A new federal law will significantly harm children and youth in foster care and juvenile justice-those already at greatest risk of instability, loss, and system involvement. The so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill”, P.L. 119-21, was signed into law on July 4, 2025. While broad in scope, it most significantly and negatively affects those with the least income and power in our communities, including the children, youth, and families for whom the Youth Law Center advocates. While children in foster care and juvenile justice face deepening need, this draconian law guts essential supports and hands permanent tax breaks to the wealthiest. It also closes the door on policies that would create a child tax credit that, based on data gleaned from temporary changes during the pandemic, would significantly reduce child poverty in our country.
Rather than advancing policies that equip young people to heal, thrive, and succeed in a rapidly changing world, the law leaves young people behind. The cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are large, will result in harm to children and families, and reduce the resources available to those with the least income. These changes create the illusion of “saving” money by making it harder for children and families to stay on Medicaid and SNAP by creating paperwork, new bureaucratic requirements and hurdles, and removing many individuals lawfully in the United States from eligibility. In addition to millions losing critical and essential benefits, the law also shifts costs that were previously paid by the federal government to individual states, leaving them, many of whom are already cash strapped, with the difficult choice of raising revenue through higher taxes, cutting programs and services, or both.
While children in foster care and juvenile justice face deepening need, this draconian law guts essential supports and hands permanent tax breaks to the wealthiest.
We know when pressure and obstacles are placed on families that prevent them from meeting their basic needs, the risk of costly involvement with justice and foster care systems increases significantly. The consequences of system involvement are monetary, human, and traumatic, in particular from potential family separation and the experience of foster care or incarceration.
The Youth Law Center has developed a summary of some of the provisions that will impact children, youth, and families who are system involved or at risk of system involvement.
While we remain opposed to the bill, it has become law, so we are focusing our advocacy in the near-term on the following:
- Educating stakeholders about the new law and equipping communities with the information they need to remain eligible for vital benefits. One of the goals of the law is to de facto deny benefits to people, not because they are ineligible for benefits, but because they are not able to jump through all the hoops the law imposes to secure these benefits. We will regularly share and disseminate information and tips to help individuals retain critical benefits that help children and families secure essentials like food, maintain their health, and thrive.
- Advocating at the state level for transparent and efficient implementation of P.L. 119-21. We want to support all stakeholders and policy implementers that see the great value of basic need programs like SNAP and Medicaid and believe these programs are foundational to children and family thriving, are a safety net when challenges arise, and are a good long term investment for all our communities.
- Advocating at the state level for policies that are equitable, treat individuals with respect and dignity, and invest in the great potential of children and youth. P.L. 119-21 will put great stresses and challenges on states and local government to meet the basic needs of their residents. However, we will continue working with people and organizations, guided by strategic foresight, to develop policies to address the root causes of poverty and inequity that too often lead to deep-end system involvement, and create solutions that invest in children and youth and their great potential for the future. As we noted in our report On the Threshold of Change: Forces that could transform future conditions for youth in Extended Foster Care (EFC), when we succeed in creating policies that invest in young people’s futures, including low barrier access to basic needs resources, meaningful opportunities for education, work, digital dexterity, housing and community connection, everyone wins.