Desk
Tonight at the table
Set a reading age and state to sort the chamber by how close a bill sits to childhood.
Set up your family
Ranked by proximity to childhood
The safer door
Kayden’s Law, part of the 2022 Violence Against Women Act, does not write a national custody code. It pays states more STOP-grant money if they put child safety first in abuse-related custody cases, limit certain reunification programs, and train judges. Colorado, California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Maryland are among the states that have already written pieces of it into their own books.
VAWA 2022, Title XV (Kayden’s Law) · state adoptions 2023–2025
The lunch line
Fewer schools can automatically feed every child for free. More families will be asked to fill out paperwork, and some children who ate without a form last year will not this year.
P.L. 119: nutrition & CEP interaction
No shame at lunch
Bills in Congress would stop schools from publicly identifying children who cannot pay, and from sending cafeteria debt to collections. Several states already ban the practice. Many still do not.
Federal + state bills, 119th Congress
The phone basket
A wave of states now requires phones away during the school day, in pouches, lockers, or baskets. Districts are writing the last mile: exceptions for health, language, and after-school pickup.
State laws: e.g. bell-to-bell policies