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We are headed to Minneapolis for the National Association of Counsel for Children's annual conference, where 4 of our team members are presenting, and Shereen A White, our Director of Advocacy and Policy, is being honored. ⚫ Laws, Policies, Practice Tips, and the Importance of Sibling Connections to Youth Wellbeing - Leecia Welch, Deputy Litigation Director ⚫ Healing Through Love: Our Journey After Surviving the System - Alexandria Ware, Advocacy and Policy Fellow ⚫ Preventing System Involvement and Closing the Gap Between Recommended Practice, Policy, and Reality for Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender-Diverse Youth in Out-of-Home Systems - Daniele Gerard, Senior Staff Attorney ⚫ Safe and Equitable Crisis Response for Young People - Meredith Giovanelli, Policy Analyst Children’s Rights is committed to listening, learning, and partnering with those who have been impacted by so-called child-serving systems in our work to promote and protect the rights of children and families. The theme of this year’s conference, From Learning to Action: Shared Accountability for Disrupting Harm and Promoting Healing, reminds us that we all have a role to play in advancing and defending children’s rights. Listening and learning is just the first step. Learn more about NACC's 46th National Child Welfare Conferences at the link below: https://ow.ly/RBHL50PrUMX #AbolishTheHarms #ChildrensRights

How could an older foster child's life outcomes potentially improve if they had their own attorney representing what they want in court? Child Advocates had that conversation this week on the radio with Tina Cosby on the "Community Connection" show airing on 1310 AM "The Light." Our new CEO, Phyllis Armstrong, and the Director of our Direct Representation program, Rachel Vilensky, discussed the launch of our groundbreaking research on the impact of counsel (attorneys) for kids versus no counsel for kids. Child Advocates is the only organization that offers free, in-house attorneys for older children in the child welfare system. That is why Notre Dame's LEO (Lab for Economic Opportunities) project chose Child Advocates to conduct the nation's first-ever randomized controlled trial on the impact of attorneys for children. We launched the research at the end of last year. Hear how it is going, how long it will last, and what it could mean to vulnerable children's future. Our conversation starts 1 hour and four minutes (1:04:00) into the show: https://ow.ly/Hf8650QSnte #childwelfare #attorneys #counselforkids #fosterchildren #childadvocacy #justice #equity #childresearch

Repeal CAPTA Coalition was in FULL FORCE at the Capitol yesterday, January 31, 2024, to mark the beginning of the end of the 50 year reign of what Prof. Dorothy Roberts calls the “benevolent terror” of “child protective services/CPS” - more accurately termed the Family Police. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, with its system of mandated reporting, investigation, prosecution, child removal, and “treatment” , institutionalized the multi-billion dollar, child commodification, family destroying foster, adoptive, and child welfare “treatment/services” industry. #ShiningTheLight “Separating children from their families and making them wards of the state is far more profitable for governments and their private industry partners than reunification with the children’s families. The commodification of Black children generates a steady stream of open-ended funding from federal taxpayers’ dollars to state and local governments and agencies that are rewarded for removing children from their families, prolonging their stay in state custody, and terminating parental rights. In just under fifty years since the enactment of CAPTA in 1974 with an authorization of $86 million to be spent over three years, the child abuse and neglect industry has grown into a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate.” https://lnkd.in/gR93Ky_F #RepealCaptaNow

As we mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it's more important than ever to assess its enduring impact on child welfare. In a compelling new article, Dr. Dereje Wordofa delves into both the significant achievements and the persistent challenges in safeguarding the rights and dignity of children worldwide. This insightful piece is essential reading for anyone involved in social work, policy-making, and human rights advocacy. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/emcwFSFu #HumanRights #ChildWelfare #GlobalDevelopment

Who should receive social security benefits for youth in foster care? 💡 Casey Family Programs, the Children's Bureau, and Lived Experience (LEx) Leaders shined a light on a social security benefits issue in a webinar hosted by American Public Human Services Association - APHSA. 💡 LEx Leader Myla Garcia’s (age 28, PA) closing observation resonated throughout the audience: “People in child welfare forget children grow up.” 💡 Read about the webinar: https://lnkd.in/gKpnQJ48

