Home > Advocacy > Alerts

 URGENT – WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Dear friends of First Candle,

It has come to our attention that funding for the National Children’s Study, implemented as part of the Children’s Health Act of 2000, will receive no further funding after FY2006 and that planning and implementation of the study will cease later this year. This directive came out of the White House through its Office of Management and Budget, and is in direct conflict with the specific instructions of both the House and Senate in each and every fiscal year appropriations report since 2000.

First Candle is deeply concerned about the impact this funding cut will have on the future health and well-being of our children, particularly as it relates to SIDS and stillbirth research. It is critical, if we are to reach our goal of eliminating SIDS and stillbirth as major causes of infant death, that the funding for this important study be restored. The individuals that comprise the Federal Advisory Committee assigned to the National Children’s Study stand ready to do whatever it takes to make the Study a reality and have taken the first step by writing a letter to President Bush and other leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services.

We hope we can count on your support to help reverse this enormous wrong to America’s children, they deserve no less.

The National Children’s Study was developed as a long-term study of children to impact the major causes of childhood illness such as premature birth, SIDS, stillbirth, asthma, obesity, preventable injury, autism, developmental delay, mental illness and learning disorders. These disorders result from the interaction of a combination of biologic, genetic, chemical, social and behavioral factors that combine to determine health. The study is prepared to enroll approximately 100,000 children from over 100 locations throughout the U.S. in order to identify causes and develop treatments of specific diseases and develop population-based intervention strategies to prevent illness and improve the impact of poverty and substandard environments on children’s growth, development and mental health.

It is our goal to launch a letter writing campaign that would accomplish two goals:

• Let officials at the White House and Department of Health and Human Services know what a devastating impact this funding cut will have on the future health and well-being of America’s children.
• Let our representatives in the House and Senate know that we appreciate their efforts that have succeeded in securing funding for this important initiative to date and encourage their continued support to ensure that this study is implemented in its entirety.

What can you do?

• Personalize this sample letter to White House and DHHS officials or write your own personal letter. To ensure that these letters receive maximum impact and exposure, we would like to hand deliver the letters. Please email your letters to info@firstcandle.org or mail hardcopies to: 1314 Bedford Ave., Suite 210, Baltimore, MD, 21208.
• Personalize this sample letter to representatives in the House and Senate to encourage their continued support. Use the links below to obtain email and/or mailing addresses for the representatives from your local area:

            House Representatives                     Senate Representatives

We thank you in advance for your support . . . in the belief that every baby should live.