mom wonders why her children can't get lunch or a snack in the same cafeteria they use during the school year.

For eight years and counting, Washington has been among the five hungriest states in the nation. More families than the national average skip meals because they can't afford to put food on the table, and more families live so close to the edge that they're at serious risk of have an empty cupboard before the end of the month.
Advocates led by the Children's Alliance went to Olympia this year with a multi-pronged piece of legislation aimed at getting federal benefits to more qualified children and their families. Through the hard work of many interested parties we were successful in getting the Act for Hungry Families passed.
The Act for Hungry Families means that hundreds of children will get school lunch or summer meals for the first time. People who are leaving welfare will get five months of "transitional" food stamps to support them in entering the world of work. And, drug felons-many with children- who have paid their debt to society and are struggling to make a new life for themselves now will be eligible for food stamps.
In all, thousands of Washington residents will have an additional cushion against hunger thanks to our hard work in Olympia this year.

Junk Food out of Schools!!

RESULT: Every school district -- we're talking 960,000 public school children in Washington -- must develop a school nutrition policy.

Marie does her best to give her children healthy food at home -- serves lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, doesn't keep soda pop or sweets around the house, and makes sure her son and daughter leave the house with a nutritious breakfast in their stomachs. She's frustrated that her efforts are undermined when her children walk through the school doors. Vending machines filled with soda and candy line the hallways. Doughnuts and deep-fried chips are a school store staple.

For several years the Children's Alliance has campaigned to establish statewide standards for the food served in our children's schools. We envision a school environment filled with healthy choices that fuel children's bodies and minds.
It's been tough, but the tide is turning-especially as rates of unhealthful weight gain among school children go up, and physical activity goes down. More and more parents, lawmakers and the media are coming out in favor of pulling high-fat, high-sugar beverages and snacks from the schools.
This year, the Children's Alliance championed a bill that would have set minimum nutritional standards for all foods and beverages sold in the schools. We're not there yet, but legislators did pass a requirement for every district to create a model school nutrition and physical activity policy. It's a start-and one that can be effective if districts heed the call to action.
In September, the Seattle School District led the way, approving a school nutrition policy that establishes nutrition guidelines and portion sizes for all food and beverages sold or distributed during the school day and eliminates "pouring rights" contracts that gave companies like Coca Cola exclusive access to school children. The new policy was created by the Seattle School Board's nutrition subcommittee, which was led by Children's Alliance staff.
The Children's Alliance will continue to monitor new nutrition policies and encourage other school districts to follow Seattle's lead.