Forbes ranks "Best & Worst Public Schools for the Buck"

A new article published in Forbes magazine is stirring up buzz among parents nationwide - not to mention public school officials, teachers, and education watchdogs.

These rankings reveal how wide the gaps are in the performance of public schools in different communities across the country. Granted, the demographic realities faced by some public school districts make for extra challenges. But with shifting demographics nationwide, it's getting harder and harder for local officials to excuse their failure by blaming such trends. (For example, looking up the census data for myself on Alexandria vs. our neighbors made me realize how lame and inaccurate claims are that we have a disproportionate burden of foreign-born and non-English-speaking children, compared to better-performing Arlington schools.) And it's shocking to see how pitifully some districts manage tax dollars, with failing schools, high dropout rates, and low test scores to show for the community's investment.

I take this quite personally, since my family and I are currently living in the Washington, DC suburb of Alexandria, VA - which happens to come in dead-last in the nation in the Forbes ranking. Our community's return-on-investment is even worse than the historically troubled District of Columbia! And it's our kids who will suffer the fallout. Sad and scary. Especially since I have a preschooler who will be ready for kindergarten in two years. And even more exasperating because our cost of living here is so high.

On the bright side, there are other districts across the country that are doing a much better job. Best management of public schools in the country, according to the Forbes ranking? Marin County, CA, outside San Francisco.

These are just the kind of things that really matter to us as mothers, and change absolutely depends on our political involvement. We need to get active at both the local and federal levels - advocating for better management and higher standards in our local districts, as well as speaking up for federal policy initiatives that will help narrow the disparities in the quality of schools nationwide.

U.S. ranks 26th in quality of life for mothers & children

Sad. Because we can and should do better.

Save the Children's Eighth Annual Mothers’ Index has been released, ranking the living conditions and wellbeing of mothers and their children in 140 countries around the world (41 developed nations and 99 developing nations).

The rankings are determined by common markers of maternal and child health and wellbeing, including maternal and infant mortality mortality, healthcare access, births attended by skilled health personnel, child weight, access to clean water, political status, economic status, and educational opportunity.

The top 10 best places for mothers and children are (in order from first to 10th): Sweden, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Spain and Germany. The worst ranking nations at the bottom of the list include Djibouti, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Yemen, Sierra Leone and Niger.

The United States falls somewhere between the best and the worst, at number 26. A bit pitiful, considering we're the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth. All the more reason to do something NOW about a complete overhaul of our broken privatized health insurance "system."

To view and download the 2007 Mothers' Index, click here.  

Thomas the Toxic Tank Engine

In response to last week’s warning from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), advising consumers to immediately stop using Thomas the Tank Engine toys recalled due to toxic paint, the grassroots advocacy organization MomsRising is mobilizing parents and grandparents to say "Enough!"

Not surprisingly, moms don't like finding out that their children have been unknowingly exposed toxic Thomas toys at home, at preschool, at childcare for months - maybe years? - before this discovery was made and the recall issued. (And for the record, is there a kid anywhere in America who has NOT been in contact with the hottest toy on the market today??) Folks signing the MomsRising petition are simply urging members of Congress and CPSC make testing of children’s products for toxic chemicals more of a priority.

To sign the petition, click here.

For the CPSC’s current recall notice of the toxic Thomas toys, click here.

Celebrity politics could make the difference for The MOTHERS Act

Politico columnist Helena Andrews has posted a piece about leveraging celebrity visibility in the service of politics - a topic that particularly interests me as I continue to marvel at the good things accomplished by actress Brooke Shields and former New Jersey first lady Mary Jo Codey on behalf of women's and children's health. Both of these high-profilers have given a great deal of their time - not to mention their good names - to work for legislation and programs at the state and federal levels that will address postpartum depression (PPD) as the health crisis it is.

It's a long time coming - and Shields and Codey turning out recently to support The MOTHERS Act (and companion Melanie Blocker-Stokes Act) on the Hill drew more public attention to the issue than has been achieved in several years of earnest grassroots lobbying by activist mothers and NGOs.

