This project is the organization of a signed appeal/petition from Kansans, and accompanying testimonials, to submit to Kansas State Legislators to move forward with introducing state-paid parental leave. Although Kansas does not allow direct petitions for introduction of policy, there is an allowance for petitions to be presented to legislators to influence a course of action. The petition will be sent to the state capital and individual legislators in either the current or next legislative session.

Currently, thirteen states and the District of Columbia have some form of paid family leave laws. They are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington State. According to Stanczyk (2019), after California began the Paid Family Leave Act in 2004, poverty risk decreased by 10.2% in the year immediately after childbirth. Furthermore, household income increased by 4% compared to mothers in the States without paid leave. The data from the California program also showed that the benefit was scaled to the level of poverty, meaning the poorest, classified as over 200% below the poverty level, benefited the most (Stanczyk, 2019). Many other countries also have paid parental leave and are reaping the benefits of the improvement in health and poverty. A total of 41 were considered in one study including Greece, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland (Burtle & Bezruchka 2016). All of these countries have better neonatal and infant health outcomes and lower poverty by comparison. The U.S. overall is a major outlier on the world stage in this regard.

From a review of the existing literature, including several meta-analyses, the consistent theme for success in the reduction of generational poverty is prevention, not intervention (Van Ryzin et al., 2018). A major aspect of poverty is health. This is for a multitude of reasons. However, it is undeniable that the U.S. spends more on Health than any singular issue to date (Burtle & Bezruchka 2016). Burtle and Bezrucha (2016) also identify that “there is now a substantial body of evidence supporting the importance of the period from conception through the first few years of life” This is concerning the setting of the tone for health throughout the lifespan. They also go on to state the fact plainly that the U.S. has no encompassing apparatus to provide support to families during this critical time of development.

            The experts recommend prevention science. This means funding family-based prevention programs to target the high-risk areas where generational poverty is observed and most common. While direct financial assistance can temporarily lift a family experiencing generational poverty it does not address the issue of preventing the emotional, behavioral, and developmental issues from carrying over generationally in families. There are three areas of concern when addressing generational poverty. They are family poverty, adverse social environments, and behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and physiological problems (Van Ryzin et al., 2018). Evidence-based family and school prevention programs address all three and have been tested. This is mainly a macro-level issue.