Rise reports on the child welfare system with a goal of highlighting efforts to improve policies and practice and spotlighting effective practices.
If you’re a parent reading Rise, chances are you’ve been affected by the child welfare system. But do you know how child welfare gets funded, or how that funding affects you as a parent?
Right now a new bill before Congress could dramatically change the way child welfare is funded, and make a lot more money available for preventive services. As parents affected by the child-welfare system, it’s important to understand how … Read More
On Aug. 4, the executive director of the Child Welfare Organizing Project, Sandra Killett, a parent activist in New York City and mother whose son was placed in foster care, and Rosalina Burton, an intern with FosterClub and a former foster youth from California, testified before the Senate Finance Committee about a bill, The Family Stability and Kinship Care Act, that would increase federal funding for preventive services. (Click here to watch their … Read More
The federal Family Stability and Kinship Care Act, introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon on August 4, would give states more flexibility to provide family support services that could keep children safe at home and out of foster care. On Aug. 5, members of the New York Coalition for Child Welfare Funding Reform—a diverse coalition of advocates and foster care agency leaders—met with lawmakers to educate them about the need … Read More
A sample story from the A Time To Bond workbook
When my daughter, Little Mama, was a year and a half, she was removed from home because my husband and I were using drugs. At our first visit, my husband and I were very anxious. I was scared that Little Mama would forget me, or would feel that I did not want her anymore.
Waiting in the hallway for our baby, we saw a Spanish man holding … Read More
White and Black people in this country have similar rates of illegal drug use, but research shows that Black parents come to the attention of the child welfare system for drug use at far higher rates. One 1990 Florida study found that doctors were 10 times more likely to report Black women for drug use during pregnancy than White women. A more recent study, conducted between 2001 and 2007 in California, found that … Read More
