Child Poverty
Child Welfare
-
-
Child Welfare
CDF Joins Calls to Ensure Legal Counsel for Children and Families Involved in Child Welfare Court Proceedings
All parties in child welfare court proceedings deserve effective legal representation to advocate for their needs, to navigate the complex labyrinth of executive and judicial branch processes, and to amplify their voice as courts make life-altering decisions. We urge the House Committee to include guaranteed legal counsel in CAPTA Reauthorization
-
Child Health
Children’s Defense Fund Responds to President Biden’s Build Back Better Framework
“President Biden’s framework brings us one step closer to a historic, essential, and long-overdue investment in our country’s children and families. We’re poised to boost families’ economic stability and reduce racial inequities in income, housing, education, and health care that harm Black and brown children every day. We appreciate the countless child advocates, parents, friends in the White House, and champions in Congress who have fought for decades to bring us to this point."
| National -
Child Health
Centering Youth Voices at New York City’s Polls: 2021 Voter Issue Guide
As New Yorkers cast their ballots this Fall, supporting policies and platforms that prioritize child, youth and family wellbeing is critical. #VoteBecause the needs of the youngest New Yorkers and their families must be centered on Election Day – and every day.
-
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 Welfare
The Ensuring Medicaid Continuity for Children in Foster Care Act of 2021 (S. 2689) Would Lead to Significant Unintended Consequences for Children in the Care of the Child Welfare System
Exempting QRTPs from the IMD exclusion would undermine the goals of Family First, weakening the standards of quality and leading more children to be placed in large-scale institutions, rather than promoting placements with family, as the law intends.
-
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
Child Welfare Advocacy Efforts Face Uphill Challenges and CDF-Ohio and its Partners will Continue the Climb
| Ohio -
Child Welfare
New Report on the Experiences and Perspectives of Young People who Lived in Congregate Care
With growing research on the harms of institutional placements and continued calls to action from young people who experienced these placements, we must ensure young people impacted by the child welfare system have the resources they need to thrive with their relatives or in a family-like setting.
| National