In July, families started receiving up to $300 a month for each child. This should not be temporary. Our children must be prioritized.  

My name is Keri Troehler-Duesing, and I’m a high school teacher and mother. I never thought that my husband and I would have to navigate our family through a global pandemic, and the challenges and uncertainty we are facing are unprecedented. But President Biden’s new plan to send monthly checks of up to $300 per child to families gives me hope. These checks that start in July are from the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) that has recently passed in The American Rescue Plan gives me hope that our family, and countless other families, will be able to weather the storm. The financial stability provided by monthly checks is a lifeline that our Congress must make permanent. 

The monthly checks per child makes a world of difference to struggling families. As we all know, raising kids is expensive, and the costs of necessities like groceries, diapers, clothes, and school supplies don’t go away when the economy tanks and parents lose their jobs. It breaks my heart that millions of parents in this country have faced their worst fears this year, losing jobs, homes, and struggling to provide food for their children. The recovery from this will take many years. And once “recovery” is complete, millions of families will still be struggling to cover basic necessities.  I was surprised and dismayed when I learned that the credit was not permanent. The Child Tax Credit expansion is only through 2021.

The truth is, the Child Tax Credit is the hope and support families have desperately needed for a long time, but especially now during the pandemic as well as in the future. This tax credit will help families across the country recover and should be in place for when the next crisis or disaster hits, for we know it’s not a matter of if, but when the next crisis will happen.

Parents like me are also worried about the stress our kids are feeling right now. Recent studies have shown that rates of anxiety and depression in children are increasing nationwide. I see the toll that the isolation, stress, and disconnectedness of the pandemic is taking on my students. We, as parents and teachers, want to do everything in our power to help them. But we need our government to help us.

Making these monthly checks permanent is a step to truly putting families and their children first, and sends the clear signal that their country values them. Help me tell Congress that this is the right thing to do by signing this petition.