A New Well-being Resource! Webinar Recording: Raising the Bar: Child Welfare's Shift Towards Well-Being

Over the last decade, there has been an increasing awareness about the poor developmental outcomes for children and youth in the child welfare system. The recognition of the need to improve well-being as a central focus of child welfare’s work has grown from an understanding of the importance of early childhood and adolescence in shaping outcomes, and the impact of toxic stress on the development of children and youth.

To address the importance of focusing on well-being for children and youth in the child welfare system, SPARC and the Center for the Study of Social Policy hosted a webinar on Thursday, September 12, 2013. 

Speakers included:

• Clare Anderson, Deputy Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services;
• Amy Templeman, Well Being Supervisor, Office of Well-Being for the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency;
• Carla Perkins, Well Being Education Supervisor, Office of Well-Being for the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency;
• Aisha Hunter, Trauma Grant Specialist, Office of Well-Being for the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency;
• Julie Fliss, Supervisory Planning Advisor, Office of Well-Being for the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency;
• Dr. Cynthia Tate, Deputy Director, Office of Child Well Being, Illinois Department of Children & Family Services

To  watch this webinar please click here.  To read the corresponding policy brief co-released by SPARC and the Center for the Study of Social Policy, click here.

A New Resource from SPARC! Raising the Bar: Child Welfare’s Shift Toward Well-being

The recognition of the need to improve well-being as a central focus of child welfare’s work has grown from an understanding of the importance of early childhood and adolescence in shaping outcomes, and the impact of toxic stress on the development of children and youth. The federal government has initiated efforts to prioritize well-being and encourage states to improve outcomes related to educational success, child health, social-emotional development, and connection and support to a child’s family, for children and youth in the child welfare system. Indications of that commitment are seen in the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 and the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act of 2011.

CSSP is excited to have recently authored a paper for the State Policy Advocacy Reform Center (SPARC)  at First Focus, addressing well-being, Raising the Bar: Child Welfare’s Shift Towards Well-Being. The paper highlights the importance of ensuring the well-being outcomes for children in the child welfare system are addressed – and that while addressing safety and permanence we should also be ensuring that children are healthy, successful at school and meeting developmental milestones – not to mention engaging in normal activities like playing sports and attending social events. The brief summarizes the research and policy and practice trends related to well-being, and highlights federal, state, and local efforts.  It also outlines action l steps for policymakers and advocates to implement a policy and practice agenda in their community to enhance well-being. 

To read more, please access the brief here.  For more on promoting well-being and supporting children, youth and families involved in child welfare please visit CSSP and SPARC.  For results-based policy strategies to promote well-being please visit PolicyforResults.

Helping Survivors of Domestic Violence Keep Their Children Safe

Domestic violence has a huge impact on children, even if the abuse is not directly targeted at them. Every day in America, far too many children witness their mother being terrified, humiliated and assaulted by an abusive partner. According to the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), 25.6% of children and youth have been exposed to family violence and 17.9% had witnessed a parent being physically assaulted by their partner.

The trauma experienced by children who live in homes with domestic violence can be significant and long-lasting. Even very young children are affected by the stress and tension their mother feels due to the abuse in a domestic violence relationship.  Exposure to domestic violence puts children at risk of having unhealthy relationships as adults. Further, children growing up in a home where abuse is the norm are more likely to become either perpetrators or survivors of domestic violence as adults.

In families where concerns for a child’s well-being are serious enough require the involvement of the child welfare system, it is crucial that child welfare professionals understand the complex needs of domestic violence survivors when considering potential interventions. Many survivors of domestic violence remain in abusive relationships because of barriers to safety such as lack of housing, counseling, employment and legal services to obtain protection orders, divorce and custody. If survivors and their children have support in overcoming such barriers, they often can rebuild their lives without the additional trauma of the children being removed from their parent and placed in foster care. The child welfare system has the potential to support child well-being through recognizing the dynamics of domestic violence in families and responding appropriately.

 Several states have taken steps to ensure that their child welfare systems are able to respond to domestic violence effectively and with sensitivity towards the specialized needs of children and survivors of domestic violence.  The Safe and Together model is being used in Connecticut, Florida, Missouri and Ohio to train child welfare professionals on how to work with families traumatized by domestic violence to achieve better outcomes for children. This model hinges on the basic principle that it is in the best interest of children to be safe and together with the non-offending parent or family member so that children can have the safety, stability and healing from trauma that they deserve. The model advocates for a partnership with the non-offending domestic violence survivor as the most effective and efficient way to promote the well-being of the children, as well as, when appropriate, intervention with perpetrators of domestic violence to help them build a healthier relationship with their children.

