New Foster Care Research from the Casey Foundation

Foster Care Can Spark Modest Improvements in Child Well-Being, New Research Shows

Posted July 1, 2016, By the Annie E. Casey Foundation

For decades, communities have intervened to help children who have been abused and neglected, even without clear data to know which interventions, if any, have worked. According to new research from Kids Insight, a nonprofit grantee of the Casey Foundation, the well-being of many children in foster care  improves while in custody. However, a minority of kids still struggle and agencies need to find innovative approaches to effectively meet their needs.

Kids Insight used the Treatment Outcome Package (TOP) questionnaire, an assessment tool on child well-being, in Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina and Delaware to measure how kids, on average, were doing when they entered care compared to how they were faring at defined points after spending time in care.

“The insights provided by TOP are pretty amazing,” says Tracey Feild, director of Casey's Child Welfare Strategy Group. “While improvements are small, they exist and in many cases are statistically significant.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Casey Supports National Campaign to Stop Solitary for Kids

 

 

Thousands of young people are held in solitary confinement each year across the country, yet research shows that this style of punishment is linked to lasting psychological consequences for kids without making facilities safer.

This is why the Casey Foundation is supporting the Stop Solitary for Kids campaign to end solitary confinement of youth in juvenile and adult facilities in the United States.

Read more on the Stop Solitary for Kids campaign

View Casey’s free resources on reducing solitary confinement

Child Welfare System Success!

 

 

CaseyCast Podcast Highlights Delaware's Child Welfare System Successes

In recognition of National Foster Care Month, CaseyCast host Lisa Hamilton talks with Delaware Division of Family Services Director Shirley Roberts. Their conversation explores how the state’s child welfare system has excelled — and the valuable lessons it has learned along the way — in serving kids and youth in need.

Discussion points include: the power of family and family engagement; the state’s proactive approach to aiding at-risk teens; and how anyone can help support a child or youth in foster care.

Listen to the podcast

Young People in Foster Care Tell How States Can Remove Barriers to Normalcy

Leveraging the Strengthening Families Act to Promote Normalcy

By the Annie E. Casey Foundation

A new Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative report shares reform recommendations aimed at helping young people in foster care enjoy their fair share of normal, growing-up activities as they move toward adulthood.

In the report, young people who were or currently are in foster care identify four things that they need to thrive in adulthood: 1) connections to family and caring relationships; 2) a reduced use of group placements; 3) a more rigorous selection and training process for foster parents; and 4) greater opportunities to make their own decisions and learn from experience.

Read the report: What Young People Need to Thrive

Changes in the Child Poverty Rate

 

Data from the 2014 American Community Survey, released Sept. 17, suggests that the national child poverty rate remained stagnant from 2013 to 2014 – a sign that the country’s economic recovery is still leaving the lowest-income families behind. 

See which states saw increases in child poverty rates

Families Are Best Chance of Success for Kids in Child Welfare Systems

A new KIDS COUNT Policy Report highlights the urgent need to ensure that everything possible is being done to find loving, nurturing and supported families for children in foster care. Every Kid Needs a Family: Giving Children in the Child Welfare System the Best Chance for Success shows how state and local government leaders and communities can work together to help the 57,000 children in foster care who are living in group placements on any given night. The report also offers ways in which residential treatment can help young people return to families more quickly.

Read or download Every Kid Needs a Family