Featured Article: How one small community found families for 82 Texas foster children By Kathleen Belanger Diann Sparks was the first parent from the Bennett Chapel community to adopt from the foster care system. Her sons Randy, left, and Nino are thriving. When asked what the future holds for her family, Diann replied, "I want
Featured Article: Emerging approaches in child welfare By Julie Collins I thought I was doing well as a child welfare supervisor of one of the highest-risk areas in Ottawa, Canada. But that changed when I began having dreams--nightmares, really. As a manger for a unit of 10 child and family workers, I was struggling with
Featured Article: By Lane DeGregory In this issue and the next, Children's Voice is reprinting this article by St. Petersburg Times writer Lane DeGregory, winner of CWLA's 2009 Anna Quindlen Award for Excellence in Journalism in Behalf of Children and Families. In April, the article earned DeGregory a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. This
Featured Article: As the number of homeless families increases nationally, a mother struggles to find help among overburdened services By Emily Shenk Melissa Majors had been crying. A few quiet tears rolled down her dark brown cheeks and seeped into the blue collar of her Popeyes uniform. It was late, after midnight. She leaned
Featured Article: Programs provide extra support for former foster youth in college By Simone Pringle For most people, the holidays are all about family. Going to Grandma's house, baking cookies with cousins and aunts, watching Dad slice the turkey at the head of the table. But for all the joy the season brings to many
On October 14, the United States Supreme Court declined to review a challenge by the Liberty Counsel about the Florida Bar's amicus brief in support of Martin Gill, a gay man who sought to adopt his two foster children. Gill made history last year when Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman struck down a 32-year
CWLA calls for a White House Conference in 2010 to focus on child welfare, following a tradition that began 100 years ago and improved the lives of millions of children. By Jennifer Michael and Madeleine Goldstein During the early 20th Century, those working to improve the lives of children in the United States faced
By Jennifer Michael Amy Swanson is used to talking to legislators. One of her primary tasks as Executive Director of Voices for Ohio's Children is to lobby local and state legislators to advance her organization's agendas. So when Voices took the lead on an advocacy effort launched in 2004 to raise awareness of infant
Child welfare administrator and former foster child Darrell Armstrong says we not only need to give children a voice, we need to give families a voice. In honor of May as National Foster Care Month, we feature an excerpt here from the keynote address given by Rev. Darrell Armstrong during CWLA's 2007 National Conference.
Teens Taking Charge Programs encourage youth in foster care to drive their plans to find adoptive families. By Jennifer Michael At age 11, Roger* realized he wanted to be adopted. It was 2002 and the state of Minnesota had stripped his parents of their rights to raise him after years of abuse and neglect. Roger