In addition to utilizing domestic-violence specific models, many states have instituted a Differential Response model in child welfare, which provides an alternative to the one-size-fits-all investigation approach to reports of child maltreatment. This allows child welfare professionals to assist families with a low to moderate risk of harm in accessing services to help address concerns about children’s well-being rather than taking the traditional investigative approach. This approach is not appropriate for all reports of child abuse and neglect; however, for many families-- including many survivors of domestic violence-- this alternative approach offers the opportunity to work in partnership with child welfare workers to ensure their children’s well-being.

In a randomized experimental study conducted in Minnesota comparing this alternative response to the  ‘adversarial investigation’ approach, researchers found that families in the alternative response group had greater increases in child safety and a lower likelihood of a subsequent report of child maltreatment during the follow-up phase. Both families and child welfare workers were more satisfied with the alternative approach. This was achieved at a significantly lower cost which researchers found more than offset the initial investment costs of alternative response. Similar models are being implemented in a number of other states, and research in other states such as Nevada and Ohio has found similar positive outcomes.
State policymakers may wish to consider ways that policies can better meet the needs of survivors of domestic violence and their children, including trauma-informed services for child witnesses of domestic violence. They may also wish to evaluate the way the child welfare system responds to family violence, support systems of care in meeting the needs of families and advance research-informed approaches to achieving better outcomes for children and families who have experienced domestic violence.

For more information on promoting children’s social, emotional and behavioral health and  preventing child abuse and neglect, please visit PolicyforResults.org. For information on Strengthening Families, a successful approach to preventing child abuse and neglect, please visit CSSP.org.

Combating Domestic Child Sex Trafficking: the Crucial Role of State Policy

Child sex trafficking is often viewed as a problem that only happens in other countries – such as Thailand or Cambodia. Many don’t realize that American children, often younger than 15, are coerced into prostitution in communities all over the US. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 83% of the victims in confirmed cases of human trafficking are U.S. citizens.  There are also widespread misconceptions that trafficking victims ‘choose’ the prostitution ‘lifestyle’; in reality, many children who have been trafficked are only 10-14 years old when they are first victimized by pimps and well below the age of consent.

Last week the Senate Committee on Finance held a full committee hearing entitled Sex Trafficking and Exploitation in America: Child Welfare’s Role in Prevention and Intervention to explore the issue. Witness testimony highlighted:

·         the need to promote public awareness of the issue of domestic child sex trafficking, especially among youth at risk of exploitation;

·         the lack of housing and trauma-informed care for exploited children;

·         the potential role of the child welfare system in preventing child trafficking and helping survivors;

·         the importance of training for law enforcement, educators, social workers and others who work with children; and

·         the need for legal recognition of children who have been trafficked as survivors of child sexual abuse, not as juvenile offenders or ‘child prostitutes’.

Although the Trafficking Victims Prevention Act of 2000  recognizes minors under 18 who have been induced to perform commercial sexual acts as human trafficking victims, child survivors of sex trafficking are still often arrested and put on probation or in juvenile detention. Some state policymakers have attempted to resolve this issue by passing legislation such as ‘Safe Harbor’ laws that protect child survivors of commercial sexual exploitation from being prosecuted for prostitution and require that agencies recognize them as survivors of sexual abuse rather than viewing them as criminals. States that have already passed such legislation include Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington State. A bill has been proposed and is currently being considered in the U.S. Senate which would extend such protections to child survivors nationwide.

In addition to concerns about the legal status of children who have been trafficked, witness testimony emphasized the need for effective, trauma-informed services to help children who have been trafficked and the role of the child welfare system in ensuring children get the services they need. In her witness testimony, Asia Graves, Maryland Outreach Services Coordinator and Survivor Advocate at FAIR Girls in Baltimore, stated that funding for emergency and transitional housing for homeless youth is urgently needed—in particular, dedicated beds for youth who have been exploited by sex traffickers. Homeless youth often have to choose either sleeping outside or returning to the pimps who have been exploiting them. Faced with the dangers of sleeping out on the streets, many children return to the adults who have been abusing and prostituting them. According to Graves, agencies and non-profits often have to ‘fight’ each other for beds so that the homeless and exploited youth they serve can have a safe place to sleep and sometimes resort to staying with sleeping children in hotel lobbies over night.

