This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Voxs newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions.Three weeks in, the second Trump administration has already flooded the zone with an absolutely overwhelming volume of executive orders, tariff threats, and whatever Elon Musk is doing. So Im going to focus this week on two actions that specifically target children in particular, trans kids, whose lives have been at the center of a culture war waged by adults for several years now.First, Donald Trump last week signed an executive order attempting to withdraw federal funding for gender-affirming care for people under 19 care that can include puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and, in rare cases, surgery.The order not only attempts to bar federal insurance programs like Medicaid from covering such care, it also threatens to strip federal funding from hospitals that offer it. Executive orders are not laws, and advocates say Trumps order does not legally require any immediate action by providers. But the move has already had a chilling effect hospitals around the country have stopped treating trans kids, leaving some families unsure where they can turn for treatments that can reduce gender dysphoria and allow young people to live according to their identities.For many, those treatments are urgent. Gender-affirming care has been shown to reduce the risk of suicide, and advocates are worried about what will happen if more kids around the country lose access to the care they need. Its my fear that its going to skyrocket a lot of trans young people making a hasty decision to take their life, Jae Douglas, a 21-year-old activist who works with the nonprofits Capital Tea and Advocates for Youth, told me. Meanwhile, a second executive order signed last week appears to threaten federal funding for schools that allow trans students to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, and even suggests prosecuting teachers for unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student or unlawfully practicing medicine by offering diagnoses and treatment without the requisite license. The order is broad and vague, and its unclear how (or even if) it will actually be enforced in schools, but its intended to give permission to folks who want to discriminate against trans students, said Elizabeth Gill, a senior counsel with the ACLUs LGBTQ and HIV Project.Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and other advocacy groups have already filed a lawsuit challenging the gender-affirming care order. The Presidents denial-of-care order is morally reprehensible and patently unlawful, Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior counsel and health care strategist for Lambda Legal, said in a statement. The federal government particularly, this administration has no right to insert itself into conversations and decision-making that rightly belongs only to patients, their families, and their medical providers. The order affecting trans kids in schools is likely to face legal challenges too. But for now, the administrations actions are causing fear and concern among families and trans youth who, advocates say, never asked to have their medical care and education politicized. Theyre being put through the spotlight, Douglas said. Its inhumane. Trumps executive order on gender-affirming care, explainedTrumps first executive order on trans kids, signed last Tuesday, directs federal agencies to immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children. Practically speaking, the goal is to bar hospitals, medical schools, and any other institutions that get federal funding from offering gender-affirming care.Federal funds from research grants and insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid are hugely important to many hospitals. NYU Langone Health in New York City, for example, received $4.4 billion from federal insurance programs in one recent year, according to the New York Times, almost half of the total money the hospital system made on patient care. The executive order also potentially threatens doctors and other staff with prosecution, directing the Justice Department to investigate whether gender-affirming surgeries could be considered illegal under a federal law banning female genital mutilation.Some hospitals have already responded by halting gender-affirming care, at least for now. Childrens National Hospital in Washington, DC, said in a statement last week that it had paused prescriptions of puberty blockers and hormone therapy to comply with the directives while we assess the situation further. NYU Langone Health has not issued a public statement but has canceled the appointments of two 12-year-olds who were scheduled to get puberty-blocking medication, the Times reports.The mother of one of the children told the Times that her family were calling other hospitals looking for treatment, but that I dont think we have a lot of options.Access to puberty-blockers is time-sensitive, trans people and advocates say, because the effects of puberty on the body can be irreversible and highly distressing if they dont match a persons gender identity. The medications are also routinely prescribed to cisgender people for conditions like precocious puberty.Trans youth in many Republican-controlled states have already struggled for years to get care, with 26 states enacting restrictions on gender-affirming treatments for minors (though many of these restrictions have been challenged in court). Some families travel across state lines to be able to get the medications their kids rely on. The new executive order could make that more difficult, by pushing hospitals even in blue states to drop gender-affirming care. Douglas, who lives in Florida, a state with a hostile environment for gender-affirming care, has been unable to access estrogen therapy for some time. As a result, the older I get, the more my body changes and the less control I have over my future, they told me. Its painful for anyone to feel like the control of their life, their fate and [their] power is slipping from their hands and being taken by someone else. I feel robbed of autonomy and of choice.How Trumps order on schools could affect trans kidsAdding to the fear among trans kids and families is the executive order targeting trans kids experiences in schools, which directs agencies to come up with a plan for blocking the use of federal funds to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the social transition of a minor student.According to the order, actions that support a students social transition can include modifying a persons name (e.g., Jane to James) or pronouns (e.g., him to her); calling a child nonbinary; use of intimate facilities and accommodations such as bathrooms or locker rooms specifically designated for persons of the opposite sex; and participating in school athletic competitions or other extracurricular activities specifically designated for persons of the opposite sex.Its not entirely clear what the order means by using federal funds to subsidize transition, nor is it clear that the president has the legal authority to dictate how those funds are distributed to schools. Congress passes the funding measures, Gill, the ACLU counsel, said (though Republicans in Congress seem happy to relinquish their powers to the Trump administration and Musk, at least for now).But the order, which also includes provisions on promoting patriotic education and ending indoctrination around race and racism, is trying to get people to take measures into their own hands, by the breadth of its language, by the extremity of its language, by suggesting that somehow teachers are engaged in the practice of medicine, which theyre not, Gill said.Withdrawing support at school could be catastrophic for many trans kids, advocates say. I was a trans kid socially in high school, Douglas said. Nobody at home knew, but I was very open at school. Having people call me they and them and being supported in school made me feel seen in a way that I had never felt, they said. Trans kids who are not supported, they are actively being gaslit that they are something abhorrent, like they are something just evil, and its not the truth.How schools, hospitals, and advocates are fighting backWhile the executive orders have led to fear and anxiety among trans kids and their families, some institutions and ordinary people are already pushing back. School districts in San Francisco; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Harrisonburg, Virginia, have issued statements committing to continue supporting all students. We stand by our community and school system values, which include learning, relationships, respect, excellence, and equity, Julie Yang, president of the Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland, wrote in a letter to families last week. We intend to use all legal means necessary to uphold them.Despite the high-profile pauses, many hospitals and providers are continuing to offer gender-affirming care to young patients. Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Letitia James has warned hospitals that denying care to kids based on their gender identity violates state anti-discrimination law. Meanwhile, protesters, including parents and kids, assembled outside NYU Langone on Monday after the news about canceled appointments broke. This is the last thing that we need to be worried about, one parent told the Times, a political system attacking our family.Amid the turmoil, trans kids should know that people around the country are fighting for them, Douglas said.Im sorry that youre a political talking point, they said. You should just be allowed to enjoy your childhood. What Im readingThe Kids Online Safety Act, a bill thats supposed to make social media platforms safer for young users, could have unintended consequences for homeschoolers.The Trump administrations attempt to freeze federal grants caused panic and concern at schools, even after it was blocked by a court.A California bill would require AI companies to periodically remind kids that chatbots are not people.My little kid is currently obsessed with Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes, in which a cat arrives at school wearing four sneakers, one on each foot, but apparently removes the front pair for activities like math and playing the guitar. This book raises more questions than it answers.From my inboxThe rise of tradwife content in the Trump era has me thinking about what its like to be a kid in a trad-aligned family. Tradwife ideology is obviously complicated (and the biggest tradwife influencers probably have lives that dont look like most peoples, trad or not). But Id love to hear from readers who grew up homeschooled or who otherwise feel like their upbringings had something in common with todays trad ethos. You can get in touch at anna.north@vox.com.See More: