Child Welfare

  • Child Welfare

    This Month, Act to Fund Care Not Cages

    Continued reliance on institutional placements puts our nation’s children—especially Black children—at risk of lasting harm to their health, development, and well-being. Congress must prioritize effective community-led, family-focused, youth-centered programs to ensure young people have the resources and supports they need to thrive within their families and communities.

    | National

  • Child Welfare

    A Time for Altruism

    Foster youth are on the cusp of a crisis in the middle of a pandemic. If our representatives in Washington D.C. don’t act fast, thousands of foster youth will age out of foster care on October 1st, and many more will lose a lifeline to flexible cash assistance that young people like me fought for. We need Congress to pass legislation that extends the protections included in the Supporting Foster Youth and Families Through the Pandemic Act immediately.

    | National

  • Child Poverty

    2021 CDF-MN Advocacy Agenda

    As COVID has upended our communities and families, Minnesota state and local leaders have responded with urgency and creativity. We at CDF-MN are ready to work with policymakers to continue the extraordinary leadership and vital investments in families necessary to meet this moment.

  • Child Welfare

    New Policy Report from Young People with Experience in the Foster Care System

    The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Foster Youth Internship (FYI) Program® brings a cohort of young adults who have experienced the foster care system to intern in congressional offices on Capitol Hill and publish policy recommendations to best support young people impacted by the foster care system. After serving on a specialized COVID-19 Foster Youth Intern Pandemic Working Group, the 2021 Foster Youth Interns went on to intern for congressional offices this summer and have authored "Building the Path Forward for Change in the Child Welfare System" based on their experiences and expertise.

    | National

  • Child Welfare

    The Biden Administration Must Advance Policies to Support LGBTQ+ Children and Adults in the Child Welfare System

    As many as one in three children in foster care identify as LGBTQ+, and same-sex couples are seven times more likely to foster or adopt than their opposite-sex counterparts. Still, LGBTQ+ children and families, particularly LGBTQ+ children and families of color, disproportionately experience negative treatment in the child welfare system. CDF was proud submit comments detailing actions the administration could take to improve services for LGBTQ+ children and families in the child welfare system.

    | National