Funding cuts to programs for education, healthcare, poverty, hunger, disabilities, insurance, civil rights, nutrition, homelessness, discrimination, early childhood programs, child labor, and child abuse are all disappearing. Many of these cuts are to largely volunteer organizations where each funding dollar pays for community volunteers donating sometimes hundred of dollars worth of services for children in need. While the CASA dollars were eventually returned the fallout from unpaid and laid off CASA National staff is still evident in the organization’s ability to service its many (90) CASA organizations around the country.
Warning, this is a long list – with links to sources.
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CWLA warns that these cuts and eliminations would make millions of children less safe, rip away supportive services from families, and drive more families to the brink of involvement with the child welfare system. They describe the scale of these proposed reductions as potentially “decimating the human services field,” with far-reaching consequences for child safety, well-being, and family stability127.
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From January 28, 2026
Limits on health and nutrition supports
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Cuts or eliminations proposed for key children’s health and safety programs, including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) initiatives, Youth Violence Prevention, firearm injury research, Teen Pregnancy Prevention, maternal and newborn health (e.g., Healthy Start, parts of Title V), and children’s mental health (including tribal and LGBTQ+ programs).
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Federal proposals and rules that restrict immigrant families’ access to Medicaid, SNAP, and other basic supports, which advocates say will push more children into poverty, worsen health, and increase child welfare involvement.
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Immigration and Medicaid policy changes that create a “chilling effect,” causing immigrant parents to delay or skip care for their children; recent data show about three in ten immigrant parents report their children went without needed health care in the past year.
Immigration and immigration-related benefits rules
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A proposed Department of Homeland Security “public charge”-related rule that children’s advocates say would deter immigrant families from accessing health, nutrition, and other basic supports, increasing child poverty, stress, and risk of maltreatment and trafficking.
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A broader set of immigration enforcement and benefit-restriction policies that heighten fear in immigrant communities, leading some children to avoid school and services and undermining their educational and health outcomes.
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Policies and proposals that explicitly target immigrant children in federal rhetoric and planning (e.g., references to “putting kids in cages” in critiques of Project 2025), which advocates argue normalize harsh treatment and detention of children.
Education funding, access, and censorship
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Withholding or disrupting Congressionally appropriated K–12 funds (including a pause on roughly 6.2 billion dollars and an attempt to block access to remaining pandemic recovery funds), which created instability in school supports that particularly benefit vulnerable students.
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Federal efforts or blueprints (notably Project 2025) to shift education away from serving all students and toward “schools serving parents,” including plans that would disenfranchise about 90% of students and weaken federal protections for marginalized groups. It’s important to note that children have no rights in America until they are 18 (no standing in court or right to make their own decisions). This is because the U.S. is the only nation in the world to not have signed the United Nation’s Rights of the Child Treaty of the 1980’s. This means that children that marry at 13 or 15 do not have the legal right to sue for divorce until they are 18.
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Federal-level pushes aligned with book bans and classroom censorship campaigns, which restrict what children—especially LGBTQ+ students and students of color—can read and learn, undermining inclusive and developmentally appropriate education.
Child care and early childhood
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Project 2025–aligned plans to drastically restructure or roll back federal early childhood and child care programs, including the elimination of many high-quality, affordable child care slots under the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Proposals that would limit family choice in child care without offering alternatives, harming children’s early learning, increasing stress on families, and worsening the national child care shortage.
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Cuts to early childhood initiatives (e.g., certain home visiting, infant and toddler supports) that advocates say will weaken the foundation children need in their earliest years.
Civil rights, LGBTQ+ protections, and censorship
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Plans in Project 2025 and related efforts to roll back federal civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ students, including undoing guidance and enforcement that safeguard them from discrimination in schools.
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Increased federal alignment with book bans and restrictions on teaching about race, gender, and U.S. history, which disproportionately harm students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and others who need affirming curricula.
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Reduced federal grants and enforcement resources for civil rights offices in education, which can weaken oversight of discrimination and disability rights for children.
