Looking Ahead: A Year of Impact, Awareness, and Collaboration

As 2025 draws to a close, we at the Children’s Airway First Foundation (CAFF) find ourselves filled with deep gratitude and renewed determination. This past year has been one of incredible growth, powerful partnerships, and a shared sense of purpose that continues to drive our mission forward — to ensure no child suffers needlessly from an undiagnosed airway disorder.

Every conversation, conference, and campaign we’ve engaged in this year has reminded us that awareness truly saves lives. Yet, it also reminds us of how much work remains to be done. Too often, airway health challenges in children go unnoticed or misdiagnosed, their symptoms mistaken for behavioral or developmental issues. That’s why CAFF’s voice — and the collective voices of our partners, advocates, and healthcare allies — are more crucial than ever.

As we close out 2025, we want to take a moment to reflect on our shared accomplishments and give you a glimpse of the exciting journey ahead in 2026.

Reflecting on a Year of Awareness and Advocacy

This year, CAFF continued to amplify its educational outreach, building bridges between the worlds of medicine, dentistry, education, and family support. Through community presentations, and daily conversations with parents and practitioners, we’ve worked to illuminate the crucial — but too often overlooked — connection between airway health and a child’s overall growth and development.

We’ve seen firsthand how awareness creates action. From early childhood centers beginning to incorporate airway health education into their parent engagement strategies to pediatric specialists collaborating across disciplines, momentum is building. The movement toward early detection and intervention is not just growing — it’s gaining structure, voice, and urgency.

One of our proudest achievements this year has been our continued engagement with early childhood professionals across the country. These educators are often the first to notice signs of airway-related challenges in young children — snoring, restless sleep, poor concentration, or delayed milestones — but many lack the training to connect these observations to potential underlying causes. By bringing awareness and education to early learning programs, we are helping to equip them with the knowledge to recognize red flags, start vital conversations with families, and advocate for medical follow-up when needed.

Each of these small steps represents a great leap toward prevention, and each collaboration reinforces what we’ve always believed: a child’s airway health is everyone’s responsibility.

Expanding the Conversation: The Airway First Podcast Returns

We’re thrilled to announce that in early 2026, CAFF will launch an all-new season of the Airway First Podcast — and it’s shaping up to be our most dynamic and insightful season yet.

From the start, Airway First has been a platform for open, honest, and science-based conversations about pediatric airway health. Over the years, it’s become a trusted resource for parents, educators, and healthcare practitioners alike, thanks to the incredible guests who have shared their expertise — from pioneering researchers and clinicians to authors, educators, and advocates.

In 2026, we’re taking the conversation even further. Our upcoming season will explore emerging research, clinical innovations, and real-world stories that highlight both the challenges and triumphs in airway health today. Topics will range from early childhood screening and multidisciplinary care models to new diagnostic tools and the role of technology in sleep and breathing assessment.

And this year, we’re extending an open invitation to the broader airway health community.

If you’re a doctor, researcher, clinician, or allied health professional working on a meaningful project or releasing a new book or initiative related to pediatric airway health — we want to hear from you! The Airway First Podcast is a platform built for collaboration and education. Sharing your work not only raises awareness but helps bridge the gap between research and practice, fostering a more connected global conversation around airway health.

To inquire about being a guest on the Airway First Podcast, visit our website at www.childrensairwayfirst.org and connect with us through our contact form. Let’s use this powerful platform to share your insights and bring your story to the families and professionals who need it most.

The Path Forward: Educating and Empowering the Early Childhood Field

At the heart of CAFF’s mission lies one unshakable truth: early detection changes everything. When airway issues are identified and treated early, children experience profound improvements — in behavior, learning, growth, and overall well-being. When these same issues go undetected, they can have lifelong effects.

That’s why in 2026, CAFF will continue to strengthen our partnerships with the early childhood sector. These educators and program leaders are essential advocates in identifying potential airway red flags and empowering families to seek medical evaluation.

In the year ahead, you’ll see us expand our professional development initiatives, creating accessible training for teachers, childcare providers, and family support professionals.

We’ll also continue collaborating with pediatric and dental professionals to help bridge understanding between the medical and educational communities. Our goal is simple but transformative — to make airway health part of the everyday conversation in classrooms, clinics, and homes.

Among our planned 2026 initiatives:

• Launching an Airway Awareness Certification Series designed for early childhood professionals to help them recognize signs of potential airway dysfunction and know when and how to refer families for support.

• Developing parent-centered resources — brochures, videos, and online courses — that guide families through understanding airway health, sleep, and development.

• Building cross-sector task forces that bring together pediatricians, dentists, sleep specialists, educators, and families to advocate for unified early screening standards and better communication within care teams.

  
  

Through this work, we hope to reach the families who need this information most and empower the professionals who work with children daily to take an active role in early detection and advocacy.

Our Continued Commitment

As an organization driven by mission and powered by compassion, we can’t reflect on this year without also acknowledging the incredible support that sustains us. To every donor, volunteer, podcast listener, social media follower, and professional partner — thank you. Your engagement keeps this movement alive and growing.

CAFF was founded on the belief that every child deserves to breathe freely, sleep soundly, and grow to their fullest potential. That belief guides every podcast episode we produce, every resource we publish, and every partnership we build. Together, we are changing the narrative around pediatric airway health — from one of under-recognition to one of awareness, action, and hope.

As we step into 2026, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to education, advocacy, and collaboration. Our mission remains the same but grows stronger with each passing year: to end the silent epidemic of unrecognized airway disorders in children through awareness, early detection, and intervention.

Join Us in 2026

The year ahead holds incredible promise. New partnerships, new conversations, and new opportunities to make an impact await — and we want you to be part of it.

Here are just a few ways to stay connected:

• Subscribe to the Airway First Podcast and share your favorite episodes with families and colleagues.

• Follow CAFF on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube for updates, educational resources, and advocacy news.

• Collaborate with us — whether through your clinic, organization, or classroom — to bring airway awareness to your community.

• Support our mission by donating or sponsoring a training or event. Every contribution directly fuels our work to bring early detection within reach for every child.

Together, we are building a future where no child’s airway issue goes unnoticed. A future where parents and providers alike have the knowledge and tools they need to take action early. A future where every breath is a healthy one.

From all of us at the Children’s Airway First Foundation, thank you for walking beside us on this important journey. We are inspired by your passion, grateful for your partnership, and motivated by the children whose lives we serve.

Here’s to a bright, impactful, and hopeful 2026 — one that brings us all closer to our shared dream: putting children’s airway health first.