If passed, The MOTHERS Act would provide education and screening on PPD that can lead to early identification and treatment. The bill includes two grants to help healthcare providers educate, identify, and treat perinatal mood disorders: Grants to states, to be allocated to materials and programs for local healthcare providers who work directly with women, and grants to states and local governments, public and nonprofit hospitals, and community-based organizations who deliver essential services to women with PPD and their families (including better outpatient support and home-based care, support services, and inpatient care when needed). The bill would also extend research funding to improve treatments, diagnostic tools and educaitonal materials for providers. The MOTHERS Act incorporates and is a companion bill to Congressman Rush's House bill, the Melanie Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act, which would expend and intensify NIH's research on PPD and related conditions.Postpartum Support International (PSI) - for whom I volunteer in Washington, DC - continues to be the leader in policy advocacy, working to push the MOTHERS Act through Congress and to educate all Americans about this problem - THE most common complication of childbirth, affecting up to 20 percent of new mothers.

One mother = A Powerful Grassroots Movement: The Protest Easy Guns phenomenon

I love Little-Engines-That-Could success stories. It's inspiring to see what one committed person can get started! And here's proof: The Protest Easy Guns grassroots movement launched by my friend and neighbor Dr. Abby Spangler in Old Town Alexandria, VA, is mobilizing moms, dads, and other concerned citizens across the country.

The first demonstration by the "Alexandria 32," (of which I was one!) was held the weekend following the tragedy at Virginia Tech University. Days after the massacre, Abby found herself getting angrier and angrier about the many loopholes in gun laws that played a significant role in the killings. And she wasn't alone. She started talking to other moms - her neighbors, her children's preschool directors and parents - and found others had the same despair. We were all angry, saddened, and feeling helpless about the seemingly stagnant issue of gun accesss loopholes.

But Abby went one step behond venting and commiserating. She started networking, called the DC-area press, and organized a simple but powerful demonstration in our city square. Thirty-two moms from all backgrounds and political persuasions, myself included, wore black, lay down silently on the sidewalk for the short period of time it took the Virginia Tech killer to buy his weapons, and then went about our day feeling as if we had at least helped to spark meaningful conversation and debate amongst our neighbors.

Our little gathering made the local news...and then the national news. My husband, Noah, worked with Abby to host and develop a simple but effective website, and Abby put together a "protest in a box." Before you knew it, Abby had NYC Mayor Michael Bloomnburg joining her and 32+ New Yorkers in Times Square to stage their own protest. Additional protests have been held throughout Northern Virginia and in Maryland, Philadelphia, Brooklyn... Within the next week there are additional Protest Easy Guns "lie-ins" scheduled by local residents in Chicago, Dallas, and the Bronx.

If you would like to talk with Abby about covering this grassroots movement as a member of the press/blogosphere, or better yet - if you'd like to find out how to organize a Protest Easy Guns action in your community, click here.

Maloney steps up to the plate - again - for federal Breastfeeding Promotion Act

Last month U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), along with Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), hosted another successful "Nurse-In" on Capitol Hill to re-introduce the Breastfeeding Promotion Act [HR 2236] to Congress. In one of the smartest, most widely visible bipartisan advocacy moves for America's women, children, and families, the event brought together 100+moms and babies on the terrace of the Cannon Office Building near the capitol.

By all accounts, it was a rollicking good moment in the sun for mothers, engaging them directly in the policy efforts that affect their daily lives. And it got widespread publicity among NGOs and grassroots advocates in the maternal-child health and breastfeeding realms. So maybe this will be the session the BPA breaks through?

The proposed legislation would protect the rights of nursing mothers who return to the workplace after having a baby, amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with a new clause. The bill would also provide tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace, allow families to deduct breastfeeding pumps and equipment from their taxes, and provide a performance standard for breast pumps. (Can you believe how long in coming this is?)

Currently, 38 states and Puerto Rico have laws on their books protecting the rights of women to breastfeed. But the federal initiative would provide important national protections, regardless of where a mother lives and works. For more on the Breastfeeding Promotion Act from La Leche League International, click here.

