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Don’t Destroy Child Care Options!

Families need more affordable childcare options, not to have good options taken away!

The State Department has just proposed new regulations for the nation’s long beloved Au Pair program that could double, even triple, costs for families. These new rules would gut the program—or eliminate it entirely as an option for working parents.

These proposed rules simply don’t make sense.

Au pairs report high levels of satisfaction under the program’s existing structure, as do the families who engage them. Why is the Biden administration proposing to fix what isn’t broken?

The proposed rules will cost families an additional $10,000 to $20,000 each year. They will also require families to take on new administrative burdens, like keeping a list of all meals offered “and accepted” by the au pair each week and obtaining written sponsor approval for any changes to the au pair’s weekly schedule. The proposed rules ignore the many ways families support au pairs by providing not only housing and food, but by incorporating them into their family life, providing other material support including access to cars, auto insurance, cell phones, and more.

The rules also reduce the number of hours au pairs can be asked to work each week from 45 to 40.

In essence, the Biden administration is proposing to reduce the number of childcare hours host families can use, while significantly increasing the cost.

These changes will make this form of child care simply too inflexible and expensive for many families, which is a loss for working parents, au pairs, and American diplomacy.

Tell the State Department not to destroy the Au Pair program!

Only a few thousand families use au pairs—but there is no reason to take away this option and push these families into the childcare market, where childcare slots are often already scarce.

Your voice matters in this conversation!

We have until December 29, 2023, to weigh in on these proposed changes—regulators need to hear from you now!

Fill out the form to easily submit a comment to urge the State Department not to destroy a beloved childcare option and opportunity for young people from around the world to visit the United States.

Personal messages are more likely to be read by officials. Write your own message or personalize the template before sending.

Eventbrite, Stop Silencing Women

Eventbrite has done it again! They continue to cancel events featuring women’s voices speaking the truth about the harms of gender ideology on women.

The latest events to be canceled featured IW ambassador Riley Gaines and IW storyteller Chloe Cole.

“Eventbrite continues its efforts to silence women and suppress women, while at the same time supporting pro-terrorist, pro-Hamas rallies,” Gaines told the National Review. “It is not the first time we’ve seen Eventbrite cancel women’s voices. This summer, Eventbrite tried to cancel the ‘Let Women Speak Austin’ event in Texas, but thanks to the brave women leading the charge, the event went on as scheduled. Eventbrite’s hateful, anti-woman agenda will not interrupt my upcoming discussion surrounding basic truth, protecting the integrity of female sports, and promoting safety, fairness, and equal opportunities for women.”

Eventbrite, co-founded by CEO Julia Hartz, has claimed to celebrate and empower women in the past, and bills itself as a platform “that allows anyone to create, share, find and attend events that fuel their passions.” She has made comments like, “Let’s keep celebrating women. In this curated collection, @Eventbrite’s experts showcase virtual events made for anyone to learn, celebrate, inspire change, and empower women everywhere. #WomensHistoryMonth.”

But actions speak louder than words.

Reject Bigotry! Tell Eventbrite to STOP
viewpoint discrimination and the silencing of women.

Join the Movement to Bring Education Freedom to Texas!

The Texas legislature is taking on a fight for critical Education Savings Account (ESA) legislation for Texas families.

The state legislature is in a special session to consider legislation that would establish an education savings account program for eligible students within the state.

Under the ESA proposal, qualifying families would receive funding annually to use for eligible education-related expenses such as tutoring, tuition, therapies, and textbooks. Giving parents the ability to access these funds directly and the freedom to select the best education for their children would be transformative.

In Texas and across the U.S., parents of school-aged children, and the general public, are increasingly demanding and achieving education freedom for every student. Including Arizona, there are currently six states that offer universal ESAs and nine additional states with some type of ESA program in place. Over 30 states have some form of private school choice — don’t let Texas fall behind!

Call your representative in the Texas legislature and tell them that more education options will help your child thrive!

Tell Oberlin College – I Stand with Coach Kim!

IWF broke the story of Coach Kim – Oberlin College’s long-time women’s lacrosse coach – who was harassed by Oberlin college administrators for expressing her opinion that males should not be allowed to compete in competitions meant for women.

