ProtectandPrepare.org
The big picture. What AI is already doing to American childhood, and why parents want their kids safe and ready at the same time.
Five years at the table with parents and families, developers and tech leaders, here at home and around the world. We bring back where American families actually stand on AI, the ideas to fix what is broken, and the laws, policies and plain-English tools that get our kids protected and prepared for the digital future waiting for them. Every tool is free. No login. Tell us who you are and we will point you to the right one.
Start here, in this order:
Kitchen tables and statehouses. Developers and tech leaders. Paris and Windsor Castle. We have been in this fight for five years, and we bring parents with us every time.
Safe and ready. Parents refuse to pick one, so we built for both.
The big picture. What AI is already doing to American childhood, and why parents want their kids safe and ready at the same time.
Protected, Not Restricted. Our national poll of 1,527 K-12 public school parents, fielded with Echelon Insights May 28 to June 1, 2026.
Red, yellow, green. The traffic light for every way AI touches your kid's school, plus eight questions to take to your principal. In English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Six weeks of your year, back. Free AI training for educators, piloting now with Massachusetts districts.
For Catholic school educators, grounded in what the Church is actually teaching, including Pope Leo XIV's Magnifica Humanitas. Piloting in Greater Boston. Free to any school, parish or family.
The parent's guide. Start from zero, find out which account your kid is really on, paste your first real question into a chatbot, and work down the list.
EPIC 2.0, AI and Tech Edition. Parents and young people in the same building on the same night, talking about what AI is really doing in their homes, classrooms and jobs. With Rebecca Winthrop of Brookings and local parent groups at every stop.
Every federal bill on AI, screens, kids' privacy and online safety we are tracking. Where each one stands, where we stand, who to call.
National Parents Union / Echelon Insights. n=1,527 parents of K-12 public school students. Fielded May 28 to June 1, 2026. Margin of error ±2.7 points.
Seven things AI is doing in schools right now. You make the call. Then check it against the MyKidMyData framework.
23 federal bills. Where each one stands, where we stand, who to call.
Imposes a tax on AI companies and invests the proceeds to create a Work Protection Administration program within DOL, which would award competitive grants to hire people for childcare, eldercare, healthcare, and early ed
No companion bill · -
Introduced · Casar (D-TX), Foushee (D-NC), Jacobs (D-CA)
Directs the Surgeon General, with HHS, to study nationwide mobile device use in K-12 schools; Directs ED to run a pilot grant program helping districts go phone-free
Introduced · Cotton (R-AR), Britt (R-AL), Kaine (D-VA), Kelly (D-AZ)
Introduced · Westerman (R-AR), Stauber (R-MN), Morrison (D-MN), Crow (D-CO)
Allows DOL to encourage AI literacy, readiness, and skills development in registered apprenticeship programs
No companion bill · -
Introduced · Haridopolos (R-FL)
Establishes competitive grants for universities/nonprofits for research developing K-12 AI literacy curricula, instructional materials, PD & evaluation methods
Introduced · Schiff (D-CA), Rounds (R-SD)
Passed committee · Kean (R-NJ), Amo (D-RI)
Authorizes NSF to fund undergraduate and graduate AI scholarships; PD fellowships for educators; community college and CTE Centers of AI Excellence, a nationwide outreach campaign to K12 students, and competitive research awards on integrating AI into K12 ed
Introduced · Moran (R-KS), Cantwell (D-WA)
Passed committee · Fong (R-CA), Salinas (D-OR), Pettersen (D-CO)
Requires the NSF Director to complete workshops to identify gaps in data and published findings related to the effects of or harms to children caused by AI in the classrooms
No companion bill · -
Introduced · Whitesides (D-CA), McClain Delaney (D-MD), Salinas (D-OR)
Federal mandate that states ban phones in classrooms
No companion bill · -
Introduced · Vindman (D-VA)
Classifies AI systems as products so families can sue for defective design
Introduced · Durbin (D-IL), Hawley (R-MO)
No companion bill · -
Requires guardrails on AI chatbots to protect minors: Three-tiered approach (educational, emotional companionship, quasi-theraputic) but bans ALL tiers from encouraging self-harm, sexual communication with minors, claiming to be human or licensed, or simulating romance and emotional dependency. Also requires parental notification when a minor expresses suicidal ideation
Introduced · Husted (R-OH), Kim (D-NJ)
No companion bill · -
Family accounts with parental oversight for minors' chatbot use, parental consent, protective defaults, no targeted ads to minors, commissions study on impact of chatbots
Passed committee · Cruz (R-TX), Schatz (D-HI), Curtis (R-UT), Schiff (D-CA)
No companion bill · -
Requires study on toys with AI integrated features, requires the development of a joint action plan on how the toys are sold and marketed as well as safety requirements
Passed committee · Duckworth (D-IL), Murkowski (R-AK)
No companion bill · -
Real age verification, bans AI companions for minors and creates duty of care for negligence
Introduced · Hawley (R-MO)
Introduced · Moore (R-UT), Foushee (D-NC)
Extends 1998 COPPA protections from kids under 13 up through teens aged 13 to 16; requires parental consent for kids under 13 & opt-in consent for teens to colect personal information; rewrites "personal information" to cover IP addresses, device IDs, precise geolocation, photos, voice recordings, and biometrics including facial and iris scans; bans targeted ads for minors; gives teens and parents rights to access, correct, and delete data; carves out an exception to verifiable consent for operators working with schools; orders FTC and GAO studies.