Kudos to Congresswoman Maloney and Congressman Hays for their support of this legislation! Rep. Maloney, who has a strong track record of looking out for American women, children, and families, first passed breastfeeding legislation in the 106th Congress, when her right-to-breastfeed amendment passed for the FY 2000 budget. It protected a woman's right to breastfeed on federal property where the woman and her child are otherwise authorized to be. Then in the 105th Congress, Rep. Maloney included a reauthorization bill allowing state agencies to use WIC program funds to share educational materials on breast pumps and to purchase breast pumps for WIC recipients.

Be sure to let the other original co-sponsors of Maloney's Breastfeeding Promotion Act know you appreciate their efforts: Keith Ellison (D-MN); Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX); Barbara Lee (D-CA); Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY); John Olver (D-MA); Bobby Rush (D-IL); Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH); Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA).

The Act is now awaiting committee considerations, and has been referred to House Education and Labor. To let your representatives in Congress know you want them to push the Act forward - to protect women's rights, children's health, and family wellbeing - click here and look them up.

Wooing women voters

Check out this story in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, headlined "Women's vote is a big factor in 2008."

The reporter hones in on the crucial demographic findings affecting upcoming elections, including:

Women make up more than half the U.S. population.
More women register and vote than men.
Married women living in suburbs are historically more likely to vote than are younger, single, urban women.
Most women voters don't select their candidate until close to election day.
Healthcare and education are typically at the top of women's policy priorities.
Since 9/11, a large segment labeled by strategists as "security moms" are also very concerned about policy affecting the safety of their children and families.

There's a lot of power to be leveraged! According to Rebeca Deen of the political science faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington, quoted in the story, "Women could be the deciding vote in the 2008 election."

However, anyone paying attention knows that "the women's vote" is hardly monolithic. Look at issues like reproductive politics and you realize that there is no one "women's platform." That means no one woman can take for granted the power and importance of her vote - and of joining with like-minded others to be heard.

Presidential hopefuls on "No Child Left Behind"

Hillary was campaigning in Iowa last weekend, where she noticed that virtually every child has been left behind.

Although she voted for President Bush's No Child Left Behind education policy in 2001, that support didn't last long. She has been arguing for some time that NCLB's fixation on testing, testing, and more testing is pulling away time and resources from the task of teaching and learning. Learning for the whole child, for a lifetime - not just for a standardized test. Hillary says she would reform NCLB, bring back the arts and music to public schools, and scale back the testing mania. It's really hard to disagree - especially for those of us who have had the insights provided by knowing (or being) public school educators or administrators.

Here's how other presidential front-runners for '08 weigh in on education policy:

Giulini: Rudy says he strongly supports school choice, viewing it as "one of the great civil rights issues of our time." As mayor of New York City, Giuliani's education track record included creating a Charter School Fund, getting rid of tenure privilege for principals, increased school funding and hired new teachers, and trashed the policy of social promotion. (joinrudy2008.com)

Edwards: Like Hillary, he voted for the No Child Left Behind Act but is now a critic. Before an Iowa audience last August, he said asked, "How long is it going to take us to figure out you can't educate kids by testing them to death? Part of that is you can't have Washington telling local schools what they're supposed to do, and mandating it and then never giving them the money." Beyond NCLB, Edwards says he advocates more investment in early childhood education, better training for teachers, and incentives to attract teachers to underserved areas. Edwards says he also views children's healthcare and nutrition as intricately connected to educational performance. (johnedwards.com)

McCain: If education is a priority for McCain, he's keeping it a secret. His campaign doesn't even list education among the top issues forming his platform. Only when McCain was directly questioned by an NEA member about No Child Left Behind during a New Hampshire town hall meeting last week did we get this glimpse: He responded that the law should be amended in regard to testing students with disabilites and non-English speakers, but not repealed. (www.johnmccain.com)

Obama: "Improving our schools" makes the top 10 list of policy priorities, according to his campaign office. Obama's official position on education: "We are failing too many of our children in public schools. Right now, six million middle and high school students read at levels significantly below their grade level. Unfortunately, the debate in Washington has been narrowed: either we need to pour more money into the system, or we need to reform it with more tests and standards. Senator Obama has worked on bills that cut through this false choice and recognize that good schools will require both structural reform and resources." (www.barackobama.com)

As recently as April, President Bush was still attempting an image makeover for No Child Left Behind. As the '08 campaigning builds steam, it remains to be seen whether or not education-concerned voters will shout loud enough to be heard above the chatter.

