This paper describes tradeoffs in child welfare policy in the United States and provides background on the latest trends in foster care practice to highlight areas most in need of rigorous evidence. These trends include efforts to prevent foster care on the demand side and to improve foster home recruitment on the supply side. With increasing data availability and a growing interest in evidence-based practices, there are opportunities for economic research to inform policies that protect vulnerable children.

The Biden administration is moving to end sweeping pandemic border restrictions known as Title 42 on May 23. The official announcement came Friday in an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In North Carolina, parental substance use has become the leading reason children enter the foster care system. The state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reports that of 15,239 children in foster care in 2021, 41 percent were removed from their homes because of drug use. That’s up from less than 29 percent in 2012.

The Children in Adversity Senior Technical Advisor will be a member of this team based in Washington, DC. This is a long-term position with an immediate start date. The Children in Adversity Senior Technical Advisor will work across a broad range of technical functions. The Technical Advisor will lead on activities related to Objective 2 of APCCA and will guide programming to support those most vulnerable children who are, or are at risk of, living outside of family care by promoting, funding, and supporting nurturing, loving, protective, and permanent family care.

The Trump-era policy was used to expel over 200,000 immigrant families and asylum-seekers

Restrictive border policies undermine the rights and dignity of children and families seeking asylum in the United States. Two years since the U.S. government invoked Title 42 — effectively blocking all legal pathways to safety for migrants fleeing violence, persecution and extreme poverty in their countries of origin — UNICEF USA is renewing the call for its termination.

This review will first highlight systemic/institutional inequities accentuated by the pandemic for subgroups of vulnerable children. These include Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), Black and Latinx, Indigenous populations, refugee communities, those with disability and LGBTQIA+ youth.

The Alaska House passed legislation Wednesday that would repeal a provision of law that allows a court to grant permission for someone as young as 14 to marry.

A family from India froze to death just yards away from crossing into the United States from Canada. Desperate migrants are trying their luck on the northern border.

As many as 20% of all child deaths from Covid in the US have occurred during the Omicron surge of the pandemic. Children seem to be facing increasing risks from COVID-19 even as mask mandates drop across the country, and vaccination rates among children stall out at alarmingly low rates.