Passed full chamber · Markey (D-MA), Cassidy (R-LA) + 20 bipar cosponsors
Held at the desk · Walberg (R-MI), Lee (R-FL)
Requires chatbots that know a user is a minor to disclose non-human status at session start and every 30 minutes; directs the FTC to write rules capping how far back a chatbot may reach into a minor's data to shape outputs; bans addictive tools like push notifications for minors; prohibits advertising, profiling, and model training for minors; gives enforcement to the FTC and State AGs
Passed committee · Markey (D-MA)
No companion bill · -
Requires app stores to verify every account holder's age category; tie any minor account to a verified parental account; and obtain parental consent before a minor downloads, installs, or purchases an app or makes an in-app purchase; gives parents a single dashboard to grant, withdraw, and manage consents
Introduced · Lee (R-UT)
Passed committee · James (R-MI), Bilirakis (R-FL)
No companion bill · -
Passed full chamber · Guthrie (R-KY), Pallone (D-NJ)
Passed committee · Blackburn (R-TN), Blumenthal (D-CT)
Introduced · Bilirakis (R-FL)
Bars social media platforms from letting anyone under 13 create or maintain an account (& retroactively deletes children's accounts), prohibits personalized recommendation systems for minors, gives the FTC and state AGs enforcement, and limits social media use on school networks through the E-Rate program
Introduced · Schatz (D-HI), Cruz (R-TX) + 13 cosponsors
Introduced · Luna (R-FL), Schrier (D-WA)
Requires app stores to ask users to declare age at account creation, pass an age signal to developers, and give parents a central toolkit to manage their child's app usage, while developers of "covered applications" must report whether their app offers different experiences for adults and minors, make reasonable efforts to keep minors out of adult-restricted activity, obtain consent before a minor accesses portions the developer has designated as unsuitable without parental supervision, and refrain from targeted ads for minors
Introduced · Moran (R-KS), Rosen (D-NV)
Introduced · Auchincloss (D-MA), Houchin (R-LA)
Age verification requirements for websites with harmful content for minors (e.g. obscenity or child pornography); bars self-attestation as sufficient compliance
Introduced · Lee (R-UT), Curtis (R-UT), Banks (R-IN)
Introduced · Miller (R-IL) + 26 R cosponosors
Expands civil remedies for nonconsensual pornography and establishes federal civil action for deepfakes, with a 10-year statute of limitations that starts when the individual discovers the violation or turns 18
Passed full chamber · Durbin (D-IL), Graham (R-SC) + 7 cosponsors
Held at the desk · Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Lee (R-FL) + 60 cosponsors
Subjects child predators who use AI to create or distribute Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) to the same laws and penalties as criminals who create or distribute other forms of CSAM, and removes statute of limitations
Passed full chamber · Cornyn (R-TX), Blumenthal (D-CT), Lee (R-UT), Kennedy (R-LA)
Held at the desk · Wagner (R-MO), Van Drew (R-NJ), Cohen (D-TN)
Allows victims of child sexual exploitation to sue companies that promoted or facilitated the exploitation, or that host or store CSAM or make it available; Expands protections for child victims and witnesses in federal court; Facilitates restitution for victims of child exploitation, human trafficking, sexual assault, and crimes of violence; Strengthens CyberTipline reporting requirements; and Requires large tech companies to submit annual reports describing their efforts to promote a culture of safety for children on their platform.
Passed committee · Hawley (R-MO), Durbin (D-IL), Klobuchar (D-MN), Grassley (R-IA), Kelly (D-AZ)
Introduced · Moore (R-AL), Garcia (D-TX)
Snapshot of the NPU federal tracker, synced Sept 24, 2026 at 3:17 PM ET. Bill names and text stay in English.
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