You, sir, are no Ann Coulter

I love men. I'm the daughter, granddaughter, sister, and wife of men. Someday I may be the mother of a son. But I also happen to think syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker is a joke. Instead of writing about any of the serious and real policy issues at hand, Parker is using her column to push premises like:

1) Health research is biased toward women, to the detriment of men's health.

2) Women and men are locked in an "us vs. them" battle for both biological survival and social domination.

and 3) Most societal ills - from environmental pollutants to prostate cancer to pink kitchen appliances - come down to a ruthless male vs. female scramble for power. And the guys are losing, big time.

Thankfully, Carol Lloyd deconstructs Parker's boy-crazy political theatre in the June 11 edition of Broadsheet on Salon.com. Praise be to Carol for saying it so well.

Trying - again - to get the "Back-Over Bill" passed

Since the year 2000, approximately 1,150 US children have been killed in non-crash, non-traffic vehicle fatalities – such as back-over accidents, power window strangulations, and children left in cars who become hypothermic or overheated. Toddlers seem to be most at risk, with the average age of victims at age 12 to 23 months. But these numbers are just rough estimates, because our federal government has no system for collecting data on these types of child deaths.

Kudos to Sen. Hillary Clinton [D-NY] and Rep. Jan Schakowsky [D-IL] for re-introducing federal legislation now in committee [S 694, HR 1216] that has earned a strong endorsement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The Cameron Gulbransen Kids & Cars Safety Act of 2007 would 1.) Direct the feds to collect information on non-crash, non-traffic vehicle fatalitis among kids, so we can better understand the scope of the problem and which changes are the most urgent, and 2.) Require auto-makers selling vehicles in the US to install new safety devices in all vehicles, including back-over warning systems, power window stops, and brake shift locks.

This bill did not pass when it was first introduced in 2003 - nor again in 2005.

Cost per average American household to implement the changes?
$45.61.

If you need even more inspiration to contact your members of Congress and ask them to support this legislation, just read Cameron Gulbransen's heartbreaking story. And this grandmother's gut-wrencher.

Automakers need a fire lit under their corporate behinds. They need to be held accountable for improving the safety of their products with readily-available, relatively cheap technologies. I'd love to think they'd do it on their own, without the government getting involved. But they haven't taken the initiative. And holding your breath gets old, when you know kids' lives are on the line.

Mamas changing the world

A call for nominations was recently issued for Mothers in Action - Celebrating Mothers with Global Portraits to Inform and Inspire, a forthcoming book featuring moms who are making the world a better place for women and children through their social advocacy.

The book will spotlight 20 mothers around the world and is a collaborative effort of international women's networks including Mothers Acting Up, the National Council for Research on Women, the Global Education Fund and others, and sales of the book will benefit many nonprofit coalitions working to support women worldwide.

Submit your nomination(s) for exemplary women who are:

* Mothers (birth or adoptive) to children under age 15,
* Involved in advocacy for women's or children's issues at a local or national level, and are
* Initiating positive change in their communities and inspiring other mothers to do the same

Mothers selected for profile in the book will come from diverse countries and continents, various socioeconomic backgrounds, and from rural and urban areas. They could be volunteers working for small local organizations that are addressing regional family issues like access to healthcare, gender equity or affordable childcare, or they might be policymakers initiating change for women on a larger scale, like removing barriers to education or employment. The common theme will be their ability to blend their roles as mothers within a larger concept of social responsibility, inspiring other mothers and children to identify issues that are important to them and take action.

According to the editors, "The emphasis on cultural diversity will serve as a window to the array of social issues affecting mothers worldwide, different approaches to balancing work/volunteerism and family, and the common threads that bind all caregivers, regardless of home or heritage."

Submit nominations (limit 5 per organization) by email to celebratingmothers-at-gmail-dot-com. Submissions should include:

1. Name of individual
2. Description of social activism- work or volunteer affiliations
3. Country of origin and residence
4. Number of children and ages
5. Contact information (email, telephone, address, website)

Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2007. For more info, contact Amie Brooke Nelson at 970.376.7608 or celebratingmothers-at-gmail-dot-com.

