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CWLA's letter and questionnaire to the Presidential Candidates
Dear Presidential Candidate:
The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), representing public and private nonprofit, child-serving member agencies across the country, is offering all candidates for President both an opportunity and a challenge on behalf of our nation's most vulnerable children.
We are asking the next President to focus on the issues of child abuse and neglect, and our nation's child welfare system. The challenge is for you and all the presidential candidates to support and embrace the goal of improving outcomes for our most vulnerable children.
We call on the next President to ensure the overall well-being of all children. This call represents a tremendous opportunity for each and every presidential candidate whether they are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent.
This call is also a challenge: a challenge to address in your position statements and platform the issue of child welfare, including child maltreatment, adoptions, kinship care, and permanence for our nation's 500,000 children in foster care.
We are asking you to embrace the goals of improving outcomes for children, reducing child abuse and neglect, reducing the number of children who do not have permanent and lasting families, and focus the nations' attention on these goals.
We look forward to your response to the following questions on child welfare and challenge you to address these issues.
- Each year, 500,000 children reside in foster care, more than 125,000 are waiting to be adopted, and more than 24,000 youth age out or leave foster care because they are too old. How would your administration address the plight of children waiting to be adopted, in need of reunification, and aging out?
- How would your administration address the need for treatment and health care services for children in care?
- What role do you think the federal government should play in financing the child welfare system? How would your administration seek to address the current system as it relates to the financing of child welfare programs/initiatives?
- Each year, 900,000 children are substantiated as abused and neglected. What do you think should be done to combat and prevent child abuse?
- The workforce in general is facing a challenge, and, in particular, many public and private agencies are understaffed and face high turnover in workforce rates. What would your administration do to ensure a skilled/professional child welfare workforce is available?
Thank you for your consideration and for your dedicated service to our country.
Sincerely,
Christine James-Brown
President and CEO
CWLA
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