Families in need of services should not be subjected to surveillance and investigations by the family regulation system, yet the inclusion of neglect in mandated reporting laws ensures that they are. Our Advocacy & Policy team co-authored an article with Shanta Trivedi, Center for Families, Children and the Courts Faculty Director and Assistant Professor of Law at The University of Baltimore School of Law and Shakira Paige, Peer Trainer, Peer Model Project at Rise, examining the law’s origination, the resulting harm to Black families, and an approach for change. 

At any given time, there are approximately 42,823 children housed in institutions and other group facilities. Institutionalizing children denies them loving homes and robs them of their childhood. Families over Facilities is a call to action to end the unnecessary institutionalization of children in child welfare. The report details the physical, mental and emotional harm done […]

This report was developed with extensive input from LGBTQ+ young people currently or formerly in foster care, LGBTQ+ young people currently or formerly experiencing homelessness, and direct service workers. We identify how the pandemic is amplifying some of the risks for LGBTQ+ youth in child welfare systems and propose practices to mitigate them. Now, more than ever, LGBTQ+ young people must be protected.

What does it mean to reform foster care? What does our advocacy accomplish? Click here to see how Children’s Rights has affected concrete and critical change in child welfare systems across the United States.