The testimony of all four witnesses emphasized that reform of the child welfare system is key. A large proportion of children who are trafficked have already been involved in the child welfare system and many are still legally in systems of care while being trafficked. According to the witness testimony of Susan Goldfarb, Executive Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County, over 70% of trafficked children in the Boston area had a previous history of abuse and/or neglect and child welfare involvement. The Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, The Honorable Joette Katz, stated in her testimony that in Connecticut, 98% of children who are identified as survivors of sex trafficking had previous involvement with child welfare services, and many were legally in the care and custody of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families while they were being prostituted by traffickers. Ms. Goldfarb raised concerns that when children have been abused by someone who is not a caregiver, often the child welfare system does not intervene even when a report is made. Ms. Goldfarb stated that the child welfare system needs to view survivors of child sex trafficking as ‘their kids’ in order to ensure that children get the protection and services that they need. The witnesses highlighted the crucial importance of providing trafficked youth with the specialized foster care and trauma-informed services that they need to heal and stay safe once they have escaped their exploiters.

Some states have implemented policies to better protect children from sex trafficking and address the related issues in the child welfare system. Connecticut now accepts all cases of child sex trafficking through its Careline (the child welfare intake and information center) whether or not the alleged perpetrator is the ‘entrusted’ caregiver. The state has established an Interagency Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team (HART) led by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families which reviews and monitors Careline to ensure an appropriate response to children’s needs (including for victims with still unsubstantiated cases) and coordination with FBI and Homeland Security to ensure cases of child sex trafficking are prosecuted to fullest extent of state and federal law.

To help raise awareness, the Georgia Department of Education has partnered with Street Grace, a nonprofit dedicated to ending domestic minor sex trafficking, to launch an initiative to educate teachers and students throughout the state about the exploitation of children. The Georgia Attorney General has also launched a public awareness campaign around the issue. In Texas, H.B. 4009 created a Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force to address the issue statewide and mandated that all newly-licensed law enforcement officers receive training on human trafficking.

State policymakers may want to re-examine the legal framework to protect survivors of child sex trafficking in their state, the measures currently in place to prevent sex trafficking, and the programs and policies in place to address trauma and ensure that survivors get the help they need. They may also want to consider the training and education programs currently available to professionals that work with youth and to youth themselves to reduce their vulnerability to sex traffickers.

For more information about how policymakers can support the well-being of children and families and for policy strategies aimed at preventing abuse and neglect please visit PolicyforResults.org.  

Prioritizing the Mental Health Needs of Children and Youth in the Child Welfare System

As the month of May draws to a close, we are reminded that mental health is integral to whole health - and children who have been removed from their homes need a system that will do the utmost to see to their safety and wellbeing. In recognition of the tens of millions of Americans living with mental health problems, on April 30^th President Obama declared May as National Mental Health Awareness Month. He also declared May as National Foster Care Month, in recognition of the children and youth awaiting permanency and the families, professionals and foster parents who care for them. These are two issues of critical importance to all families and, while important to spotlight in May, must remain a policy focus year round.

The link between mental health and involvement in the child welfare system is notable. Although most children with mental health challenges do not become involved with the child welfare system, and children in foster care do not necessarily have mental health disorders—children in foster care do have disproportionately high rates of social, emotional or behavioral health concerns. Child welfare systems that prioritize mental health and focus on protective factors can deliver better results for children and youth in foster care or for those children in families where there is a risk of removal.

Research in child welfare suggests that children do best in their own families and should remain home with their parents whenever possible. When that is not possible, children should be returned to their families or moved to another permanent home as quickly as possible consistent with safety concerns. There are many circumstances in which family strengthening attempts can prevent removal of a child from the home. These interventions can include home visits, housing assistance and family counseling among other options. Lack of access to these family strengthening services can prove disastrous for families. For example, in extreme cases some families have been forced to relinquish custody of their child to the child welfare system in order to gain treatment for their children who were experiencing serious mental, emotional or behavioral health challenges. Separation from the family is traumatic for children, and should be a last resort if effective attempts at family strengthening have not been productive.

