Making an Issue

About 22 percent of Massachusetts residents are under 18, according to the U.S. Census. As political debates heat up from the local to the national level, are you hearing candidates talk about how they’ll serve that 22 percent? Vague references to “our children’s future” don’t count.

It falls to adults who care about children to make sure that issues such as educational equity and juvenile justice get front-burner treatment this election season.  The good news is: You don’t need a multi-million dollar advertising program to make that happen. Something as simple as posting a question on a campaign’s Facebook wall lets candidates know that voters care about kids’ issues. A letter to the editor, a question at a candidate forum, even a chat with a door-to-door volunteer can get kids on a candidate’s radar. Imagine if everyone committed to doing just one such thing a month.

Massachusetts Citizens for Children put together a guide to children’s issues to help citizens engage candidates. We were proud to partner with them in writing the juvenile justice section. Other focus areas are child poverty; low-income working families; early education and care; children’s health; child sexual abuse; and children in foster care. Sections are brief, informative and end with specific questions you may use or adapt.

Looking through the booklet, it is striking but not surprising to see how often doing right by kids will help us all. For example, we ask candidates about raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to 18. Massachusetts is one of a shrinking number of states that prosecute 17-year-olds as adults for minor crimes, even though the practice has been well documented to encourage recidivism. Kids are safer in the juvenile system and our communities are safer when we prevent repeat crime.

In a sense, there is no such thing as a “children’s issue,” because what’s good for children is ultimately good for society as a whole. Perhaps someday that simple truth will be widely accepted. Until then, we need to work hard to get children’s issues in the forefront of people’s minds.

What steps will you take to do that this election season?