A Call To Action on Behalf of Babies

Wonder why we launched the For Our Babies campaign? Check out “A Call to Action on Behalf of Babies” in WestEd’s R & D Alert, for answers.

The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without a paid-leave policy for parents at or around the birth of a child.

Prenatal care in the United States remains expensive, while virtually all other industrialized countries provide free or affordable prenatal care.

And, while families in the U.S. pay about 80 percent of the direct cost of child care services, parents in European countries pay about 30 percent.

WestEd’s J. Ronald Lally says we can—and must—do better.

 “The United States needs to become much more strategic and farsighted in the way it supports its children during their critical first few years of life,” says Lally, Co-Director of the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies.

This reality is why Lally and his colleagues launched For Our Babies, a national initiative to promote healthy development in U.S. children from conception to age three.

Download this free article in WestEd’s R& D newsletter, to learn more about For Our Babies and how brain research shows that a healthy, nurturing, and engaging first three years of life are critical to babies’ brain development, which supports success in school and life.

Want to help build a brighter beginning for our babies? Our website includes ways you can get involved with For Our Babies. You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!