For America’s abused and

neglected children,

we must do
better.
 THREE
MILLION
reports of child abuse and
neglect will be filed in the
United States this year.
About
800,000
children will spend time
in foster care.

What they all have in common as they enter our nation’s child welfare systems
is the need for stable homes. What too many of them will have in common as
they make their way through those systems is the stuff of nightmares.

Some will be separated from their siblings. Some will languish for years in
“temporary” foster care placements or institutions. Some will be shuffled around
frequently and without warning. Some will—unthinkably—suffer additional abuse
at the hands of the people entrusted with their protection. Many will be denied
health care, education, and other fundamental necessities for safe, healthy, and
happy lives. And many will experience serious, permanent damage as a result.
The fact is that
Since 1995,
many of our nation’s
child welfare systems are CHILDREN’S
BROKEN. RIGHTS
Children get sent to live with inappropriate or unlicensed foster parents.
Instead of being adopted, many are housed in orphanage-like institutions
where their educational, physical, and mental-health needs are neglected
has been
fighting
or ignored. Many children emerge from the systems that are supposed
to be protecting them much worse for the experience. And the systems
themselves—underfunded, understaffed, lacking leadership, and low on
morale—are often ill-equipped to respond.

It doesn’t have to be
this way. for our
nation’s
abused and
neglected
children.
 WE BELIEVE:
Children should be raised in loving homes, not institutions.
Every child deserves the opportunity to grow up in a safe and nurturing family.

Protecting vulnerable children is everyone’s obligation,

and every state and local child welfare system must do its best on behalf of the children in its care.

Running a child welfare system properly is always

less costly than allowing it to fail.
Across the country, we are proving that child welfare systems, given adequate funding
and proper management, can provide a brighter future for the kids in their care.

We work with local child advocates, thoroughly

investigating state and local systems when it becomes apparent that they are failing to
live up to their responsibilities—and putting children at risk.

We build strong cases, documenting problems, bringing them to

public attention, and recommending ways they can be fixed.

We take tough legal action to force system-wide reform—and

continue to monitor the systems for as long as it takes to ensure that progress is made.

Our policy staff works closely with our legal team, researching best practices
strong and substantive policy
nationwide and issuing
recommendations for effecting lasting change.
 Too many
children get
CHRIS lived through a
horror story for twelve years, trapped in
foster care.
passing in and out of Michigan’s child welfare system—and getting
bounced around from one foster home to the next—before he was
finally adopted at the age of 14.

At two, he was removed from the home of his alcoholic mother—

and returned home after 18 months. At eight, he was removed
again—along with his brother and two sisters—when neighbors
and teachers reported signs of physical abuse.

Chris and his brother were separated from their sisters and placed
in a home where their foster mother physically abused them. They
were moved again—twice—and ended up with a family that wanted
to adopt them both. But Michigan’s Department of Human Services
had decided that the boys should be separated—and, appallingly,
they were.

Chris’s brother was sent to a residential treatment facility, where

he was routinely beaten under the supervision of institutional staff.
Chris stayed with his fourth foster family for two more years before
he, too, was placed in an institution—despite meeting none of the
criteria for such a move.

Chris finally moved in with his adoptive father in December 2005.

The adoption became final in August 2006, and his brother has now
moved in with them and is awaiting adoption.

On August 8, 2006, Children’s Rights filed a federal class action

lawsuit against Michigan’s Department of Human Services
on behalf of the 19,000 children like Chris in state custody.
The case is ongoing.
Foster care is supposed to be a temporary placement for children who have suffered
abuse or neglect while the state works either to reunite them with their families or
to find them adoptive homes. But that’s not how it works for many of them.
The average child in foster care lives in
two to five different homes
over a period of just two and a half years.
Seventy thousand children
in America have languished in foster care
for more than five years.
Making matters worse, foster care systems across the United States labor under
terrible strains caused by insufficient funding and political inattention. Too
many foster parents are inadequately trained and supported. The caseworkers
responsible for monitoring the well-being of children in foster care are often
overburdened with caseloads that sometimes double or even triple the acceptable
standard. Placements in group homes and institutions—the last resort for children
in state care—are actually increasing in the U.S.
In all of these situations, it is always the
children who suffer. They get trapped in systems from which
the only escape is reaching the age at which the systems no longer have legal
authority over them. They develop severe emotional and psychological problems.
Their chances of ending up in stable, healthy, permanent homes—and of living
happy, normal lives—diminish every day.
DENISE ’s life
was changed when
Children’s Rights took
legal action in Tennessee.
She had been abused and neglected from the
time she was born. The state took her away from
her abusive parents when she was just an infant.
It wasn’t until she was three that her parents’
rights were terminated and she was freed for
legal adoption. And she would remain trapped
in the system for many more years.
Denise was fortunate to be placed in a stable
home, but her foster mother couldn’t get the
help she needed. The state child welfare agency
failed to provide much-needed mental health
services. Denise’s behavior was worsening, and
she struggled in school. And even though her
foster mother, Pearlie, wanted to adopt her, the
state agency couldn’t give her solid assurances
that they would provide the services that Denise
so desperately needed.
In 2000, Children’s Rights filed a class action
suit against Tennessee on behalf of Denise and
the 9,000 children like her in state custody.
A settlement agreement was reached in 2001,
but the system continued having dire problems.
In 2003, Children’s Rights brought a contempt
action in federal court and real progress began.
Under new leadership, the agency has made
major improvements—although some serious
problems still remain. We continue to serve as
a watchdog to ensure that the reforms mandated
by the settlement get made.
As for Denise, the state agency finally began
paying attention to her case. Her adoption by
Pearlie was finalized. Her behavior improved.
She went from being a D student to getting A’s
and B’s. She’s now a healthy teenager, thriving
in her permanent family, making the honor roll,
and shining as a member of her high school’s
traveling dance team.
Legal action that gets