Child maltreatment, including abuse and neglect can have negative impacts on children and youth—particularly if their developmental milestones are not nurtured and supported. Without proper support, these problems can linger throughout a child’s development, causing further physical, mental, emotional or behavioral issues later in their childhood or adolescence. Infants and toddlers who have been removed from their parents can miss developing a sense of trust gained from attachment to their parents. This sense of trust is essential in order for them to develop relationships with adults and peers as they mature. At later ages, children must: develop the physical skills necessary to gain a sense of autonomy, be able to exert some control over their environment in order to develop a sense of purpose, deal with new academic demands and navigate social relationships. Attention to a child or adolescent’s socio-emotional wellbeing is essential to ensuring their successful transition to adulthood.

Children and youth who experience trauma stemming from abuse and neglect can also face disrupted attachment and delayed development of capacities required for building relationships. Among children and youth who are reported for abuse:

• 32% of children from birth to five years old have developmental problems;
• Among school-aged children and adolescents, 10% are at risk of cognitive problems or low academic achievement, 43% have emotional or behavioral problems, and 13% have both;
• Adolescents engage in more risky behaviors than their same-aged normative peers—almost 50% have used alcohol at some time during their lives and over 20% have used other substances.

Research has shown that caregivers can buffer the impact of trauma and promote better outcomes for children even under stressful circumstances when the following Strengthening Families Protective Factors are present:

• Parental resilience
• Social connections
• Knowledge of parenting and child development
• Concrete support in times of need
• Social and emotional competence of children

To achieve the goals of safety, well-being and permanency for youth in the foster care system, policymakers can adopt policies that strengthen reunification, adoption and guardianship. Requiring family involvement in decision-making can aid in reunification, establishing state adoption credits can encourage more adoptions, and setting adequate subsidy and benefit levels can support guardianship.

There are a number of resources for policymakers, advocates and families on supporting the mental health needs of children involved with the child welfare system, including:

• Results-based policies to aid children and youth in foster care
• Results-based policies to promote children’s social, emotional and behavioral health
• Promoting Children’s Social, Emotional and Behavioral Health (report)
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Quality Legal Representation for Parents as a Change Agent in Child Welfare | Guest Blogger! Martha Raimon

Research in child welfare suggests that children do best in their own families and should remain home with their parents whenever possible.  When that is not possible, children should be returned to their families or moved to another permanent home as quickly as possible consistent with safety concerns. Experts understand that children experience trauma when they are removed from their families and separation from family should be a last resort after effective attempts at strengthening the family have not been successful. Too often, due to the structure of child welfare systems and processes, families are unnecessarily separated and for too long.  Adding to the human costs associated with long stays in foster care is the financial burden on states and localities of keeping children in placement. Whether in the context of litigation or on their own initiative, states have invested large sums in new strategies intended to re-tool child welfare agencies to achieve safety, permanency and well being for children, with varying results. 

Less attention has been paid to child welfare court interventions, the twin system to the public child welfare agency, even though all families with children in placement pass through family court. Legal practitioners representing parents have for decades experienced that effective representation plays a critical role in how families succeed in their journey through the child welfare system.  Quality legal representation helps families (1) access necessary services to avoid child placement, (2) advocate for appropriate services required to reunify such as domestic violence counseling and support and regular parent-child visits, and (3) have a voice in court and other important forums where decisions are being made about the future of their family structure. Unfortunately, legal representation for parents is underfunded and far too often fails to consistently provide parents with skilled counsel, resulting in the frequent erosion of family bonds and the unnecessary permanent termination of parental rights.

A few model programs have emerged in the past decade that provide quality legal representation to parents in or at risk of foster care placement.  These programs operate as multidisciplinary teams that include:

• An attorney who serves as legal counsel in court proceedings and strategizes with the parent about legal options; 
• A social worker who accesses services for the family and helps parents identify their strengths and needs; and  
• A parent advocate who typically has had personal experience with the foster care system, listens without judgment, and provides practical insight and guidance to the parent and assists in communication with family, social service providers, schools and other partners.

Some of these programs have preliminary data demonstrating improved outcomes for children and families and the potential for substantial savings of government funds. 

