About
Childhood is sacred. We exist to protect it.
Restore Childhood is a national nonprofit. We tell the truth about what happens to children, and we pass on the freedom and opportunity that are theirs to inherit.
73 millionchildren live in the United States. Each one inherits the country we hand down.
Our story
Parents saw it first.
In 2020, America closed its schools and kept many of them closed longer than almost any other nation. Adults made decisions about children without asking what those decisions would cost them.
Restore Childhood grew out of the fight to reopen New York City’s schools. We learned that when institutions fail children, families need the full record and the means to act on it. We have built that record ever since.
What we believe
- Children come first.Judge every policy that touches them by what it does to them.
- Families know their children.Policy works best when parents have the facts and a seat at the table.
- Evidence leads.Schools and clinics should follow the science, and the science should stay open to question.
- Courage is taught by example.Children learn to stand up when they watch the adults around them do it.
The need
Children are still paying for decisions adults made in 2020.
Schools closed for months and then years. The damage shows up in every national measure. Parents deserve the full record, and the tools to act on it.
eighth graders now read below the most basic level, the largest share ever recorded.
The Nation's Report Card, 2024states have surpassed their 2019 eighth grade scores in reading or math.
The Nation's Report Card, 2024of students were chronically absent in the 2024-25 school year, far above pre-pandemic levels.
American Enterprise Institute data, via Chalkbeat, 2026What we defend
Every generation inherits a civilization. Ours is being handed down with pieces missing.
Free speech, real learning, sound medicine and the courage to stand up. Children only inherit them if adults pass them on.
Tell the truth
We document what institutions did to children, with evidence and on the record.
Preserve the inheritance
We put history, great stories and American heroes back in children’s hands.
Protect body and mind
We give families the evidence on medicine, screens and the culture kids grow up in.
Honor courage
We tell the stories of people who stood up, so the next generation knows it can.
About us
Started by a parent. Guided by physicians and researchers.
Natalya Murakhver
Co-founder and Executive Director
Led the 2021 parent lawsuit to reopen New York City’s public schools. Directed 15 DAYS, made Uncancellable as a Palladium Pictures Incubator Fellow, and built the Restore Childhood Substack and An Urgent Conversation.
Dr. Ram Duriseti
Stanford Medicine
Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, with more than 20 years in pediatric emergency care and a PhD in computational decision modeling.
Dr. Naya Lekht
Scholar and educator
A scholar of Jewish history, Soviet history and contemporary antisemitism, with a PhD from UCLA. Co-founder of Stop Antizionism.
Dr. Houman Hemmati
USC Keck School of Medicine
Board-certified ophthalmologist and physician-scientist whose research protects children’s sight, the foundation for learning.
Our record
Restore Childhood began in 2021 with a lawsuit to reopen New York City’s schools. Here is what has happened since.
- 2021
Natalya Murakhver leads New York City parents in a lawsuit to reopen public schools.
- 2024Jun
We publish An Urgent Conversation with child psychiatrist Dr. Kris Kaliebe. It is now used by parents around the world.
- 2025Jan
15 DAYS debuts at the University of Southern California to a standing ovation.
- 2025Nov
The Manhattan Institute hosts our New York premiere.
- 2026Mar
15 DAYS streams on Prime Video, Apple TV and Google Play, and screens at Cornell University.
- 2026
Teachers, universities and parents in more than a dozen states host 15 DAYS, from a teachers summit in Dallas to a media festival in Vermont. Our second film, Uncancellable, is released free on YouTube.
No one is coming to save our kids but us.
Stand with us. Get our reporting free, or make a tax-deductible gift.