It sounds like one of your children turned 17 in 2023. It also sounds like you're mixing up the Additional Child tax Credit (ACTC) and the Earned Income Credit (EIC).
Some reasons, you don't get the ACTC:
1. Your child may be too old (over 16). You can still claim your child, as a dependent. What you can't claim is the Child tax credit. This comes as a big surprise to many parents the year their child turns 17. A child over age 16 no longer qualifies for the Child Tax credit (CTC). Although a child can still be a student dependent through age 23, and a qualifying child for EIC, the Child Tax Credit expires the year they turn 17 and you no longer get the $2000 CTC. Instead you will get the non-refundable (up to) $500 Other Dependent Credit.
2. Your income is too low. The child tax credit (CTC) is also limited to your tax liability. The CTC is a non-refundable credit and can only reduce your income tax to 0, It can not help you beyond eliminating your tax liability. But, if you have more than $2500 of earned income, some or all of it is usually given back to you thru the "Additional Child tax credit". That is, part of the CTC may be on line 28 of form 1040 (2021- 2023) instead of line 19. The ACTC is calculated on form 8812 and is basically 15% of your earned income over $2500. The ACTC is a maximum of $1600 (2023) ($1500 for 2022) per child, not $2000.
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