Decades from now, historians will debate the significant influences of the 2024 election. From my perspective, it’s simple: the biggest loser from this year’s election is the American child. In a grueling national election cycle, the needs of children were ignored.

How many TV, radio, social media, or mailings from politicians did you witness that focused on children?

President Trump was chosen due to discontent over our economy and family finances. Something happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, and over the past four years that changed our society’s perceptions of the American Dream. Our grandparents and parents believed that if they worked hard and contributed to their communities, their children and grandchildren would inherit a better economic and community life. Americans have long held that the next generation would be guaranteed upward mobility.

However, through the global pandemic and with rising housing costs, the inadequacy of salaries to meet basic needs, and the staggering debt of many American families, I think many have come now to realize that the promise of a better life for the next generation cannot be guaranteed.

How is it then that our national elections continue to downplay child well-being? America’s crisis of deep child poverty begs for our awareness. On just one night in January 2024, 351 children and 103 youth (ages 18-24) were found unsheltered on the streets in Maine communities.

Almost 34,000 children in Maine live in families under the federal poverty level, and 1 in 5 Maine children face hunger. Maine has the highest level of child hunger in New England.

Some children are more vulnerable than others. More than 2,500 children were in state custody as foster children in September. Due to a lack of available foster homes, children are being placed in hotels supervised by social workers 24 hours a day.

There are 69 young people that we send out of state to mental health facilities because we do not have access to proper treatment in Maine. In 2023, 138 children were admitted to a behavioral health psychiatric emergency room and stayed for an average of 23 days for a more appropriate placement.

In September, the Department of Justice sued Maine for its inadequate mental health services and claimed the state was “unnecessarily segregating children with behavioral health disabilities in hospitals, residential facilities and a state-operated juvenile detention facility in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

During this holiday season, when you gather with your loved ones, I hope that you will take a moment to stand up for children. They need your voice. If our national politics are going to ignore them, you need to pay attention at the local and state level.

First, be the voice for children. Call our state legislators and the governor and ask them to address some critical child policy priorities: increase the child tax credit (one of our best tools to decrease child poverty), find more funding to get foster children out of hotels, increase investments in the children’s mental health residential services to ensure that no child has to be sent out of state to receive treatment, expand the development of new youth housing to end our state’s crisis of youth homelessness. Be prepared to be told that there is no new money in the budget this year for additional investments. However, the suffering of children who remain hungry, homeless, or in state custody must be addressed even in times of budget shortfalls. Our state budget is a moral document that expresses our tolerance for child maltreatment. We must do better.

Second, be an ally to children with your time and resources. Devote your time to community-based nonprofit organizations offering childcare, drop-in services, recreational support, art endeavors and educational advancement. Consider becoming a foster parent or contributing your gift of time or donations to community nonprofits.

Finally, resist the tendency to use social media as your only avenue of activism. Be the outgoing and caring hero for children. Show up for kids and don’t be shy about direct engagement. Children need to know that there are neighbors who see them, listen to them, and devote time to them. Be that welcoming house for kids on your block.

If our national elections and political campaigns won’t focus on children, you will have to show up for them. The next generation is counting on you; it’s clear that politics as usual will merely erase children from our national discourse.