That protection includes a good public education, access to affordable healthcare (including mental health) so they may grow to be productive citizens, protection from violence (guns, predators, abuse), a nutritious diet, and a clean environment. (You may want to offer more to the list of protections that children deserve.)
Read the statistics below from the Children's Defense Fund and tell the candidates that the protection of children are important to your vote.
How America Stands in the World in Protecting Children
Among industrialized countries, the United States ranks:
1st in military technology
1st in military exports
1st in Gross Domestic Product
1st in the number of millionaires and billionaires
1st in health technology
1st in defense expenditures
1st in the number of persons in prison or jail
12th in living standards among our poorest one-fifth of children
13th in the gap between rich and poor children
14th in efforts to lift children out of poverty
18th in the percent of children in poverty
22nd in low birthweight rates
25th in infant mortality
Next to last among donor nations in the proportion of GDP devoted to international aid to impoverished peoples
Next to last among 16 industrialized countries in the proportion of GDP devoted to income support for non-elderly families
Last among 16 industrialized countries in the proportion of children living in poverty after all income supports are counted
Last in protecting our children against gun violence
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. children
under age 15 are:
9 times as likely to die in a firearm accident,
11 times as likely to commit suicide with a gun,
12 times as likely to die from gunfire, and
16 times as likely to be murdered with a gun,
as children in 25 other industrialized countries combined.
Of the 191 members of the United Nations, the United States of America and Somalia (which has no legally constituted government) are the only two nations that have failed to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Black infant mortality rates in our nation's capital exceed those of 55 nations, including the Bahamas, Barbados, and Libya.
Twenty-six major industrialized countries provide paid parental leave; the United States is not one of them.
The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not provide guaranteed prenatal care for every pregnant woman.
Here's the CDF's most recent Congressional scorecard that is a wealth of information for the campaign trail!
The Children's Defense Fund's "mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities."
From their website the CDF Action Council states that they provide "a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves." They "pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities."
Ask your candidate: "Where do you stand on protecting Virginia's children in all these areas?