Children’s Rights fights to give abused and neglected children a better chance of growing up in safe, loving, permanent homes.

When we take on failing child welfare systems, we aim to hold public officials accountable to their constitutional and legal obligations to act quickly in working to either safely reunify children with their birth families or to find them adoptive parents if reunification fails.

We launch comprehensive reform campaigns designed to secure federal court orders mandating that child welfare systems:

• Develop plans quickly for moving children in foster care into permanent homes through either safe reunification with their birth families or adoption, spelling out goals, tasks, and timeframes in detail.
• Work intensively to recruit adoptive families — including families willing and able to take in children with special needs and others regarded as difficult to place.
• Provide adequate post-adoption services so children thrive with their new families, parents receive the support they need to enable them to adopt, and the adoptions remain stable.

And we complement our legal efforts with research and policy advocacy at the state and national level to improve the public policy that guides child welfare systems — and to produce better results for the abused and neglected children in their care.

Learn More and Get Involved

• Read about Children’s Rights’ child welfare reform campaigns and policy advocacy.
• Learn about the related issues of child abuse and neglect and foster care.
• Check out our list of additional resources for detailed information about child welfare in the United States.
• Find out how you can help by making a gift to Children’s Rights or joining our network of supporters.