Where are the GOP candidates going on women's health policy?

Whatever your partisan leanings, and whatever your position on abortion, it's important to know where your next president stands on the women's health policy issues that will shape the future for your daughter, your granddaughter, your sister, yourself...

Today the Kaiser Family Foundation's "Daily Women's Health Policy" spotlighted the ongoing hullaballoo over GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's abortion stance. Click here for the lowdown.

Giulian's official position on abortion as a legal procedure, as posted on his campaign website, is this:
"Rudy Giuliani supports reasonable restrictions on abortion such as parental notification with a judicial bypass and a ban on partial birth abortion – except when the life of the mother is at stake. He’s proud that adoptions increased 66% while abortions decreased over 16% in New York City when he was Mayor. But Rudy understands that this is a deeply personal moral dilemma, and people of good conscience can disagree respectfully."

But this is the GOP, people, and we're still deep in an era in which the fundamentalist Christian constituency is the most powerful force in the party. Will they successfully re-make Rudy into the foe of legal abortion they want him to be? Or will Rudy successfully move the Republican Party back toward the moderate center? This tension makes for great political drama! But it also has far-reaching implications.

Your next president will be in a powerful position to protect or overturn the law of the land in Roe v. Wade - whether through Supreme Court and other appointments, through Congressional influenuence, or through other forms of administration advocacy. Keep it in mind.

What if SIPP slips?

The June 4 Washington Post reports that a Bush administration proposal to cut funding for the Census Bureau's "Survey on Income and Program Participation" (SIPP) will reduce the amount of information in generates over the next four years - which some members of Congress and nonprofit leaders say is a bad thing.

According to the Post report, "[SIPP] is one of the most important surveys the government conducts - the only large-scale measurement of the impact of Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches, unemployment and other safety-net programs for the poor."

The Post quotes a statement released by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), which says "We'll have the statistical equivalent of a Katrina on our hands if the Office of Management and Budget refuses to request funding for the SIPP. We need the SIPP to determine...how to best make use of taxpayer dollars in tight fiscal times."

According to a Census Bureau official quoted by the post... Cut SIPP and cut policymakers' ability to see if and how federal programs are working well - or failing - at the state level. Do taxpayers really want to keep funding federal programs, when we don't have any way of knowing if they're impacting people in our own communities?

Maybe the Heritage Foundation gets it right this time? The Post quotes their senior research fellow Ralph Rector's proposal that the census should "continue to fully fund the SIPP while working on a cheapter, more efficient alternative survey."According to Rector, "The worst outcome is if the money is insufficient for the SIPP and they don't continue" working on an alternative.

Let your members of Congress know that you want them to make some noise on thils. And feel free to contact the office of E.R. Anderson, deputy undersecretary for economic affairs at the Commerce Department, letting them know that voting mothers are paying attention! Anderson's office can be reached at 202.482.3727. The office of her boss, secretary for economic affairs Cynthia Glassman, can be reached at 202.482.3727.

Amending the Immigration Reform Bill to do the right thing for kids

While the GOP presidential candidates spent the evening duking it out on national TV, trading sound bytes on immigration basics...

In a true do-the-right-thing moment, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) has introduced an amendment to the immigration bill that would ensure the protection of children whose parents are picked up in immigration raids. The amendment would require the Department of Homeland Security to inform social services if children are left behind, and to follow through in making sure that they are cared for.

The Women's Commision for Refugee Women and Children is strongly endorsing this amendment, which - let's be frank - is the bare minimum our society owes to these children their most vulnerable moment.

According to the Women's Commission, "Immigrants in more than 39 states have been separated from their families since the Department of Homeland Security stepped up immigration raids on workplaces across the country. Parents swept up in these raids many times leave young children behind, some of whom are U.S. citizens, with no caretakers. The detainees are often transferred far from home and have no access to legal and social services. Senator Kerry’s amendment to the “Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007” (S.1348) would protect alien detainees and their families from mistreatment and unnecessary separation from their children, especially U.S. citizen children, while they await adjudication of their cases."

