Families Together

THE ISSUE

Institutions and other group facilities are inherently dangerous places for children. Yet over 50,000 children in the US are living in congregate, juvenile detention, and other group settings instead of loving homes, while thousands more migrant children are detained by the federal government in brutal facilities. Many will experience physical violence, dismal living conditions, and inhumane, traumatizing treatment.

Without safe foster placements, and without the vital support of caseworkers and other child welfare professionals, LGBTQ youth often flee abuse in the foster system only to face homelessness and sexual exploitation.

Normal child development requires a nurturing environment. Children who spend even brief periods in institutions have worse outcomes that correlate with success as adults than their peers. Young adults placed in institutions and group facilities who age out of the foster system are more likely to be involved in the criminal legal system, become parents at an early age, have their education interrupted, and suffer economic hardships. The human cost falls heavily on youth of color, especially Black children, who are disproportionately investigated by child protective services, unnecessarily removed from their families, and placed in institutions.

Despite studies that show placing children with caring family members, including grandparents or other kinship caregivers, gives them a better chance in life, and saves significant taxpayer dollars, less than half of the over 400,000 children in the foster system are reunited with their families.

The vast majority of children in the foster system are not there because of abuse. They are there because child welfare laws and practices conflate issues of poverty and neglect. Instead of being supported, families are unjustly separated, with children placed in strangers’ homes and institutions.

Ending institutionalization is thoroughly achievable with policies that prioritize community and family-based support. States like Connecticut have made tremendous strides through increasing community services that keep children in homes with adults who love and care for them.

Children’s Rights has sparked a national call to end the unnecessary institutionalization of children. Our seminal Families over Facilities report details the violations of children’s civil and human rights and the significant cost to taxpayers. We are fighting to end practices that result in unjust removals and the placement of children in institutional facilities and ensure that families receive the community support that can keep their children at home.  When separation is absolutely necessary, we advocate prioritizing the placement of children with family members, not strangers.

Our Efforts

View All News and Voices

Ending Institutions Is a Necessary Step Toward Abolition

The Imprint News

November 26, 2024

In the News

Rhode Island

Case Name

J.“E.”L. v. Charest

Status

Active

Children’s Rights, American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, and Disability Rights Rhode Island filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Medicaid-eligible children against the state of Rhode Island for denying them legally required and medically necessary mental health care. Without access to intensive home and community-based services, these children have been routinely segregated from their communities and placed in institutions—sometimes far from home—where they are unable to thrive, and they remain at serious risk of continued unnecessary isolation and institutionalization. 

Child Health, Families Together, Government Accountability

Lawsuit says R.I. is ‘failing’ kids with serious mental, behavioral health needs

Rhode Island Current

November 13, 2024

In the News

Take Action

Foster Truth for Kids. Take the Pledge.

Raise Your Voice for a Brighter Future for Children.

Every day, thousands of children and young adults are separated from their families and placed into foster systems where they are abused and neglected.

The trauma they endure carries with them into adulthood, impacting their health, relationships, and sense of self. Is this how we treat kids? Add your name and pledge to Foster Truth for Kids. Let’s raise our voices loud and advocate for better treatment of our children.

Sign the Pledge

Sign the #HealthyKidsHealthyMinds Pledge.

Pledge to advocate for the mental health needs of our children.

The nation’s mental health crisis is impacting more children than ever before, particularly children from low-income families, communities of color, and children who identify as LGBTQ+. Rates of mental health disorders are soaring. Emergency room visits by children suffering from anxiety, mood disorders, and self-harm have jumped sharply. And teen and young adult suicide has risen by almost 60% in the last ten years.

Children’s mental health problems are real and common, but they are also treatable, especially when caught early. When children have access to intensive community- and home-based mental health care services their quality of life improves, their emotional and behavioral health strengthens, and they’re more likely to stay with their family. But we need advocates like you to help put pressure on governments to right this wrong.

Sign the Pledge

Stop Criminalizing Children, Invest In Their Healing

Call on Policymakers to Stop Prison Pipelines and Fund Community Services

In communities across the nation, police – not a trained health professional, are the first to respond to a child’s mental health or social crisis. This is especially true for Black and Latinx youth, resulting in the criminalization of countless youth, exacerbating existing mental health symptoms, and contributing to the creation of a school-to-prison pipeline.

Join us in demanding the removal of law enforcement from institutions meant to serve our youth and calling for an investment in community mental health services that will allow young people to develop and heal. This is a wrong we have to right, and it begins with you.

Sign the Petition