Join Us to Advocate for Parents and Children!
Advocacy Day at the General Assembly!
We had an amazing Families Forward Advocacy Day at the Virginia General Assembly on January 23rd! This year we met at the General Assembly Building and spent the day participating in advocacy meetings with legislators and staff, attending committee hearings, and taking a look at the proceeding of the oldest continuous legislative body in the country!
Participating in Advocacy Day is a great opportunity to talk to your representatives about the work of Families Forward and what it means to your community. However, it's not the only way! If you're not able to attend Advocacy Day, but are interested in other opportunities to share your message of support for Families Forward, let us know and we'll share information about additional opportunities when they become available.
Here's some helpful resources:
Virginia General Assembly - Overview of Meeting Space (including map layouts)
Policy Initiatives: Progress Report
As the year draws to a close, thank you for your unwavering commitment to advancing policies that strengthen families and communities across Virginia. Together, we’ve made significant progress in our advocacy efforts, and I’m thrilled to provide an update on where we stand:
1. JCHC Endorsements for Policy Options 9 and 10
We have championed two critical policy initiatives through the Joint Commission on Health Care:
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Policy Option 9: The CHIP Evidence-Based Project (CHIP EVB) endorsement.
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Policy Option 10: A Medicaid Study Bill to explore creating a Medicaid benefit for home visiting programs.
As we learned the week of Thanksgiving, the Joint Commission on Health Care has adopted Policy Option 9 (supporting CHIP’s evidence-based work) and Policy Option 10 (exploring Medicaid funding to expand home visiting services). Our collective advocacy has raised awareness about the value of these proposals, and we are optimistic as we move closer to securing the necessary patrons.
2. Funding for Family Resource Center Network
We’ve requested a Budget Amendment of $6.6 million over the biennium to sustain our current seven Family Resource Centers. This funding is critical to maintaining and expanding our capacity to serve families statewide.
Additionally, the Title IV Reauthorization package will hopefully be voted on soon – possibly as soon as the first week of December. If passed, this milestone legislation will federally define Family Resource Centers, positioning them as a vital prevention strategy and paving the way for future federal funding allocations.
Awaiting Updates from VDSS
We are actively communicating with our partners at the Virginia Department of Social Services regarding including any FRC allocations in their agency’s budget package. We’ll have more clarity when the Governor’s budget is released on December 18th.
Next Steps: Preparing for the Budget Amendment(s)
Once the Governor’s budget is unveiled, we will pivot swiftly to secure Budget Amendments with confirmed patrons. We are in discussions to engage a senior legislator to champion this critical funding initiative.
Looking Ahead with Optimism
Thanks to your tireless advocacy, we’ve made remarkable headway. These efforts are a testament to the power of partnership and the shared vision of a stronger future for Virginia’s families.
Hopefully you’ve already marked your calendars for our Advocacy Day at the General assembly on January 23rd. Please stay tuned for additional updates as we move into this next phase of the advocacy process. In the meantime, let’s continue to build momentum and inspire action within our communities and beyond.
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About Home Visiting:
Home visiting connects pregnant and parenting families with young children to a trained, family support professional who provides customized coaching and guidance through pregnancy and the early stages of a child’s development. Home visitors help parents understand their role as their child’s first, and most important, teacher. Home visitors help families realize their strengths, and unlock their child’s potential.
Home visiting benefits families, children and the community.
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Moms and babies are healthier
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Children are better prepared for school
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Children are safer
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Families are more self-sufficient
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Home visiting programs save money in the long run
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You can get updates on advocacy by following our blog!
Scenes from advocacy days
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What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is as basic as speaking on behalf of oneself or others to get something done. For example, as child advocates we seek to ensure that the children in our community have a voice and that their needs are met. This can mean speaking on behalf of children and families to your local community officials, your state-level elected officials, or your federal policy-makers.
Helpful resources include this Advocacy Guide.
Why Advocate for Families?
The most obvious reason to be a child and family advocate is that you care. You care about the children in our country and want them to be safe, healthy, and happy. It follows that you want to help ensure that local, state, and federal policy-makers adopt, implement, and maintain important policies and programs that support children families. In order to ensure that these policies and programs are maintained, it is critical to have a sustained vocal and noticeable presence at all levels of policy-making. You can be part of that presence; and therefore, you can be part of the effort to protect our nations children and families.
Decades of research have shown that the creation of positive childhood experiences can mitigate the effects of adversity.
While brain science has helped us understand how adverse childhood experiences cause toxic stress for children, which can lead to poor health outcomes, we also know that positive childhood experiences protect adult mental health and promote healing from toxic stress."