A major new advertising campaign kicks off this week in support of the Child Safety Net in the Obama budget. Every Child Matters Education Fund will air the ads nationally and in Maine, Louisiana and Nebraska. The Kentucky version of the ad is being sponsored by Vote Kids
ECMEF President Michael R. Petit said: "The Obama budget makes programs for children a top priority. This is exactly the far-sighted approach that our nation needs if we want to encourage the development of more productive, taxpaying citizens and reduce the number of people incarcerated or supported by public assistance. We urge members of Congress to consider the importance of the Child Safety Net and support the President's budget."
Petit explained that the Child Safety Net includes Head Start, Early Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Under the Obama budget these programs would receive much needed funding to serve more children. SCHIP would be further funded to enlist millions of children. Other programs targeted for increases in the Obama budget include: affordable housing and support for low-income, first-time mothers and mothers-to-be through the Nurse Home Visitation program.
The Child Safety Net programs help children lead healthy lives and give them a chance to grow up to be productive citizens. Research shows that when the basic needs of children are not being met -- when they are abused, neglected, hungry, homeless and otherwise not fully supported -- they all too often turn to an adulthood lived on public assistance or in crime. By investing in children early, we can avoid the great social cost associated with supporting those who cannot support themselves. The ads make this point by contrasting the lives of two children, one who gets support and one who does not.
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