All children deserve a happy and healthy childhood. However, many of our nation’s current policies and programs for children, youth and their families are rooted in the country’s long history of racism and marginalization, often focusing on scarcity and distrust over well-being.
That’s why Children’s Defense Fund and its partners are working to shift dominant narratives about children and youth to prioritize their well-being. The goal is to build a broad and cohesive narrative about what children and young people need to thrive — from affordable housing to safe neighborhoods to close relationships with caring adults — to support systems change that helps them do so.
Spitfire kicked off our work with Children’s Defense Fund by conducting research on current narratives in the news media and on social media about children and youth. We also conducted stakeholder interviews with children’s rights advocates to understand key themes in the field and identify what support advocates need to be successful in shifting narratives about these issues. Building on what we learned in the research phase, Spitfire drafted narrative guidance and messaging to reframe narratives about “protecting youth” that can limit their agency and/or are weaponized to limit children and young people’s freedoms in schools, homes and communities.
We tested this new messaging among key audiences in Children’s Defense Fund’s network: Black faith leaders at the organization’s annual Hall Proctor Institute. With this feedback and messaging in hand, we developed “Narrative Guide to Promote Youth Well-Being,” a comprehensive narrative and messaging guide for children’s advocates. The guide includes sample talking points, social media posts, op-ed templates and other materials to help advocates integrate the new messaging into their work. After developing the guide, we worked with Children’s Defense Fund to develop a rollout plan for circulating the guide among Children Defense Fund’s network and children’s advocates.
Now more than ever, it is important that we continue to advance messaging that shifts the worldviews that hinder progress so that all young people are free to be themselves and get the support they need to thrive.