Because Care Can’t Wait!

Little Lobbyists families outside Union Station before the rally. We are wearing our blue logo shirts with our name in white letters and the graphics of a child touching a shooting star, heart with an EKG line, and the American flag. Union Station’s gray granite walls and decorative pillars and light sconces are behind us. We are using a variety of mobility devices.

“The work you do matters. You are there for families when they need you most — providing comfort, strength, and compassion that inspire us all. Your devotion to the people and communities you serve represents the best of America’s character, and we will always stand with you, ensuring you are seen, valued, and rewarded fairly for the work you do.”

– President Joe Biden, Proclamation on Care Workers Recognition Month 

The White House proclaimed April National Care Workers Recognition Month. To celebrate, Little Lobbyists joined the Care Coalition for a week of events highlighting why Care Can’t Wait! It was an awesome week, and our Little Lobbyists families turned out to participate in every event:

• Rally for Care: The leaders of the Care Coalition, including Little Lobbyists’ Executive Director Elena Hung, made the case for care: “...support care champions who fight for HCBS, care champions who fight for our disabled children. Ask your friends and family to join us. We can do this. We have done it before, and we can do it again!” President Biden joined us, giving a rousing speech re-confirming his support, “Care workers represent the best of who we are in America. We look out for one another in America. We leave nobody behind.” 

• Congressional Town Hall on Care: Lawmakers, union representatives and the acting Secretary of Labor met with advocates and took questions. Little Lobbyists mom Jeneva Stone asked Senator Elizabeth Warren what she would say to those who tell us we can’t afford home care. Senator Warren gave a passionate response in which she emphasized that caregiving is part of our country’s infrastructure. She began by giving a  shout-out to our Little Lobbyists families, “who are there in every fight!”

• White House Care Convening: Key members of the Administration, including Secretary of Health & Human Services Xavier Becerra and the Director of the Domestic Policy Council Neera Tanden, detailed steps the Biden Administration has already taken to build a robust care infrastructure, and emphasized their commitment to do more. The leaders were joined by a diverse panel of caregivers and recipients, including an AAC user and family caregiver, who attested to the urgency of our nation’s worsening care crisis.

Care Can’t Wait is a national coalition committed to building a 21st century care infrastructure, including investments to expand access to childcare, paid family and medical leave, and home-and community-based services, and to ensure good jobs for the care workforce. Care Can’t Wait believes that “care is at the center of our families, communities, and economy.”

Little Lobbyists is a part of the Care Coalition, shining a spotlight on the needs of our kids: access to community-based long-term services and supports that keep our children in their homes and communities, where they belong; making policymakers aware that our kids with complex medical needs & disabilities require licensed and fairly compensated care workers,  including home nurses and other home care and direct support professionals; and advocating for the home care needs of disabled adults, because we want our disabled children to survive and THRIVE into adulthood. 

Enjoy this slideshow of our families in action! Visit our website! Follow us on social media (@LittleLobbyists on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Threads) and join our Facebook community page! Better yet, become part of our movement by sharing your child’s story with us!

Image descriptions will appear as the cursor hovers over the photo.

Isra'El & Rico pose outside Union Station. They wear gray suit jackets with LL pins on the lapel and LL t-shirts underneath. Both have close-cropped, tightly curled dark hair. Rico has a mustache.

Laura, who has long hair and sunglasses pushed up on top of her head, smiles outside Union Station. Kody is to her right.

Laura and Elena pose outside the station. Laura has a large red bag over her shoulder. Elena has bright magenta streaks in her dark hair.

Simon stands using his walker and points to something in the distance. Rob, who sits in his wheelchair, is to the left.

Kody, rolling along in his wheelchair, gives a thumbs-up as our group is escorted into the rally. Jeneva and Rob are behind him. Rob’s Medicaid nurse Ryan pushes his wheelchair.

Megan holds her son Gabe in her lap inside the rally. Both are wearing N95 masks and they are seated alongside a beautiful marble wall in earth tones.

Rob, wearing his light blue wheelchair cape and a matching LL baseball hat, smiles as he waits for the rally to begin.

Rico and Isra’El pose with Gabe in-between them. They are smiling.

Stephanie and Rob pose in their wheelchairs inside the ADA section at the rally.

Elena and her son Khalil wave from behind a metal barrier just outside the ADA section. Khalil is wearing an N95 mask.

Simon, wearing his headphones and glasses, gives the camera a knowing and pensive look as he waits for the rally to begin.

Danielle, who has elaborate cornrows and is wearing her Little Lobbyists royal blue shirt (as are all our members), holds her toddler daughter Destiny. They are looking at each other and smiling.

Destiny raises her arms high in joy. Behind her is the stage with a row of American flags.

Dan and his daughter Claire are seated at the rally, talking to Jeneva, who wears an off-white coat and has her back to the camera.

Elena speaks from the stage at the rally. To each side of her are other speakers.

President Biden walks toward a group of caregivers to the right. They hold signs expressing support for care. Among them is Jamie, who has long, dark curly hair. Behind them is a large sign on the stage, royal blue with white lettering: Care Can’t Wait.

Gabe and Destiny pose in front of the stage, which is all in blue and white with American flags.

A group of us pose in front of the stage—some are using mobility devices, some are standing, some are kneeling on the floor.

Laura and Jeneva pose on either side of Rob, who is smiling broadly from his wheelchair and wearing his LL baseball hat and his Clark-Kent-style glasses.

Megan and her young son Gabe pose in front of the stage.

Rico and Isra’El pose in front of the stage, looking sharp and serious!

Jamie, her daughter Claire (who uses an adapted stroller) and son Ben pose in front of the stage, with Izzy, a careworker for the late Day Barkan.

Another group of Little Lobbyists families poses in front of the stage, some standing, some using mobility devices. Danielle’s daughter Autumn holds a sign that says “Care Can’t Wait.”

At the Congressional Town Hall, Rob smiles at Destiny, who is being held in Danielle’s arms. Destiny is giving Rob the once-over. They are in a large conference room with banks of rectangular overhead lights.

Senator Bernie Sanders, wearing a suit and with his trademark wild white hair, speaks energetically into a microphone at the Town Hall to a tightly packed audience who sit on folding chairs.

Jeneva holds a microphone, with Rob next to her in his wheelchair, in 3/4 view of their backs. She is asking a question of Senator Elizabeth Warren, who wears a red suit jacket and is seated next to Senator Bob Casey and the host Sarah Jones.

Our Little Lobbyists families pose in front of the Town Hall backdrop, white with the blue logo of the Care Coalition and various slogans about care. Rob is posed in his wheelchair at the front. From l to r: Danielle holding Destiny, Daya, Elena, Jeneva, Val, Aire.

Rob poses solo in front of the Town Hall backdrop. He is smiling and holding the grip switches for his communication device.

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra speaks from a podium in an elaborately decorated 19th century meeting room in the Old Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House. Behind him is a large bronze wall decoration framed in ochre marble that features an angel holding tablets above a large shell, and a set of old-fashioned globe-style lamps above everything.

Rob poses in-between advocates Carson Covey (a fellow wheelchair- and AAC-user) and Carson’s sister Brynne. Behind them are two American flags flanking a decorative bronze doorway.

Rob and Jeneva pose outside the White House, under a white arrival canopy with the presidential seal.