As County Attorney, my office has worked to help children thrive through a wide range of efforts -- including safe schools, truancy prevention and intervention, curfew enforcement and child protection actions on behalf of abused and neglected children.  I've also successfully advocated for tougher laws to protect our kids from sexual predators and child pornographers.

Ultimately, the well-being of our children depends on the well-being of our families.  And the value of families for our own national well-being cannot be exaggerated.  That's why I believe it's a legitimate function of our government to support strong families and make sure parents have the tools they need to protect their children and do what's best for them.

The priorities in Washington need to change. 
As your U.S. Senator, here's what I'll fight for:

• I will fight to get working families the flexibility they need to care for their children without losing their jobs.  No parent should have to choose between a paycheck and being with their child at a critical time.  I support the Family and Medical Leave Act and oppose the current Administration's efforts to weaken this important law.

• I will fight to give parents more tools and information so they can protect their children in this new high-tech, multimedia world in which they're growing up.  I'm deeply concerned about the culture of violence and sex in the media.  I support the V-Chip, Internet filters and other new technology that give parents control over what their children see on TV and do on the Internet.  As the capabilities of the Internet grow, we must be vigilant about the new harms that may lurk for our children and stand up to industries that put profits ahead of protecting our kids.

• I will fight to keep our children safe from criminal predators.  As a prosecutor, I know the heinous nature of these crimes.  Aggressive prosecution of those who victimize children has been a top priority, and my office has also been at the forefront in using civil commitment laws to lock up predatory sex offenders indefinitely.  Federal support is important to local law enforcement and the criminal justice system to make sure sex offenders can be tracked, because we know they're not afraid to move across state lines.  It's important that there is consistency and uniformity across states for sex offender registration and community notification.  I support the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Database Act, which would establish a publicly-available national database of sex offenders.

• I will fight, along with state and local communities, to encourage after-school programs that give kids a safe, positive environment when their parents aren't able to be at home.  Quality after-school programs connect children to caring adults and provide constructive activities during the peak hours of juvenile crime from 3 to 6 p.m.  These efforts are among the most powerful tools for preventing crime, and they save more than $3 for every $1 spent, without even counting the savings from crime reductions.