Issues

America is ready for a president who fights for our children. Hillary has spent her lifetime as an effective advocate for parents and children.

From her first job out of law school at the Children's Defense Fund to her time as First Lady of Arkansas and of the United States to her service in the Senate, helping children has been at the center of Hillary's public life.

In the White House, Hillary will continue her lifelong work to create a world where every child is cherished, loved, and able to fulfill his or her potential.

Among the issues she has fought for and will make a priority as president are:

• Attracting and supporting more outstanding teachers and principals, and paying them like the professionals they are.
• Reforming the No Child Left Behind Act. This law represented a promise -- more resources for schools in exchange for more accountability -- and that promise has not been kept.
• Giving new parents support and training to promote healthy development for their children.
• Increasing access to high-quality early education and helping to create Early Head Start.
• Passing legislation to provide respite care for caregivers of elderly and disabled Americans.
• Helping to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act to enable new parents to take time off without losing their jobs, and expanding it to make it available to more parents and to provide for longer leave.
• Advocating for adoption and for abused and neglected children -- as First Lady, Hillary pushed legislation that more than doubled adoptions out of foster care.
• Promoting programs, like Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, that provide new parents with support and guidance in caring for their children. As First Lady of Arkansas, she helped bring HIPPY to the U.S.
• Protecting children against violence and sexual content in the media and studying the impact of electronic media on children's cognitive, social, and physical development.
• Providing meaningful support to households, called "kinship care" families, where grandparents and other relatives are raising children.