Child Well-Being

FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Support Children and Families in Foster Care

In honor of National Kinship Care Month, Administration releases a historic package of regulations to ensure children in the child welfare system thrive The more than 391,000 American children and youth living in foster care deserve to grow up in … Read More

White House Announces Slate of Actions on Child Welfare

The Biden administration announced a mix of final and proposed rules on child welfare policy today that cover the placement of foster youth with relatives, legal representation for parents and children involved with the system, and the placement of LGBTQI+ … Read More

The Biden-Harris Administration Awards $20 Million to Launch First National Center to Support Mental Health Services in the Child Welfare System

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) awarded $20 million to launch the first-ever National Center for Child Welfare Competent Mental Health Services (the Center). As part of HHS’ Roadmap … Read More

An Environmental Scan of Cybercrime Measurement: Recommendations for the National Crime Victimization Survey

Executive Summary The Better Cybercrime Metrics Act directs the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in coordination with the Bureau of the Census, to include questions relating to cybercrime victimization on the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). This report, developed through … Read More

Extraterritorial Child Sexual Abuse

Extraterritorial child sexual abuse, often misleadingly referred to as “child sex tourism,” involves United States citizens or lawful permanent resident aliens who either: 1) travel to a foreign country with a motivating purpose of engaging in any “illicit sexual conduct” … Read More

Social Media’s Concerning Effect on Teen Mental Health

CUR­RENT LEV­ELS OF TEEN SOCIAL MEDIA USE Vir­tu­al­ly all teens (95%) ages 13 to 17 use social media, with more than 1 in 3 report­ing that they use it ​“almost con­stant­ly.” While most U.S. social media plat­forms require users to be at least 13 years old, near­ly 40% of kids ages 8 to 12 use social media. … Read More

The State of Children With Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs

CHIL­DREN WITH SPE­CIAL HEALTH CARE NEEDS In 2019–2020, 19% of kids liv­ing in the Unit­ed States — more than 14 mil­lion chil­dren total — had spe­cial health care needs, accord­ing to a 2022 sum­ma­ry of the Mater­nal and Child Health Bureau’s Nation­al Sur­vey of Children’s Health. Chil­dren with­in … Read More

Youth Detention and the Pandemic

THE PANDEMIC’S EFFECTS ON YOUTH JUSTICE The data from Casey’s month­ly sur­vey dur­ing this peri­od offer an unpar­al­leled glimpse into hun­dreds of juve­nile jus­tice sys­tems around the coun­try. The Foun­da­tion observed sig­nif­i­cant and con­cern­ing changes — espe­cial­ly for Black youth: READ MORE

Announcing New Resource On Infants Affected By Prenatal Substance Exposure

The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW), with support from the Vermont Oxford Network (VON) developed a four-part series on implementing Plans of Safe Care and Family Care Plans. The series examines the role healthcare providers play … Read More

Experiences of Faith-Based Organizations as Key Stakeholders in Policy Responses to Human Trafficking

Introduction Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) are key stakeholders in the fight against human trafficking [1,2]. They have had a historically prominent role in anti-trafficking efforts in Europe and the United States. Christian missionary societies established the anti-trafficking movement in the 1900s … Read More