Movement to Reform Federal Finanacing Grows

Last month, a coalition of child welfare organizations issued a call for the 110th Congress to reform federal child welfare financing to better serve children and families. In its announcement, the Partnership to Protect Children and Strengthen Families highlighted the need for a system that protects children by:
• supporting the full range of services necessary to prevent child abuse and neglect;
• ensuring that all children who have been abused and neglected have the services and supports they need to heal; and
• guaranteeing that the half a million children in foster care get the help they need to thrive and to return to their families or to live permanently with adoptive families or legal guardians.

The partnership is a coalition of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the American Public Human Services Association, Catholic Charities USA, the Center for Law and Social Policy, the Child Welfare League of America, the Children's Defense Fund, the National Child Abuse Coalition, and Voices for America's Children. The recommendations call for investing in the entire continuum of services for children and families, supporting all children (not just poor children) who have been abused and neglected, providing post-permanency support, and much more.