Tell Oberlin College to stop silencing women!

Oberlin has taken Kim’s position away from her and siphoned her into another position where she won’t have contact with students and will essentially be left on the sidelines. This is not okay.

Colleges shouldn’t punish employees or students for “wrongthink.” They shouldn’t punish women for standing up for women’s rights.

Stand with Coach Kim! Tell Oberlin they shouldn’t punish women for speaking out in defense of women’s rights.

The Return of COVID Authoritarianism. Just Say No!

Children, who are COVID-19’s lowest risk population, are once again being forced to make enormous sacrifices even after the end of the pandemic.

Shutdowns, mask, and vaccine mandates are again being pushed in schools and by their powerful allies.

A Montgomery County, Maryland elementary school is mandating masks for third-graders, and Kinterbish Junior High School in Alabama reintroduced masking.

In higher education, Dillard University in New Orleans brought masks back. Rutgers University and Georgetown University have also mandated masks and over 80 colleges and universities are still mandating vaccines. At the University of Michigan, students who test positive for COVID-19 must leave campus, or isolate themselves, much to their confusion.

And it’s not just masks. School districts in Texas and Kentucky have shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks. School closures are happening in other areas, citing extreme heat and teacher strikes.

Teachers unions are flexing, at students’ expense.

Teachers unions are too eager to close schools, demand masks, and keep parents quiet and fearful. Those unions have powerful partners willing to push the message that COVID is back.

Former White House official Dr. Anthony Fauci is back in the media, saying “there’s no doubt that masks work,” and urging people to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest guidance. We now know that masks don’t work, from the most comprehensive analysis of studies on mask efficacy conducted by Oxford epidemiologist Tom Jefferson.
Teachers unions influenced the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration and urged the Department of Justice to investigate parents who challenged school closings and prolonged masking.
When President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten was criticized for shutting down schools, President Joe Biden personally called her, saying, “I am not abandoning you on schools. I want you to know that.”
Teachers unions demanded and got $200 billion from taxpayers – which to date has not been spent!

These actions have had disastrous effects on our children. Our children are paying the price with the loss of two decades of learning, mental health issues including depression and anxiety, and according to the CDC, an increase in developmental disabilities in children due to prolonged masking.

“We know children are largely safe from COVID,” said IWF’s Education Freedom Center Director Ginny Gentles on Fox News. “This is always a low risk population and masking only harms children, particularly children with special needs. This desire to do something and the something being masking has to stop.”

Citing the now famous line, “The child is not a mere creature of the state,” from the 1925 Supreme Court decision in Pierce v. the Society of Sisters, Gentles continued:

“We have known for a long time that parents have the right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. But somehow school districts have forgotten this and want to hide information from parents. And that’s why it’s important to stand up to them.”

No Mask Mandates. No School Closures

Mandatory masking in schools is unscientific, unfair to kids, and purely political. It is our right as parents to decide what is best for our children, including sending them to school without masks.

Is your school requesting masks?

Take action today and push back on mask mandates at your school. This template letter provides a starting point for you to express your concerns with school officials.

Is your local newspaper pushing powerful union-crafted messages? Tell everyone! Here are resources on masking, closures and parents rights to help you write a letter to the editor. How To: Write a Letter to the Editor

Learn more about masking:

Learn more about the effects of school closures:

Learn more about how to take control of your child’s education:

Protect Student Safety and Privacy in Virginia

In July 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration updated Virginia’s model policies. The updated guidance is a victory for parental rights as well as for the safety and well-being of all students in public schools.

Changes to the model policies include:

School officials are not to keep secrets from parents regarding their children’s chosen gender identity.
Bathroom and locker room use is to be based on biological sex, rather than chosen gender.
Students are to compete in school sports based on their biological sex, rather than their chosen gender.

While the revisions to Virginia’s model policies are commonsensical for most of us, fringe transgender activists, and now the Department of Justice, are trying to intervene and roadblock these important changes.

Let’s lift our voices to encourage Virginia’s public schools to adopt policies consistent with the new guidance.

Take action today by telling your Virginia public school district’s superintendent that you support safety and fairness in public education and want parents involved in their children’s lives.