THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240583
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
The children who rallied on the Capitol steps Thursday were only paper dolls, but the stories pinned to their shirts were those of real children from Hampton Roads and across the country.
Local child-care professionals carried 13 of the kid-sized dolls to Washington, joining about 600 other advocates from across the country to urge lawmakers to save federal programs that fund child care.
Each state had a delegation of dolls, dressed in overalls, gym suits, pinafores and pajamas. Each doll told the story of a working parent for whom child care is vital. A sea of the dolls bobbed along the steps as the ralliers chanted, ``Save our children! Save our children!''
The child-care advocates are most concerned about a food subsidy program that Republicans have proposed lumping into block grants.
Even as the ralliers were lobbying their cause, a House committee inside the Capitol passed the very initiative they were protesting.
Republicans say the proposal, which also affects subsidized school lunches and a Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, will bring greater efficiency to the food subsidy programs by giving states more power in managing them.
The proposal folds the WIC program, school lunches, nutrition assistance for children in day care and several child-care programs into three block grants to states. Federal nutrition standards for the programs would be eliminated, and states would have the power to form their own nutrition programs.
Advocates say the proposal will force the child-care food subsidy to compete with other social welfare programs and limit it to low-income families. Currently, 600 child-care providers use the food subsidy in South Hampton Roads.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told the participants not to stop at the steps of the Capitol. ``Each and every one of you has the responsibility not just to ask, not just to request, but to knock on the doors of Congress members and say, `We care. We are not going to turn our back on the children of America.' ''
After the hourlong rally, the child-care professionals split into different directions to seek out the offices of the lawmakers who represent their state.
U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky received a visit from Beryl Holmes, who monitors day-care programs for The Planning Council, a Norfolk-based agency that manages an array of federally funded child-care programs.
``Mr. Sisisky, we would like you to have this doll and read some information about our child-care programs,'' Holmes said.
Sisisky, whose 4th District includes Portsmouth and Chesapeake, thanked her but said he was not up to speed on the legislative proposal.
The advocates hope the hand-delivered dolls will make a difference to lawmakers when the proposal comes up for a full vote.
``Well, I did my part,'' said Holmes as she walked down the polished marble floors of the federal building where Sisisky has his office. She had risen at 4 a.m. to attend the rally and still faced a long ride home to Virginia Beach. ``I hope it does a little good.'' by CNB