results. Policy recommendations for

lasting
We measure our success by the difference we make in the lives of children.

Children’s Rights has won landmark cases improving child welfare systems in Connecticut, the
District of Columbia, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York,

reform.
Tennessee, Wisconsin, and other jurisdictions.

Much more than mere symbolic victories, these comprehensive campaigns

for reform produce real, measurable improvements in the lives of abused and
neglected children.

• In Washington, DC, reforms resulting from our efforts more than
tripled the annual number of adoptions of children in foster care.
• In Connecticut, where systematic failure to investigate alleged abuse and
neglect placed thousands of children in danger, litigation and monitoring
by Children’s Rights have ensured that more than 90 percent of abuse
and neglect allegations are now investigated promptly—and the
quality of the investigations has markedly improved.
• Sweeping reforms brought about by Children’s Rights’ settlement with
the state of Tennessee have cut the number of children living in
orphanage-style institutions and other non-family settings in half
since 2002.
• In Missouri, Children’s Rights helped to overturn a state law that
slashed aid to parents adopting children from foster care. Our
efforts in Kansas City, Missouri, ensured that more than 90 percent of
the children in custody receive necessary dental, medical, and mental
health care.
• Legal action in New Jersey brought about the creation of a cabinet-
level children’s agency. Among many much-needed reforms, the state
increased the number of new foster families by nearly 50 percent
over a period of just two years.
• In all, Children’s Rights reform campaigns have secured more than $2
billion in additional child welfare funding nationwide and initiated
reforms to ensure that funds are spent more effectively to help abused
and neglected children.
The list goes on.
Our policy staff works closely with our legal team throughout every reform campaign, zeroing in
on fundamental problems within each child welfare system and proposing potential solutions.
All of our policy recommendations are based on thorough research into best practices nationwide,
helping us identify the strategies most likely to produce the best results for children.
We also complement our legal efforts with advocacy at the national level, conducting studies and
periodically issuing major reports designed to show how better public policy can bring about big
improvements in the lives of our nation’s abused and neglected children.
Our recent and ongoing policy projects include:
• Hitting the M.A.R.C.: Establishing Foster Care

Minimum Adequate Rates for Children
The first-ever calculation of the true costs of supporting a child in foster care, Hitting the M.A.R.C.
recommends minimum reimbursement rates for each state—and highlights the troubling disparity
between the expenses foster parents really face in feeding, clothing, and housing the children in their
care and what they currently receive in state assistance.
•  Promoting Child Welfare Workforce Improvements
through Federal Policy Changes
An ongoing collaboration with the Children’s Defense Fund, this project is a broad-based effort
to ensure proper screening, training, supervision, and support for child welfare workers nationwide.
•  At the Crossroads: A Decade of Child Welfare
Reform in New York City
An exhaustive assessment of the performance of one of the largest child welfare systems in the U.S.,
At the Crossroads identifies several areas in which reform efforts have not produced satisfactory
improvements and seeks to inform and drive further reforms.
Children’s Rights is a leader in
child welfare reform.
Our legal efforts force improvement by setting definitive benchmarks and strict timetables. Our policy
proposals point the way toward more reasoned and results-oriented governmental approaches to child welfare.

Children’s Rights is effective.

With a paid staff of just over thirty, we have achieved landmark legal victories and improved the lives of
hundreds of thousands of abused and neglected children in a dozen states across the nation—with more
in the works and the scope of our influence growing every day.

Support for Children’s Rights is

support for America’s abused and
neglected children.
The individuals and foundations that fund Children’s Rights know that their contributions will result
in direct action on behalf of children who have no other means of helping themselves out of failing
child welfare systems—and into safe, healthy, stable, and permanent homes.

Find out
how you can help.
Contact Jethro Miller, director of development, at:

Children’s Rights
330 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
212.683.2210

Or visit us on the web to find out more:

www.childrensrights.org
www.childrensrights.org