A new presidential administration will take office in January, and work on the presidential transition has already begun.

The Academy’s Transition Plan: Advancing Child Health in the Biden-Harris Administration is a bold list of child health policy recommendations for the new administration focused on supporting healthy children, secure families, strong communities and ensuring our role as a leading nation for youth.


Introduction

On January 20, 2021, President-Elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as our nation’s 46th president and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris will make history as the first woman and first Black and Indian American to serve as vice president. This period of transition to the Biden-Harris Administration occurs in the midst of a global pandemic and a national moment of racial reckoning.

Our nation’s 73 million children face increasing threats to their physical and mental health, threats that disproportionately affect children and adolescents of color. The path forward will be difficult but by uniting to put children’s health first and to root out racism and systemic inequities, we can ensure that every child has the opportunity to grow up healthy and safe – regardless of race, income, gender, sexuality, religion, disability, or immigration status.

In October, the American Academy of Pediatrics released its Blueprint for Children which outlined the State of Children in 2020 and laid out a child health policy agenda for 2020 and beyond. This Transition Plan: Advancing Child Health in the Biden-Harris Administration provides specific policy proposals that would invest in our children and their future prosperity.

Healthy Children

Policies that promote healthy children, with recommendations related to:

Secure Families

Policies that promote secure families, with recommendations related to:

Strong Communities

Policies that promote strong communities, with recommendations related to:

Leading Nation

Policies that promote our role as a leading nation for youth, with recommendations related to: 

View the full transition plan in PDF format.