In a recent Rise support circle, parents directly impacted by ACS discussed the necessity of the child tax credit and stimulus payments for their families. Parents were able to use these payments to cover essentials like food, since food stamps don’t go far enough. They were also able to use the money to pay or catch up on rent. One parent shared that she was able to buy furniture and another was able to pay their child’s phone bill.

These payments helped improve families’ quality of life, by enabling parents to take their children places and buy them things. Farah Fardoush, a parent at Rise, reflected, “When you get extra money, it opens up a lot of opportunities. You can get toys that can help growing children learn. You can buy books for them and they can start reading. You can buy clothes for them.”

Rise supports making the expanded child tax credit permanent and other efforts to provide direct cash assistance and increased benefits to families. Rise will continue to call for this type of financial and resource support for families in our upcoming participatory action research report. 

>> Read Ronald Richter’s Op-Ed in The Hill: Four years is not enough — Congress should make the Child Tax Credit Permanent