ABOUT US
Texans Care for Children drives policy change to improve the lives of Texas children today — for a stronger Texas tomorrow.
As a statewide non-profit organization, Texans Care for Children conducts research and engages communities to identify ways that state policies should change to ensure Texas kids and families succeed. We then work with legislators, state officials, partners, the media, and everyday Texans to build support for those policy solutions and ensure state leaders implement them. Our work focuses on maternal and child health, child protection (including foster care), early learning, and children’s mental health.
We are grateful to the everyday Texans whose financial contributions make our work possible and the foundations and corporations who support our work. Join us today!
EXAMPLES OF
OUR VICTORIES FOR KIDS
Extending health coverage for new moms
The maternal mortality rate in Texas is too high — and Black women in Texas are at a particularly high risk ofvpregnancy-related deaths. To reduce maternal deaths and support healthy moms and babies, we led the advocacyveffort to successfully pass House Bill 12 in 2023. Now Texas moms who have their health insurance throughvMedicaid can keep their health coverage — and keep seeing their doctors and taking their medications — for a full year after their pregnancy instead of getting kicked off after just just two months.
Securing funding for voluntary full-day pre-kindergarten
The research is clear. When children have access to high-quality, full day pre-k, they are better prepared for kindergarten and stronger readers by third grade. Yet, traditionally, the Legislature only provided funding for half-day pre-k. The Texans Care for Children team, spent years building bipartisan momentum for full-day pre-k, and when the Legislature passed an historic school finance bill in 2019, we helped ensure they included early learning funding to support full-day pre-k.
Protecting Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) services for toddlers with disabilities
Crunching the numbers and listening to community groups that provide ECI services, our team has shined a light on the way state cuts hurt toddlers with Down syndrome, speech delays, autism, and other disabilities and delays. In fact, our research found that Black children disproportionately lost ECI services after the Legislature cut funding. Fortunately, working with our partners, we were able to stop the Legislature from passing a proposed cut to ECI funding in 2021 and secure a significant funding increase from the Legislature in 2023.
Helping emergent bilingual students succeed in school
After gathering input from teachers, families, researchers, and other Texans across the state, we launched the Texas Early Childhood English Learner Initiative to help emergent bilingual students become strong readers by third grade and master both English and their home language. In 2021, we successfully worked with legislators and partners to pass several of the Initative’s recommendations, including improved support for emergent bilingual students with disabilities and a limit on the number of pre-k students in a single classroom.
Supporting financial independence for kids exiting foster care
During the pandemic, youth who aged out of foster care received federal stimulus checks to help them keep their electricity on or avoid eviction. But without a parent to help them set up a bank account, many had nowhere to deposit their checks. And without a bank account, young people can’t set up direct deposits for a new job, meaning some jobs are off limits to them. So in 2023 we passed legislation to help youth in foster care set up bank accounts and learn basic financial skills — one of many bills we’ve helped pass to support youth in foster care or keep kids safely with their own families.
OUR TEAM IN ACTION
We celebrated with Rep. Toni Rose after collaborating to pass postpartum health coverage for new moms.
We worked with the media countless times to build momentum for policy solutions that support kids.
We invited Rep. Angie Chen-Button, the Chair of the House committee overseeing child care, to learn firsthand about child care challenges.
We worked closely with Republican and Democratic lawmakers on legislation to improve children’s access to health care.