Have you heard about The Coast Salish Laws Relating to Child and Caregiver Nurturance & Safety Toolkit? 📚 🧰 “Our intention was to create a toolkit which we could tangibly integrate Coast Salish worldview into our direct programs and practice. We are moving away from the oppressive colonial systems that child welfare often represents, and we honour the impact these systems of oppression have had within the communities NIȽ TU,O serves. Within this toolkit we are exploring what the system in which we work within could look like when Coast Salish caregiving systems are upheld equally to the Child, Family and Community Services Act. As well, this toolkit provides a framework to ethically engage with Coast Salish oral history, teachings, and Natural laws by upholding teachings from Coast Salish Elders both from the communities we serve, and within the broader Coast Salish world.” shares Leslie-Ann Paige, the NIȽ TU,O project lead. Read more about this resource, and download it at: https://lnkd.in/g-K8xAdW #NIȽTUO #NIȽTUOchildandfamilysupport #SṮELIṮḴEȽȽTE #NUTSAMAUTSKWALAWAN

Have you heard about The Coast Salish Laws Relating to Child and Caregiver Nurturance & Safety Toolkit? 📚 🧰 “Our intention was to create a toolkit which we could tangibly integrate Coast Salish worldview into our direct programs and practice. We are moving away from the oppressive colonial systems that child welfare often represents, and we honour the impact these systems of oppression have had within the communities NIȽ TU,O serves. Within this toolkit we are exploring what the system in which we work within could look like when Coast Salish caregiving systems are upheld equally to the Child, Family and Community Services Act. As well, this toolkit provides a framework to ethically engage with Coast Salish oral history, teachings, and Natural laws by upholding teachings from Coast Salish Elders both from the communities we serve, and within the broader Coast Salish world.” shares Leslie-Ann Paige, the NIȽ TU,O project lead. Read more about this resource, and download it at: https://lnkd.in/g-K8xAdW #NIȽTUO #NIȽTUOchildandfamilysupport #SṮELIṮḴEȽȽTE #NUTSAMAUTSKWALAWAN

Have you heard about The Coast Salish Laws Relating to Child and Caregiver Nurturance & Safety Toolkit? 📚 🧰 “Our intention was to create a toolkit which we could tangibly integrate Coast Salish worldview into our direct programs and practice. We are moving away from the oppressive colonial systems that child welfare often represents, and we honour the impact these systems of oppression have had within the communities NIȽ TU,O serves. Within this toolkit we are exploring what the system in which we work within could look like when Coast Salish caregiving systems are upheld equally to the Child, Family and Community Services Act. As well, this toolkit provides a framework to ethically engage with Coast Salish oral history, teachings, and Natural laws by upholding teachings from Coast Salish Elders both from the communities we serve, and within the broader Coast Salish world.” shares Leslie-Ann Paige, the NIȽ TU,O project lead. Read more about this resource, and download it at: https://lnkd.in/g-K8xAdW #NIȽTUO #NIȽTUOchildandfamilysupport #SṮELIṮḴEȽȽTE #NUTSAMAUTSKWALAWAN

Have you heard about The Coast Salish Laws Relating to Child and Caregiver Nurturance & Safety Toolkit? 📚 🧰 “Our intention was to create a toolkit which we could tangibly integrate Coast Salish worldview into our direct programs and practice. We are moving away from the oppressive colonial systems that child welfare often represents, and we honour the impact these systems of oppression have had within the communities NIȽ TU,O serves. Within this toolkit we are exploring what the system in which we work within could look like when Coast Salish caregiving systems are upheld equally to the Child, Family and Community Services Act. As well, this toolkit provides a framework to ethically engage with Coast Salish oral history, teachings, and Natural laws by upholding teachings from Coast Salish Elders both from the communities we serve, and within the broader Coast Salish world.” shares Leslie-Ann Paige, the NIȽ TU,O project lead. Read more about this resource, and download it at: https://lnkd.in/g-K8xAdW #NIȽTUO #NIȽTUOchildandfamilysupport #SṮELIṮḴEȽȽTE #NUTSAMAUTSKWALAWAN

Urge the United States Congress to act immediately to stop the reprehensible practice of forced family separation which affects hundreds of thousands of children and families annually. Not only do these families lose their vital connection to each other, they face ongoing trauma and abuse from the ‘System‘ that separated them. Call and write your United States Congress Members to demand that federals reforms are enacted to the US Child Welfare System to make state care a safe, nurturing, supportive, healthy, and happy environment. The trauma inflicted by The Child Welfare System on children and families is so impactful, it is passed down through generations affecting the mental health and outcomes of the victims‘ descendants for generations to come. https://lnkd.in/eciS2BZX #ChildWelfare #FosterCare #REFORMSNOW #Advocacy #GetInvolved #ChildAbuse #Trauma #ChildNeglect #ChildTrafficking #CPS #FamilySeparation #ChildrensRights #ParentsRights #FamilyPreservation