Connect for Kids / Child Advocacy 360 / Youth Policy Action Center - Child Safety & Protection

Promoting Healthy Families in Your Community: 2008 Resource Packet

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:03:00 -0500

This is an updated version of the 2007 Children's Bureau packet; it offers (1) guidance for service providers in exploring protective factors with families, (2) tipsheets in both English and Spanish,

Recommendations for Policy, Practice and Research on Youth Permanence

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:56:00 -0500

Casey Family Services has released a report from the research roundtable held during the last National Convening on Youth Permanence in 2006. The report offers an overview from national experts of how

Youth with Disabilities in the Foster Care System: Barriers to Success and Proposed Policy Solutions

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:54:32 -0500

At least one-third of children in foster care have physical or mental disabilities and are at higher risk for poor educational, employment and well-being outcomes. This report from the National Council on Disability finds that federal investments are undercut by lack of coordination across programs and agencies.

Foster Care Central

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:52:47 -0500

Here's a nonprofit social network (think MySpace or Facebook) for social workers, foster parents and others interested in improving the lives of foster and adoptive youth.

A“Ticket to Work” for Transitioning Youth – and Those Working With Them

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:12:55 -0600

If you work with teens with disabilities, you’ll want to know about the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work (TTW) program. Its Youth Transition portion offers funds for organizations that help students receiving Social Security disability benefits find employment. Is it right for you? Melody Goodspeed, Youth Transition Specialist for TTW answers some common questions about the funding.

Getting Beyond the Foster Care System: What Works for Teens

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:47:19 -0600

Could you have made it entirely on your own at 18 or 21? Each year, roughly 25,000 young people “age out” of the foster care system, many without family or economic supports. Without connection to a caring adult and support to plan and prepare, these youth face steep challenges, including higher rates of unemployment, poor educational attainment, health issues, incarceration, and homelessness. But those are the problems, the statistics—what about the potential of these teens, and their desire to succeed? We spoke with Betsy Krebs, co-director of the New York City-based Youth Advocacy Center, about what works to help teens aging out of foster care succeed. There’s room for the whole community...

The Real Math of Child Poverty In America

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:01:32 -0600

I was somewhat surprised when I recently came across the following paragraph on the Voices for America’s Children Website: “As a society we pay a steep price for allowing one in five of our nation’s children to live in poverty. Economists estimate the annual national cost of persistent childhood poverty due to lost adult productivity and wages, increased crime, and higher health expenditures is massive: approximately $500 billion or four percent of the nation’s gross domestic product”...

“In the first place, why on earth is the city government involved with foster care?”

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:09:51 -0600

In keeping with our promise to track the responses the New York Times had to its “A History of Neglect” series on foster care in New York, we selected a core question from the fourth and final week of responses.

In Mississippi: A Sweeping Legal Victory for Kids

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:18:15 -0600

Mississippi plans a serious overhaul of its child welfare system to do more to protect the approximately 3,400 abused and neglected children in its care. Here's an overview of the details of this comprehensive reform plan, developed as a settlement of a class action lawsuit brought against the state by Children's Rights.

NY Times' "A History of Neglect" Series: a Major Contribution on Issues Affecting Minority-run Foster Care Agencies

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:07:31 -0600

In November 2007, the New York Times ran a three-part series on the struggles of minority-run foster care agencies in New York City that found "a trail of scandals and disappointments, as well as a new commitment to better caring for the city’s vulnerable black and Latino children." The online version includes reader commentary and questions for reporters and experts. Connect for Kids will join and track these online conversations for our readers.

What Ever Happened to that Great Research We Did Last Year? And Why Do I Ask?

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:36:20 -0600

Because, on so many occasions during my Child Advocacy work in recent years—most recently as the founder and editor of the non profit Child Advocacy 360 News Network—I have witnessed such good research on children’s rights and child well-being, and such poor communication of the results, and such miserable follow up in leveraging the findings for the benefit of children that I have pledged to do my own “ What ever happened to….” research on this major area of underachievement, and report it in these blog-like writings. My challenge to Child advocacy researchers : Show us your battle plan post-press release and press notices. Show us the return on investment for children. It’s time for true accountability.

Surfing the Sites - Real People, Real Results in Child Advocacy

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:26:10 -0500

One of my great pleasures as an editor is to periodically "surf the sites" in child advocacy. I often find what to me, at least, are fresh stories of good works and good results that serve as an inspiration for my work at Child Advocacy 360 and Connect for Kids. RuralSuccess.org has several winning examples.

Who's Doing What That Works: Readers' Choice Stories

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:27:12 -0500

October 2007—Our partner Child Advocacy 360 brings you "Readers' Choice Stories," in which readers vote with their eyes, clicks and emails on the best of Who's Doing What That Works.

“Stop the Silence” to End Child Sexual Abuse: a Small Nonprofit takes on a Big Issue

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:45:21 -0500

Seven years ago, a piece of paper on a desk started Pamela Pine on a quest to understand and spread the word about child sexual abuse. In this column, Pine shares how she turned her concern into a vibrant, dynamic nonprofit organization—with an annual international awareness-raising foot race in Washington, DC, every April.

A Fine Line: How to Teach Kids About Sexual Assault

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 08:43:58 -0500

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.