The amendment, S. 1178, would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to ensure that, where possible, caretakers of minors be placed into available alternatives to detention programs, such as the Intensive Supervised Appearance Program, or detained close to home. ICE would also need to have social workers and appropriate translators available when carrying out a raid in which over 50 persons will be detained.

Can you imagine one day being taken away from your workplace by the immigration police, knowing that your child is left behind at home or in daycare, possibly with no loving, responsible caregiver to provide reassurance or even basic care when you disappear? Even worse, can you imagine the terror and trauma of being a young child whose mother is suddenly taken away by immigration police while she's at work?

We are a society that passionately claims family values and care for children. Let's walk the walk.

Just click here to contact your Senators and let them know what you expect of them.

Wake up and smell the breastmilk

Just goes to show... Not all breastfeeding advocates are out-of-touch hippies in sensible shoes.

In a smart, decisive, and timely move, the Workplace Breastfeeding Support group at the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee has issued an open letter in support of national paid maternity leave. Prompted by a new research review by pediatrician Gerald Calnen, just published in the journal Breastfeeding Medicine, the Committee says:

"At least 150 countries around the world provide some sort of national paid maternity leave. The USA is one of the few that does not. . .

For breastfeeding mothers, it takes time to recover from birth and build a reliable milk supply. Babies, too, take awhile to establish their feeding skills. Several studies have found that early return to work leads to earlier weaning.”

And, as anyone who's been paying attention knows, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that whenever possible, babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to receive the numerous health benefits it provides.

Fact is, most American mothers work outside the home. For the vast majority of us, employment is an absolute economic necessity, a personal priority that makes us better people and parents, or both. So where do policymakers get off, expecting millions of new mothers in America to choose between their babies' health and keeping a roof head over the family's head?

FMLA's a good start, but it doesn't cover enough American workers. We're behind the learning curve - and the rest of the developed world - on this one. We can let policymakers know we need and expect a change. And we can do it without breaking anyone's bank. (In fact, imagine the productivity, long-term loyalty, and human resource savings that could come from mothers who aren't arriving at work exhausted and guilt-ridden!)

Click here to find out which states have progressive paid maternity/family leave, and to share their successful models with the policymakers in your own state. And let your members of Congress know you don't want to see another session go by without their support for national paid family leave.

Just the facts, ma'am

Here's our starting point.

There are an estimated 80.5 million mothers (of children under age 18) in the United States.

At least 55% of mothers with infants under age 12 months are in the labor force. (The most conservative recent estimate I've found.)

74% of new mothers return to the workforce within 2 years after giving birth...but they typically face a downgrade in salary.

American childcare costs between $4,000 and $10,000 per year per child, with higher costs often associated with better care. And rates are highest for infants and speical-needs children.

A childcare study covering four states found that 12 percent of centers "could harm children's health, safety, and development," and that overall, "Child care at most centers is poor to mediocre."

Only 729,040 licensed childcare centers exist nationwide.

By the time the average child enters kindergarten, she will have witnessed 8,000 murders and over 100,000 violent acts on American television.

Because quality after-school childcare is costly and rare, more than 40,000 five-year-old American kindergarteners are home alone every day after school.

10.4 million single mothers live with their children under age 18.

Minimum wage of $5.15/hour does not meet the Self-Sufficiency Standard, which measures how much money a working adult must earn for basic suvival, without subsidies or handouts.

8 million Americans were poor enough to qualify for WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) supplemental food in 2005, - up 11% under the current administration.

2,475 million school children are now poor enough to qualify for free lunches at public schools - a number that has increased 12% under the current administration.

25.7 million Americans needed food stamps in the year 2005 - a number that has increased by 67 percent under the current administration

9 million American kids have no healthcare coverage. Millions more have inadequate coverage to provided necessary medical attention.

American kids die younger than in 36 other nations on the globe. The U.S. ranks 37th for childhood mortality, according to World Health Organization (WHO) stats.

National paid maternity leave is good for our children's health. Countries with paid maternity leave have significantly lower child mortality rates.


Think we can do better? Find your reps in Congress and DEMAND IT.