Two of the parent representation programs that have documented improved outcomes for families are independent nonprofits: New York’s Center for Family Representation (CFR) and the Detroit Center for Family Advocacy (CFA).  CFR represents 80 percent of the parents involved in child welfare proceedings in Manhattan, and approximately 50 percent of the parents in dependency cases in Queens. Data from 2007 shows that more than 50 percent of the children of CFR clients avoided foster care placement altogether. In addition, for those children who entered care, the average length of stay was 4.5 months compared to a statewide average of almost two and a half years. CFR’s re-entry rate (children who return to the foster care system) is approximately 1-3 percent, comparing favorably to New York State’s 15 percent rate of re-entry. Over a third of CFR’s cases were dismissed in 2007, three times as many cases as were dismissed in Manhattan prior to CFR’s grant to become the primary institutional provider for parents in Manhattan. The cost savings are exponential: for CFR to represent one family costs approximately $6,000, almost one fifth less than the $29,000 it costs for one child to live with a foster family  for one year. On the court side, there are far fewer continuances, and judges in Manhattan have said that because CFR attorneys are better prepared and can be relied upon to propose feasible solutions to the court, court orders are better tailored to meet the needs of families. 

The Detroit Center for Family Advocacy serves residents of the Osborn neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, a neighborhood in which 84 percent of the population is African American and a quarter of the families live in poverty. With a team consisting of a lawyer, social worker and parent advocate, CFA advocates for families so that they can provide for their children without the need for foster care intervention. Since 2009, CFA served approximately 50 families who were being investigated for child abuse and neglect. All 50 cases (involving 112 children) were closed with children residing with a permanent family outside of the child welfare system. 

Washington’s Office of Public Defense (OPD) is a statewide system of parent representation which began as a pilot program in two counties and expanded to two-thirds of the state’s counties. A 2010 program case audit, one of several audits of OPD, found a 39 percent increase in the rate of reunification. The leader of that study, Mark Courtney, wrote “these findings are striking; precious few interventions have been shown to have any positive impact on the lives of children in foster care, let alone impacts of this magnitude.” A more recent evaluation examined the program’s permanency data for over 12,000 children in placement from 2004 to 2007. These data show an 11 percent increase in the rate of reunification, 104 percent increase in adoptions and an 83 percent increase in guardianships in counties with the OPD program as compared to counties without OPD. Most of the children (68%) in the evaluation who attained permanency reunified with their parents. When researchers converted these findings to timeframes they found that adoptions and guardianships in counties with OPD occurred a full year earlier than in counties without OPD. 

The programs described above offer preliminary evidence that providing parents with quality legal representation reduces entry into foster care, time spent in foster care, and leads to quicker permanency for children, whether through reunification or other permanency outcomes. Moreover, the potential for cost savings to states, counties and the federal government is significant. However, funding for these model programs is inconsistent and often unpredictable.  Building on bipartisan efforts to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families, Representative Gwen Moore introduced the Enhancing the Quality of Parental Legal Representation Act (H.R. 1096) on March 12, 2013.  This Act would provide a modest new source of financial support for parents involved in child welfare proceedings, and increase the probability that plans and decisions about what is best for children will be made with the full participation of vulnerable families. 

For state policymakers – considering ways to support children and their families in contact with the child welfare system is an important way to ensure that families have what they need to provide safe, stable and supportive homes and that children have what they need to thrive.  For results-based policy strategies that support families visit policyforresults. 

Promoting Excellence and Accountability in Child Welfare

A new bill was recently introduced by Senator Ron Wyden aimed at helping states continue their efforts to prevent youth from entering foster care and to lessen the time a child spends in the system, while also encouraging strengthened support services to children and youth so they do not fall behind their peers. The bill provides states with the flexibility to determine the specific methods through which improved outcomes for children and youth will be achieved, based on best practices and in collaboration with foster parents, biological parents, kinship caregivers and youth. The aim of the proposed intervention is not only to protect children, but to help contribute to their current and future well-being.

For information on the bill visit Thomas.gov.

For state policy strategies to ensure children grow up in safe, supportive and economically successful families visit PolicyforResults.org.

