We have reached a critical moment for America’s abused and neglected children — and in the history of Children’s Rights.

We have won many significant victories and brought about real improvements in the lives of hundreds of thousands of children across the United States.

We have exerted a powerful influence in shaping both the law and public policy regarding the treatment of abused and neglected children, and we have established Children’s Rights as a tough and effective engine for change when child welfare systems fail to provide the care and protection these children desperately need.

In more than a dozen states, we have secured court orders mandating the comprehensive reform of broken child welfare systems.

And now we seek to broaden our influence significantly, waging more state-by-state battles to bring about a decisive shift in child welfare practice and policy nationwide — and produce dramatically better results for more children.

We have developed a sweeping new five-year strategic plan to guide us in our efforts. Although the strategies we will employ to realize our objectives are varied and complex, our overarching goals are simple and concise:

Goal One: Reach More Children

• We will expand the number of reform campaigns we undertake and explore new legal strategies, seeking to create a critical mass of victories that ensures a more solid legal basis for our work and shifts the way child welfare systems are operated nationwide.
• We will strengthen and expand our legal staff to fortify our current reform efforts — and prepare us to take on a greater number of reform campaigns in the years to come.
• We will more systematically track and document the results of our work, adding to the body of knowledge nationwide regarding best practices in child welfare and using it to influence policy at the local, state, and national levels.

Goal Two: Improve Our Effectiveness

• We will expand our policy department and its role in our reform campaigns, using its expertise to inform and guide the development and implementation of plans for reforming failed child welfare systems and producing better results for children.

Goal Three: Build a Stronger Organization

• We will broaden the identity of Children’s Rights to increase our influence on child welfare issues nationwide.
• We will expand opportunities to engage our Board of Directors and other volunteers in support of the work of Children’s Rights.
• We will ensure the long-term stability of Children’s Rights by establishing a more secure funding base for our work.

Our vision for the future is ambitious, to be sure. Ultimately, we seek nothing short of a sea change in the practice of child welfare across the United States. But we have demonstrated that meaningful child welfare reform can be achieved. We have seen for ourselves the dramatic results it can bring about in the lives of abused and neglected children. We have set the stage for a massive shift in the way our nation treats its most vulnerable kids.

And this strategic plan details the actions we will now take to realize our ideal of helping more abused and neglected children get the care and protection they need — and the better life they deserve.

Learn More

• Download Expanding the Reach of Child Welfare Reform Nationwide: A Five-Year Strategic Plan 2009-2013 (PDF).
• Read more about our reform campaigns and policy advocacy.
• Make a gift in support of the implementation of our strategic plan.
• Join our network of supporters to receive regular updates about Children’s Rights’ work.
• Contact us to find out how you can help Children’s Rights realize our ideal of improving the lives of more abused and neglected children across America.