We all agree that we want children to have what they need to thrive. Yet, on every metric for wellbeing — from ACEs and health outcomes to reading levels and graduation rates — we are falling far short of that goal. A significant impediment to implementing the kinds of policies, programs, and other system-level supports that would improve outcomes for children across the board comes down to common patterns in public thinking that routinely get in the way. In this session, we will explore dominant cultural mindsets about children — including what constitutes essential care, how it’s provided, and by whom. Moreover, we’ll explore key shifts we, as communicators, can make in how we think and talk about children in order to activate alternative, more productive mindsets instead. Participants will be introduced to an evidence-based framing strategy for advancing a new narrative on how we can come together to better care for children.