# Hopeful Child Foundation

> Legal education for children. Hopeful Child turns laws that change an ordinary Tuesday (lunch, backpacks, cell phones, a house, a parent) into a story a child can understand and a five-minute action a parent can take tonight. Stories come at three reading ages: Picture-book (4-6), Storybook (7-9), and Young reader (10-14). Nonpartisan. Not legal advice.

Hopeful Child Foundation was founded and designed by Carisa Carlton, Founder and member of the Board of Directors. The site never collects identifying information from a child: no name, email, school, address, or child account. Subscriptions are paid by an adult only.

## Notice: AI tools temporarily paused

The AI writing tools (Explain custom writes, story rewrites, letters, Design Your Future letters, and the educator brief API at https://hopefulchild.com/api/tools/educator-brief) are temporarily paused. They return HTTP 503 with {"error":"temporarily_unavailable"} and a Retry-After header. Stories, bills, guides, and all other pages stay up. Questions: hope@hopefulchild.com.

## Plans

- Family: $9/month. One household. Unlimited explains and rewrites, state-tuned ranking and letters, 50 educator briefs a day. Subscribe: https://buy.stripe.com/3cI5kx7Za7BH5QM5k7gYU00
- Classroom: $29/month. One teacher. Print view for every story, with discussion questions. Class packs for age 8 and 12, plus the parent briefing. 50 educator briefs and outlines a day. Subscribe: https://buy.stripe.com/bJe14hgvG09f6UQh2PgYU01
- School: $24 per teacher per month, billed annually ($288 per teacher per year). Minimum 5 teachers. Invoice billing starts at 10. Buy at https://hopefulchild.com/schools or with the API steps below.
- Free desk: the stories and chamber are open to read; the free desk includes 3 custom explains.
- Checkout is handled by Stripe. Cancel anytime from the billing page: https://billing.stripe.com/p/login/3cI5kx7Za7BH5QM5k7gYU00
- No refunds are permitted; canceling stops future charges. Policy: https://hopefulchild.com/refunds

## Main pages

- [Home](https://hopefulchild.com/): what Hopeful Child is and the bill closest to childhood this week.
- [Desk](https://hopefulchild.com/desk): tonight at the kitchen table; bills ranked by how close they sit to childhood, plus saved bills.
- [Chamber](https://hopefulchild.com/chamber): children's-issue bills from U.S. Congress and U.S. statehouses (via OpenStates), ranked by how close they sit to a child's day.
- [Explain](https://hopefulchild.com/explain): ask a word, a question, or a bill name and get a story a child can understand.
- [Free educator brief](https://hopefulchild.com/tools/educator-brief): paste a bill or school policy, get a parent briefing or a classroom outline. Free, no signup.
- [Family](https://hopefulchild.com/family): set a reading age and the state legislature to follow. Stored on the device only.
- [Design Your Future](https://hopefulchild.com/floor): a child writes an idea for a new law. We draft a letter signed "a young person in [state]" and link to that legislature's official page. We do not file or mail it. No name. No email.
- [Subscribe](https://hopefulchild.com/subscribe): Family and Classroom plans.
- [Schools](https://hopefulchild.com/schools): school licenses, $288 per teacher per year, minimum 5 teachers.
- [About](https://hopefulchild.com/about): Carisa Carlton, Founder and member of the Board of Directors, and why legal education should begin in the formative years.
- [Press kit](https://hopefulchild.com/press): for investors, journalists, and developers.
- [Contact](https://hopefulchild.com/contact): write to Hopeful Child (grown-ups only).

## Learn: civics for kids

- [Learn](https://hopefulchild.com/learn): civics guides for children, parents, and teachers.
- [How a bill becomes a law](https://hopefulchild.com/learn/how-a-bill-becomes-a-law): the path through Congress, vetoes and overrides, and a story for ages 7 to 9.
- [The three branches of government](https://hopefulchild.com/learn/three-branches-of-government-for-kids): legislative, executive, judicial, and checks and balances.
- [How to talk to kids about new laws](https://hopefulchild.com/learn/talking-to-kids-about-new-laws): what to say at each reading age, and five-minute actions.
- [Civics worksheets for kids](https://hopefulchild.com/learn/civics-worksheets-for-kids): worksheet steps per law on the desk. Printable class packs come with Classroom or School.

## Stories on the desk

- [The lunch line](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/lunch-line): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/lunch-line
- [No shame at lunch](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/no-shame-lunch): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/no-shame-lunch
- [The two-thousand-two-hundred](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/child-tax-credit): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/child-tax-credit
- [The first thousand](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/first-thousand): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/first-thousand
- [The phone basket](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/phone-basket): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/phone-basket
- [The locked backpack](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/locked-backpack): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/locked-backpack
- [The quiet clinic](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/quiet-clinic): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/quiet-clinic
- [The other school door](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/scholarship-credit): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/scholarship-credit
- [The quiet rules](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/quiet-rules): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/quiet-rules
- [The safer door](https://hopefulchild.com/bills/safer-door): parent briefing; story at https://hopefulchild.com/story/safer-door

## Tools for agents

- Machine-readable index: https://hopefulchild.com/.well-known/api-catalog (RFC 9727 linkset). Full reference for agents: https://hopefulchild.com/llms-full.txt
- OpenAPI 3.1: https://hopefulchild.com/openapi/educator-brief.json and https://hopefulchild.com/openapi/schools.json
- Educator brief: POST https://hopefulchild.com/api/tools/educator-brief with JSON {"text": "...bill or policy text, 200 to 60,000 characters...", "output": "parent" | "classroom", "gradeBand": "5" | "8" | "12" (default "8"), "minutes": 30 | 45 (default 45), "language": "en" | "es" (default "en"), "label": "optional name"}. Returns JSON. GET the same URL for your remaining quota.
- The tool reads only the text you send (the first 20,000 and last 4,000 characters of long text). It does not fetch URLs or look up bills. Nonpartisan. Not legal advice. Do not send student records.

