Too many children experience abuse and neglect with negative lifelong consequences. Too few children get the services and supports they need to heal. Yet, proven and promising practices can reduce maltreatment and ameliorate harm. Taking these practices to scale will require federal investment and leadership in five strategic areas. We must: (1) increase prevention and early intervention services that help keep children and families out of crisis; (2) increase specialized treatment services for those children and families that do experience crisis; (3) increase services to support families after a crisis has stabilized (including birth families, as well as kinship and adoptive families created when parents are unable to care for their children); (4) enhance the quality of the workforce providing services to children and families; and (5) improve accountability both for dollars spent and outcomes achieved. Together these efforts will improve the lives of millions of children across the nation

The 20th National Youth Crime Prevention Conference and International Forum
April 19-22, 2009 in Orlando will brings youth and adults together to strengthen and explore new crime prevention skills.

A new report from Global Issues Resource Center documents the status of youth and teen courts, a juvenile justice prevention and intervention program that uses volunteer youth to help sentence their peers. In 1993, fewer than 75 local youth and teen courts existed in a dozen states -- in 2008, more than 1,000 communities operate these local juvenile justice programs.

This Public/Private Ventures guide draws upon lessons learned from seven years of experience in Philadelphia to describe how cities and other jurisdictions can plan and carry out an initiative like the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership. The program focuses on youth ages 14 to 24 who are at greatest risk of killing or being killed, and melds supervision and supports to steer them away from violence and toward productive
lives.

PROJECT ROCKIT is an interactive anti-bullying and youth leadership program that is run by young people for young people. They strive to achieve positive, lasting change by empowering young people to tackle the issues that are important to them. PROJECT ROCKIT sessions are designed to reflect a 'show me don't tell me' approach to learning. Through an array of dramatic role plays, group activities, student performances, creative writing, and real-life stories, P-ROCK sessions embody key messages and strategies that are relevant for young people.

The Spring 2008 issue of Evaluation Exchange from the Harvard Family Research Project looks at promising practices in family involvement. In particular, it highlights the importance of partnerships within communities for better child outcomes, and how family involvement fits into a broader approach to children's success in education and in life.

To make positive change for kids, you need to know where things stand, what’s working and what needs to be improved. The annual KIDS COUNT Data Book offers both data and context for 10 indicators of child well-being—and drills down to a state and local level. This year’s essay offers a “roadmap for reform” in juvenile justice. CFK summer intern Maria Allen attended the June 2008 launch event in DC and has this overview.

There's good news on the rates of rape and sexual assault in the U.S.—a big decline in the rates of these crimes since the 1970s. Still, parents and other adults who care about children have a responsibility to educate kids about the dangers—and many of us feel inadequate to the task. Tamekia Reece took a look at some of the more effective programs in use to raise awareness appropriately and in ways that kids can understand.

CFK Reports From: Child Welfare and Well-Being: Building a 21st-Century System for Kids
Event: Panel discussion
Organized By: The Urban Institute and Chapin Hall Center for Children
Where/When: June 8, 2006; Urban Institute, Washington, DC

This event, the last in a series, was a useful discussion of one of the central tensions within the child welfare field: between the imperative to keep children physically safe from harm and the understanding that removing children from their parents, homes and neighborhoods damages them.

By many measures, girls are on a roll. In terms of academic achievement, college attendance and completion, and the opportunities that are open to them, girls are poised for success. But some experts see worrying signs that girls are also facing new pressures—and responding with violent behavior usually associated with boys. Andrea Grazzini Walstrom takes a look at the issue.