Child welfare, foster care, and juvenile justice
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A new federal law titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” P.L. 119‑21 (2025), which the Youth Law Center warns will significantly harm children and youth in foster care and juvenile justice by cutting supports and destabilizing already vulnerable young people.
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Ongoing federal Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) standards and financing structures that, according to some analyses, require costly state compliance without ensuring successful outcomes, contributing to chronic underperformance and strained services.
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Broader federal budget and policy choices that reduce funding for prevention and family-support services, which child welfare advocates say will drive more families to the brink and increase foster care entries instead of strengthening families.
Policies specifically harming immigrant children
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A proposed DHS program to “pay children to return themselves to harm” by incentivizing unaccompanied children to go back to dangerous conditions, which advocates describe as fundamentally abusive and contrary to anti-trafficking and child-protection principles.
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Federal benefit and immigration-rule changes that push immigrant families deeper into poverty and fear, raising risks of trafficking, exploitation, and child welfare involvement.
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Sustained enforcement practices that lead children to experience sleep problems, eating problems, school difficulties, and behavior issues because of immigration-related stress; about 18% of immigrant parents report such impacts on their children since early 2025.
Large-scale policy “blueprints” (Project 2025 and similar)
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Project 2025, a detailed conservative governing blueprint, which child advocates say would: eliminate many early learning and child care programs, increase child hunger, limit children’s health care, and strip children of certain rights while claiming to “protect” them.
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The plan’s emphasis on reducing federal roles in child-serving systems (education, health, nutrition, early childhood) without replacement supports, which experts argue would destabilize services for millions of children.
From May 1, 2025
Current List of Specific Federal Policies Impacting Child Well Being
Terminated $1 Billion in mental health grants for schools
DEI Crackdown and Schools
How Schools are Changing
Cuts to Essential Programs for Children
- Medicaid and CHIP Reductions: Proposals from the Republican Study Committee, Project 2025, and the House Budget Committee call for deep cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which together provide health coverage for millions of low-income children. These cuts could reduce these programs by more than half, threatening access to medical care for vulnerable children5614.
- SNAP and Nutrition Programs: The same proposals would slash funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reducing average benefits for over 40 million participants, including children. School meal programs are also at risk, contributing to rising food insecurity and hunger among children56714.
- Head Start Elimination: Project 2025 and recent administration plans aim to eliminate Head Start, a federal early childhood education program serving over 800,000 low-income children. This would remove a critical support system for early learning, health, and family engagement, especially harming rural and low-income families7910.
- Reductions in Income Security Programs: Proposed budgets would cut income supports such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), all of which help lift children out of poverty and provide basic financial stability5614.
Threats to Education and Civil Rights
- Elimination of the Department of Education: Project 2025 proposes dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, threatening federal oversight and funding for public schools, including programs for children with disabilities and those in low-income communities78916.
- Cuts to Special Education and Early Intervention: Funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Medicaid, both vital for children with disabilities, is at risk. Staff layoffs and reduced oversight threaten the civil rights and educational support for these children8.
- Book Bans and Censorship: Federal efforts to impose book bans, restrict classroom content, and increase censorship are growing, threatening students’ freedom to read and learn, and disproportionately affecting marginalized groups69.
- Discrimination Against LGBTQ+ Students: Project 2025 and related policies seek to roll back protections for LGBTQ+ students, including rescinding federal civil rights protections in schools9.
Other Key Threats
- Child Labor Protections: Project 2025 proposes rolling back child labor laws, potentially allowing minors to work in more dangerous conditions with fewer protections, reversing decades of progress in child safety613.
- Attacks on Immigrant Children: Increased immigration enforcement, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and efforts to undermine birthright citizenship are creating trauma and instability for immigrant children and those in mixed-status families6.
- Reductions in Child Welfare and Social Services: Spending freezes and job cuts at agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services threaten child welfare programs, foster care support, and oversight of child safety101217.