## API access and quotas

- Free, no key: 3 educator briefs a day.
- Family, Classroom, and School: 50 educator briefs a day (per license; per seat for School). Quotas reset at midnight America/Phoenix.
- API keys are part of Classroom and School only. A signed-in Classroom license or School seat creates one key at https://hopefulchild.com/api-key (shown once; creating a new key replaces the old one; revoke on the same page).
- Send it as Authorization: Bearer hck_live_...
- Errors are JSON {"ok": false, "code": "...", "error": "..."}. Codes: invalid_input (400), plan_inactive or invalid key (401), too_long (413), not_policy or gate_failed (422), quota, cap, or rate_limited (429), upstream (502), paused (503), timeout (504).

## Buying School seats (for agents acting for a school)

- Price: $24 per teacher seat per month, billed annually: $288 per seat per year. Minimum 5 seats. Invoice billing (net 30) starts at 10 seats. Card checkout lets the buyer adjust between 5 and 1,000 seats.
- Each seat includes the print view, class packs, 50 educator briefs a day, email sign-in, and an API key.
- Who can buy: an adult (18+) authorized to buy for the school who accepts the Terms (https://hopefulchild.com/terms#school). You must be 18 or older to create an account. Accounts are for parents, guardians and educators. Set age_confirmed, adult_confirmed, terms_accepted and autorenew_acknowledged to true only with that person's consent. age_confirmed: true means the admin confirms: "I am 18 or older and a parent, guardian or educator." Missing or false returns 400 age_not_confirmed. autorenew_acknowledged: true means the admin understands the School license renews automatically every year at $288 per teacher (total shown at checkout) until they cancel online at https://billing.stripe.com/p/login/3cI5kx7Za7BH5QM5k7gYU00. It is required for card and invoice billing. Never send student information.
- Step 1. POST https://hopefulchild.com/api/schools/checkout with JSON:
  - Card: {"seats": 5, "billing": "card", "admin_email": "principal@school.org", "school_name": "Lincoln Middle School", "age_confirmed": true, "adult_confirmed": true, "terms_accepted": true, "autorenew_acknowledged": true}
  - Invoice (10+ seats): add "billing": "invoice" and "invoice": {"billing_name": "...", "address": {"line1": "...", "city": "...", "state": "...", "postal_code": "...", "country": "US"}, "po_number": "optional", "tax_id": "optional US EIN", "tax_exempt_certificate_pending": true}. Set tax_exempt_certificate_pending only if the school is tax exempt.
  - Tax exempt: send the invoice checkout with "tax_exempt_certificate_pending": true. The response includes certificate_upload_token. Then upload the certificate (PDF, PNG, or JPG, 5 MB max) as multipart field "file" to POST https://hopefulchild.com/api/schools/tax-certificate with header Authorization: Bearer <certificate_upload_token> within 2 hours. The invoice waits for a human review.
- Step 2. Card: the response (200) has checkout_url. Give it to the human admin to pay on Stripe; agents do not enter card details. Invoice: the response (201) has invoice_id and hosted_invoice_url (null while a certificate is under review); Stripe emails the invoice to admin_email.
- Step 3. Poll status_url (GET https://hopefulchild.com/api/schools/status?checkout_session_id=... or ?invoice_id=...). status is "pending" until paid.
- Step 4. After payment the admin gets a manage link by email (or requests one with POST https://hopefulchild.com/api/schools/manage-link {"email": "..."}), opens https://hopefulchild.com/schools/manage, and adds teachers by email. Each teacher gets a sign-in link and can create an API key at https://hopefulchild.com/api-key.
- Checkout errors (400): seats_below_minimum, invoice_requires_10_seats, invalid_email, missing_school_name, age_not_confirmed, adult_not_confirmed, terms_not_accepted, autorenew_not_acknowledged, invoice_details_required, invalid_request. Also 429 rate_limited (10 tries an hour), 502 stripe_error, 503 paused.
- Humans can also buy at https://hopefulchild.com/schools.

## Policies

- [Terms of Service](https://hopefulchild.com/terms)
- [Refund policy](https://hopefulchild.com/refunds)
- [Privacy Policy](https://hopefulchild.com/privacy)
- [Cookies](https://hopefulchild.com/cookies)
- [Disclaimer](https://hopefulchild.com/disclaimer)
- [Accessibility](https://hopefulchild.com/accessibility)
- [Copyright and DMCA](https://hopefulchild.com/copyright)

## Contact

- Email: hope@hopefulchild.com
- Company: Hopeful Child Foundation, LLC, an Arizona limited liability company
- Mailing address: 1968 S. Coast Hwy, Suite 2461, Laguna Beach, CA 92651