Part III: What Can Be Done?
This section is intended to provide alternatives that address the problem of American child farmworkers. These alternatives include amending existing laws, improving enforcement of those laws, and expanding services for child farmworkers. The options presented, however, are by no means comprehensive. As you review them, consider which are most feasible and most desirable, then try to develop your own strategies.
The final step in a public policy project is one you will need to take on your own— deciding exactly what policy should be recommended. As you review the alternatives in this section and develop your own ideas, try to make a list of the objectives, costs (or disadvantages), benefits (or advantages), and practicality of each. When your list is complete, review it in order to help you make your decision of which specific policy to recommend. In making your recommendation, keep in mind the need not only to defend your choice, but also to say why it is more important to pursue than the other options being considered.
Video Introduction
-
Motivation, Education and Training
An excerpt from the video “Stolen Childhoods” that highlights one program for serving child farmworkers -
What Kids Can Do
A brief list of actions students can take to address child labor presented in the film Lost Futures
How Should the Problem Be Addressed in U.S. Laws?
-
Recommendations
Additional limitations on child labor proposed in a National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health report -
Child Labor Coalition Recommendations
How one nongovernmental organization suggests U.S. law should change -
H.R. 2870: Youth Worker Protection Act
Text of a bill considered by Congress to reform U.S. child labor laws -
H.R. 2674: Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act)
Text of an alternate bill that would address child labor laws -
Summary of the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act)
Summary and explanation of how the CARE Act would change U.S. law
What Services Should Be Offered To Support Child Farmworkers?
-
Motivation, Education and Training
Description of an organization that provides education and job training to
migrant workers in four states -
Migrant Education Grants
Explanation of federal grants that encourage states to develop programs
to help children of migrant workers and examples of resulting state programs -
Conexiones community outreach program
Description of a program designed to teach technology and communications
skills to children of migrant workers
What Can Citizens Do Directly?
-
Ending Child Labor
Different strategies for ending child labor, such as unionism, universal
education and universal minimum standards -
Student Farmworker Alliance
Student organization that works to improve conditions for farmworkers
The Hidden Problem | How Can This Happen? | What Can Be Done? | Photo Gallery