- Erosion of Public Health Protections: Cuts to public health infrastructure and increased disinformation have led to the resurgence of preventable diseases among children, such as measles6.
Current Outcomes and Trends
- Rising Child Poverty and Hunger: With the expiration of pandemic-era supports, child poverty has more than doubled since 2021, and food insecurity is surging6.
- Increasing Uninsured Rates: More children are losing health coverage as Medicaid and CHIP protections expire6.
- Mental Health Crisis: Suicide rates and mental health challenges among children are rising, with inadequate federal response6.
- Homelessness and Abuse: Record numbers of children are experiencing homelessness, and child abuse reports are increasing as family stress and service cuts mount6.
Summary Table: Key Programs and Proposed Threats
| Program/Area | Proposed Threat/Policy Change | Potential Impact on Children |
| Medicaid & CHIP | Deep funding cuts | Loss of health coverage, reduced care access |
| SNAP & School Meals | Benefit reductions, program cuts | Increased hunger, food insecurity |
| Head Start | Program elimination | Loss of early education, family support |
| Department of Education | Proposed elimination | Reduced federal oversight, funding loss |
| IDEA & Special Education | Funding and staffing cuts | Fewer services for children with disabilities |
| Income Security (EITC, CTC) | Major reductions | Increased child poverty |
| Child Labor Protections | Rollback of regulations | More children in hazardous work |
| Civil Rights (LGBTQ+, race) | Rescinding protections, increased censorship | Discrimination, limited educational freedom |
| Immigrant Children | Exclusionary policies, enforcement | Trauma, instability, fear |
Conclusion
Federal policy proposals and actions in 2025 threaten to reduce or eliminate critical supports for children in health, nutrition, education, and civil rights. If enacted, these policies would worsen child poverty, hunger, health outcomes, and educational opportunities, with long-term negative consequences for American society567891014.
The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) has reported extensively on recent and proposed federal budget cuts and program eliminations that threaten child-friendly programs across the United States. According to CWLA’s analysis of leaked administration plans and budget documents, the following key points summarize their findings:
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Elimination of Major Early Childhood Programs: The administration’s plans include the proposed elimination of Head Start and Early Head Start, which have served over 900,000 children and families with early childhood education and home visiting programs. These programs are proven to strengthen families and prepare children for school, and their loss would be especially devastating for low-income and rural communities17.
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Cuts and Eliminations of Child Safety and Health Programs: Programs focused on child safety, such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), Youth Violence Prevention, and Firearm Injury and Mortality Prevention Research, are slated for elimination. Other health-related cuts include the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program, maternal and newborn health initiatives (like Healthy Start and parts of the Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant), and mental health programs for children, including those specifically serving tribal communities and LGBTQ+ youth1.
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Reductions in Child Abuse Prevention and Family Support: Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) is being cut by about $10 million, and Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) discretionary funding is also reduced by $10 million. These cuts would reduce support for programs that prevent child maltreatment and strengthen family stability17.
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Elimination of the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG): The SSBG, which provides $910 million for child welfare services-including foster care, adoption, and support for vulnerable children-is targeted for elimination. This would remove a critical source of flexible funding for states to address child abuse, neglect, and family support needs26.
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Closure of Regional Support Offices: Five regional offices of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) are being closed, which will significantly impact technical assistance and support for child welfare, child care, and Head Start services, particularly in tribal communities and U.S. territories2.
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Other Service Cuts: Additional eliminations and reductions include the Community Services Block Grant, Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), refugee support and medical services, youth homelessness prevention, and several rural health and substance abuse programs127.
CWLA warns that these cuts and eliminations would make millions of children less safe, rip away supportive services from families, and drive more families to the brink of involvement with the child welfare system. They describe the scale of these proposed reductions as potentially “decimating the human services field,” with far-reaching consequences for child safety, well-being, and family stability127.
KIDS AT RISK ACTION / KARA / INVISIBLE CHILDREN
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