The CDC’s drowning prevention program is gone—and parents are left scrambling

If your toddler is near water, the most dangerous thing they can do is breathe.

That’s not alarmism—it’s the data. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 in the United States, claiming more young lives each year than car crashes, birth defects, or cancer. And now, in a move that’s drawing concern from child safety advocates, the federal program tasked with reducing these deaths has quietly disappeared.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has cut its drowning prevention program following massive agency-wide layoffs. The program was part of the agency’s larger injury prevention division, which lost over 90% of its staff in April 2025, shrinking from 130 experts to just 12, according to reporting from The Washington Post and Reuters.

This decision comes at a time when drowning deaths remain stubbornly high—and disproportionately impact the very families who are least equipped to afford private swim lessons or pool fencing.

Related: How parents can prevent child drownings in 2025—What the evidence says

What the CDC’s drowning program was designed to do

The CDC’s drowning prevention efforts emerged in response to rising drowning rates during the pandemic. The program worked to study how drownings occur, what kinds of interventions are most effective, and how to reach high-risk populations—including kids with disabilities, autism, and children from low-income, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous families. According to the CDC data, Black children ages 10–14 drown at rates 7.6 times higher than their white peers.

While the exact staffing and budget for this program haven’t been made public, Scary Mommy reports that the team included three full-time experts and cost approximately $2 million annually—a relatively small investment, considering that the economic cost of a single drowning death is estimated at over $4 million in medical expenses and productivity losses.

As of August 2025, that team is gone. And so is the federal support it offered.

The risks are real—and not equally shared

According to the CDC, unintentional drowning claims roughly 4,000 lives annually in the U.S., with an additional 8,000 people surviving but often sustaining injuries that can include permanent brain damage. These risks are highest for toddlers and young children—but they aren’t evenly distributed.

According to a 2018 CDC study, African American children are significantly more likely to drown in swimming pools, while American Indian and Alaska Native children are at highest risk of drowning in natural water settings like lakes and rivers.

Children with autism are also at dramatically increased risk. One study published in Autism Research Review found that children with autism spectrum disorder were 160 times more likely to die from drowning than neurotypical peers.

For many of these children, access to swim lessons can be lifesaving. But without federal funding, access will depend on a family’s ability to navigate private systems and afford the cost.

What parents can do now

We shouldn’t be here—forced to piece together drowning prevention strategies one child at a time. But until policy catches up with reality, here are some practical places to turn:

Free or Low-Cost Swim Lessons

• YMCA: Many local YMCAs offer financial aid for swim programs. You can search for a location near you at ymca.org.
  
• Red Cross Swim Programs: Offers water safety and swim instruction for kids and adults. Classes are often held at community pools and can be low-cost. Learn more at redcross.org.
  
• Make a Splash (USA Swimming Foundation): Connects families with free or low-cost lessons through local partner swim schools. Visit usaswimming.org for information.
  
• Local Parks and Recreation Departments: Check with your city or county for subsidized or sliding-scale swim programs—especially during summer months.
  

Home safety steps

• Install four-sided pool fencing with self-latching gates.
  
• Use door alarms or pool covers if you have backyard access to water.
  
• Empty bathtubs, kiddie pools, and containers immediately after use.
  
• Stay within arm’s reach of children in or near any body of water.
  
• Take a CPR class—even basic compressions can save a life while waiting for first responders.

Moms deserve better than this

Cutting a program that protects toddlers from the number one threat to their lives doesn’t feel efficient—it feels reckless.

Once again, the burden of prevention has shifted to families, and mostly to mothers, who already shoulder the mental load of managing everything from doctor’s appointments to preschool pick-ups. And this is not just a parenting problem—it’s a public health failure.

We need systemic solutions, not just swim scholarships. That means reinvesting in evidence-based programs, rebuilding the CDC’s injury prevention team, and acknowledging that child safety should never be up for debate—or defunded for efficiency.

Related: Pediatrician shares water safety tips for parents amid new CDC data on drowning

What this really reveals about parenting in America

We shouldn’t be asking: Can families handle this? We should be asking: Why should they have to?

When moms say they’re exhausted, overwhelmed, and stretched beyond reason, this is what we mean. We’re not just carrying children—we’re carrying the weight of a society that keeps offloading its responsibilities onto the very people it claims to care most about.

Parents deserve better. Children deserve better. And no child should drown because we decided their lives were too expensive to protect.

Sources:

1. CDC. 2024. “Drowning Facts.”
2. CDC. 2024. “Drowning Increases in the U.S.”
3. Autism Research Review. 2017. “Accidental deaths a major risk in ASD.”
4. CDC. 2024. “Health Disparities in Drowning.”