Rallying for Children in Need

Kids today face a myriad of problems: violence, poverty, abuse, teenage pregnancies and more. The rising number of troubled children bodes ill for America. Today’s child is tomorrow’s adult and will shape society through the lessons of his or her early years.

And now we have Washington politicizing children’s issues to the point of pain. Children are the innocent victims of harsh changes proposed for immigration and welfare laws, including suggestions that the safety net provided by the national Aid to Families with Dependent Children program be eliminated. Meanwhile, the percentage of children in extreme poverty, those whose family incomes are less than half the official poverty level, has doubled since 1975 and now accounts for 6.3 million youngsters, 10% of the national total. Overall, about 20% of American children are considered poor.

Saturday, under the direction of the Children’s Defense Fund, thousands of kids are expected to converge at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to help focus the nation’s attention on the plight of our youngest generation. The Defense Fund, a private agency, has convened the Stand for Children march in sponsorship with more than 1,700 national, state and local organizations.

This is a demonstration that should be taken seriously, but in our jaded capital it’s being seen through a political prism as a throwback to 1960s-style “people power” demonstrations and dismissed by some as being out of sync with today’s fiscal and societal realities.

The critics are reading it wrong. Yes, many federal programs for children have sputtered and failed, but others have been successful. No effort should be haphazardly abandoned. Washington has largely succeeded in addressing poverty among the elderly. Now the challenge is to do the same for children. This march should raise consciousness of the plight of children in need.