The state’s leading children’s advocacy organization, Children’s Alliance, welcomed Dr. Soleil Boyd as its new executive director in the fall, just in time for the ramp-up to the 2026 legislative session. A 20-year veteran of child and family advocacy, Boyd says she plans to advance the organization’s legacy of moving lawmakers to protect and expand vital programs for Washington’s children.
“My goal is to build on our momentum — expanding access to early learning, advancing behavioral health supports, and securing more equitable and progressive revenue for the state,” Boyd said in a recent interview.
We asked Boyd what’s at stake in the upcoming session. Following is our edited conversation.
Seattle’s Child: What’s the most pressing concern for kids today?
Dr. Boyd: Right now, I’d say basic needs. With the rollout of H.R. 1 [President Donald Trump’s government spending law], we are going to see many people disenrolled from Medicaid, and many families not having enough resources for nutritious food for their children. It is really stark. At this moment, we must preserve access to health care. We thought we had done that. And yet we have to do it again, and in the context of a state budget deficit.
SC: How can parents help protect health care for kids and families?
Dr. Boyd: We have to continue to draw attention and demand lawmakers protect health care access for young children and families. Changes from the federal government have left us all in a daze. We need to anticipate these cuts, to create contingency plans that keep programs going without throwing everyone into crisis or emergency mode. Right now, we need to urge the state to focus on making sure that families who do qualify for health care benefits continue to get those benefits, because the way this is rolling out is aimed at stressing people, so they don’t even ask for coverage they’re entitled to or re-enroll. I hate this situation. Our state must help people truly maximize what is still available.
SC: Lawmakers haven’t yet delivered on universal child care. Does Children’s Alliance have a role there?
Dr. Boyd: Ensuring families have access to child care and early learning is part of our ongoing commitment to economic justice. With the Fair Start for Kids Act and other policy improvements that came before and since, we have most of the policies in place to realize high quality and guaranteed access for everyone who needs and wants child care. What we need is to fund it right. That means we also need to continue to advance policies that ensure good working conditions for the child care workforce and family-sustaining wages.
SC: What bills will Children’s Alliance push for in 2026?
Dr. Boyd: The primary bill we are backing at the moment, Senate Bill 5708, is about the addictive nature of online platforms and their impact on kids. Since last year, Children’s Alliance has worked with many stakeholders, including families who’ve lost children to platforms with addictive online feeds. It has been very powerful in shaping this year’s legislation. I’m very hopeful.
We’ll also be working to ensure a good bill is in place to implement the recent gift from the (nonprofit) Ballmer Group, which could open 10,000 slots in the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) over the next 10 years. We want to ensure that the money goes to the right communities and places.
SC: Kids and families faced many challenges in 2025. How do you maintain the hope needed to lead in 2026?
Dr. Boyd: These are my kids. Everything we’re advocating for would affect my kids. Every harm that’s coming or being experienced either impacts my family or families that I’m very close to within my own community. I see the impact of Head Start being rolled back. I see the impact of immigration hitting child care. I feel it personally, and it can be kind of disorienting at times. It’s emotionally activating to see these things.
This is not dispassionate policy work and I don’t always stay grounded, which is why I have to continually reground with my family and with our partners in the work. For many communities, many communities of color, the government not coming through for you is not a new experience. But, parents are designed to love their children. A lot of things make realizing that love harder in some ways, but it’s what we’re set up for.
So I spend time focusing on loving my kids. I also spend time focusing on how other people love their kids, even in really difficult circumstances — the ways they show up for their kids, creatively, meaningfully, and how much their kids feel that love, even when they don’t have a lot of other things.
Take action
To learn more ways to engage with lawmakers and make your voice heard, checj out “Now is the time to speak up for kids in Washington: How families can influence Washington’s 2026 legislative session”
