CDF works to give every child a Safe Start in a permanent nurturing family and community. We work in collaboration with other national, state and local advocates and organizations to promote policies and promising systemic and programmatic approaches that strengthen and support children and families, prevent crises from occurring, and help ensure children safe, permanent families.

Resources for the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, represents the most significant federal reforms for abused and neglected children in foster care in more than a decade. The act’s numerous improvements are all intended to achieve better outcomes for children who are at risk of entering or have spent time in foster care. These reforms represented significant first steps, but there is additional work to be done. These reforms will mean little to children unless and until they are effectively implemented so as to truly benefit children.

As Lead Partner for the Kinship/Guardianship Network of the Fostering Connections Resource Center, CDF partnered with others to create the Fostering Connections Kinship Toolkit. The Kinship Toolkit is designed to assist states in implementing the identification and notice requirements of the law and to help states that are still considering applying for the Guardianship Assistance Program (GAP) funding. The toolkit also provides answers to questions regarding all of the provisions that will affect children being raised by grandparents and other relatives.

Fostering Success in Education Amendment Added to ESEA Reauthorization Bill

On October 20 the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved, by a 13 to 9 vote, Senator Al Franken’s Fostering Success in Education Amendment and added it to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Reauthorization bill, which they approved later in the evening and moved on to the Senate floor. The amendment facilitates cooperation and collaboration between the child welfare and education agencies on behalf of children in foster care by placing obligations on education agencies that complement those placed on child welfare agencies by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. 

Child Welfare Data:

Child Maltreatment: The Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) recently released the Child Maltreatment 2010 report, which analyzes the child abuse and neglect data collected from National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). The NCANDS report annually on a number of child maltreatment areas, including data on CPS workforce and caseloads, CPS response time, number of child victims, types of maltreatment, child victim demographics, child fatalities due to maltreatment, perpetrator demographics, and the services these children and families receive.

Foster Care and Adoption: The Adoption and Foster Care Reporting and Analysis System (AFCARS) is a national data system operated by the Children’s Bureau in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that collects information on all children in foster care and those adopted through public agencies. It tracks the number of children who entered and exited foster care, demographics of children in foster care, length of time in care, placement type, and the number of children who are adopted. The latest data for fiscal year 2010 indicate several recent improvements in states’ foster care programs and can likely be credited to new federal policies that help children who are in or at risk of entering the child welfare system. Read more about the latest AFCARS data and the other trends in foster care highlighted in 2010 AFCARS report.

General Child Welfare Data: The State of America’s Children ® 2011is a compilation of the most recent and reliable national and state-by-state data on key child indicators, including child welfare. The Child Welfare sectionof the report includes state-by-state data on child maltreatment, children in foster care, adoption, children living with grandparents or other relatives, and other child welfare indicators that may increase the chances of these vulnerable children and youth entering the cradle to prison pipeline.

Child Welfare Financing: The Children’s Defense Fund and CLASP collaborated to update state by state factsheets that provide data on child welfare and child welfare spending. These factsheets provide data reported by the federal government on children who are abused and neglected, in foster care, exiting from foster care, and living with kin. They also provide information on how states fund the child welfare system through federal, state and local sources. 

A Call to Action for Infants and Toddlers

Infants and toddlers are the age group most vulnerable to child abuse and neglect and the largest group of children entering foster care. Just as their brains are undergoing dramatic development, these young children experience maltreatment that can lead to permanent damage to the brain’s architecture and lifelong problems. When not attuned to developmental needs, child welfare practices can compound this damage. CDF, in collaboration with ZERO TO THREE and other early childhood and child welfare organizations, recently released A Call to Action on Behalf of Maltreated Infants and Toddlers, with recommendations for policies, programs and practices to better address the developmental needs of infants and toddlers who come to the attention of the child welfare system. It provides a starting point for federal, state, and local policymakers and administrators to assess and identify where and how they can revise or institute policies and practices that protect the development of infants and toddlers and their safety.

CDF-Minnesota released a report on the profound impact severe maternal depression has on the well-being of both mother and child. Maternal depression afflicts 10 to 20 percent of new mothers, especially low-income women and women of color, causing greater risks for birth complications, delayed development, emotional and behavioral problems in school, and chronic health problems in adulthood. The CDF-MN report has the latest research and is available for download.

Information for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program

The Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) was established in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March of 2010.  The program provides an opportunity for families, communities, and state agencies to come together to build a system that includes quality home visiting to produce improved outcomes in important areas such as child health and development, greater school readiness, academic achievement, parental involvement, parental employment and economic self sufficiency, and reduced child abuse, neglect and juvenile delinquency.  Learn more about this program by viewing New Investments to Help Children and Families: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.

All 50 states along with D.C., Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, completed the initial steps to apply for funding for this program and each received $500,000 of their FY2011 allotments and began planning.  On February 8, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Supplemental Information Request (SIR) detailing the requirements for states and territories to submit an updated plan in order to receive the remainder of the funding allocated to them for FY2010, explaining how they determined which models would be considered “evidence-based” under the law, and listing the initial seven models that met those criteria.  The SIR also provided states and others the opportunity to ask HHS to review or re-review a model they believe was incorrectly left off of that list. View all the guidance issued by HSS and a detailed examination of the evidence reviewed by HHS to determine “evidence-based” models.

The Fourth National GrandRally for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children 

On September 15th, 2011, hundreds of grandparents and other relative caregivers from across the country gathered at the U.S. Capitol to join the Fourth National GrandRally, celebrating their important role in caring for their children and educating Congress about the challenges and needs. Over 600 grandparents and other relatives rallied in Washington. The GrandRally helped them realize that they had allies and supporters in their own states and across the country, it energized them as they continue to support and protect their grandchildren and nieces and nephews. This year’s GrandRally highlighted the important role Social Security plays for children being raised by grandparents. To learn more about the GrandRally and how Social Security helps kinship families click here.