New Report on Kinship Waivers

The Fostering Connections Act explicitly permits child welfare agencies, on a case-by-case basis, to waive non-safety licensing standards for relative foster family homes. The Administration for Children and Families recently released a report to Congress on state relative foster family homes and the use of licensing waivers. This report, required by the Fostering Connections law, summarizes the responses of the states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in addressing a list of questions regarding relative care in FY 2009. In addition to background information, the report includes:

• State Data on Relative Care and Licensing Agreements
  
• Assessments of the Use of Waivers
• and, State Legislative Actions and Recommendations for Increasing Licensing among Relative Caregivers

Prior to the enactment of Fostering Connections, some States were already providing waivers to relative foster homes, however, this legislative change has encouraged more States to actively engage relatives and to increase the percentage of relative foster family homes that are licensed. The report found:

• States tended to grant waivers of non-safety licensing standards related to the physical conditions of a relative’s home, the training required of relatives, and other minor non-safety standards.
  
• States described the importance that waivers have made in allowing children to continue to be placed with relatives instead of entering a traditional foster care setting.
• States reported that waivers are customarily approved, except in cases where the agency feels that the child may be endangered by living with a relative foster parent.
• States reported various innovative strategies for increasing the percentage of relatives that are licensed including: identifying and recruiting relatives earlier in the process, offering alternative training options for relative caregivers, and expanding the role of family finders and kinship navigators.
• Most States, including the 15 that do not allow licensing waivers, continue to increase their efforts to promote licensure among relatives as a way of supporting the safety, permanency, and well-being of children in care.

For more information on Fostering Connections visit FosteringConnections.org

For state policy strategies on increasing exits from foster care to reunification, adoption and guardianship visit PolicyforResults.

The Academic Achievement Gap of Young Black Boys

The achievement of young black boys in school has an impact, not only on black children and their families, but on our country as a whole. Unfortunately, while we know that under educating our children will impact our nation’s workforce, economy and quality of life in the future as significant equity issues continue to impact black boys in school. Piercing statistics highlight the importance of this troubling issue as only 62% percent of black students graduate from high school, compared to 81% of their white peers. Furthermore, in some large urban areas more than half of black males drop out of high school. The poverty rate for black children is three times higher than the rate of white children and the unemployment rate for black males over the age of 20 is 17.5% compared to white males at 9.1%. These statistics and others were recently shared at a symposium in Washington DC. On June 14, 2011 ETS and co-sponsor Children's Defense Fund held a symposium at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., highlighting the problematic issues regarding the education of young black boys (age 0-9)as well as the promising and creative strategies utilized to lessen the achievement gap. The speakers addressed issues of academic equity and factors impacting performance; contributors included researchers, practitioners, teachers and advocates. In order to ensure the academic and economic future of our communities policymakers must pay attention to these disparities; especially as it relates to education and early childhood development.

One solution suggested throughout the symposium was the development and implementation of a quality and comprehensive pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten programs; and the importance of aligning the initial academic stages in creating a sound educational foundation. Policymakers should take into account the significance of early childhood education as a means to improve the academic achievement gap among students of color as well as in alleviating the disparities that arise in areas such as income and wealth, incarceration, and life expectancy.



For more information on racial equity and strategies for improving early childhood learning, visit policyforresults.org.

Infant-Toddler Child Welfare Agenda: CSSP and Partners Issue a Call to Action

Every year, almost 200,000 children ages birth to 3 years old come into contact with the child welfare system; more than a third of them are placed in foster care, representing the largest age group entering care. Child maltreatment threatens the significant brain development children undergo at these ages, and the policies and practices of the child welfare system may fail to address or even exacerbate these effects. Child welfare policy and practice rarely view young children through a developmental lens or recognize the special vulnerability of this group, but significant research about promoting healthy brain development in infants and toddlers exist and can shape more effective, supportive policies and practices.

With a coalition of long-time partners—including American Humane Society, Child Welfare League of America, Children’s Defense Fund, and ZERO TO THREE, Center for the Study of Social Policy has issued a policy agenda aimed at better addressing the developmental needs of infants and toddlers who come into contact with the child welfare system. It is intended to provide a starting point for federal, state and local policymakers and administrators to assess where and how they can revise or institute policies that protect the safety and development of young children. This call to action presents the compelling evidence for addressing the needs of infants and toddlers. It then suggests key elements of a developmental approach for infants and toddlers in child welfare.

Visit PolicyForResults.org for more information about preventing child abuse and neglect, as well as safely increasing exits from foster care to permanence. Join our mailing list via our homepage to receive updates on strategies to promote children’s social, emotional and behavioral health—coming soon!