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The trends of abuse, lack of mental health support, and racial inequality within child welfare institutions have harmed children and families for too long – and our history clearly shows that you cannot fix a fundamentally bad practice. It just needs to end. 

That's why Children's Rights is calling for the end of institutions in child welfare systems. 

Today we are releasing a new report and toolkit with tangible strategies for states to get children out of group facilities and prioritize preserving families and supporting kinship care. Families Over Facilities: Ending the Harmful Use of Institutions and Other Group Facilities in Child Welfare Systems will show you why the time is now and how we can finally put an end to an inhumane, ineffective practice.

Housing children in facilities costs up to 10 times more than supporting a child in a family setting. And the human cost falls heavily on youth of color, especially Black children, who are disproportionately investigated by child protective services, unnecessarily removed from their families, and placed in institutions.

A country where children are not housed in institutions is not only a moral imperative, it is thoroughly achievable with the right policies and leadership. States like Connecticut have already made tremendous strides through increasing preventive services and placing children with relatives rather than in group homes. 

Stopping this practice and reinvesting in families and communities is not just possible – it is necessary. We must protect the 42,823 children who are churned through facilities each year and dismantle the persistent racism within the youth justice and child welfare systems.

Don't miss this urgent declaration: Read our report now.

As we move into another year with the coronavirus pandemic raging on and racial disparities intensifying, we must be relentless to protect and support families so that children can thrive during and after this crisis. Friend, we hope you'll join us in the fight to end the institutionalization of children in the child welfare system, once and for all. 

Children belong in families and not facilities, and we must fight to make sure they are safe.

Thanks for staying informed,
Children's Rights