White House Insights Foster America hosts federal funding experts
Foster America welcomed child welfare experts from the White House in 2024 for a strategy session on leveraging federal funds for programs that strengthen families, reducing the likelihood of involvement with the child welfare system. The event, “Breaking the Cycle: Developing Strategies to Invest in Prevention,” focused on expanding access to essential resources for families who are facing hardship, an approach central to Foster America’s mission to keep children safely with their families — and out of foster care. Today, only about 15% of child welfare funding is directed toward prevention efforts, while the rest prioritizes out- of-home placements. This imbalance makes it financially simpler to remove children from their families than to invest in the services that could strengthen and support them in the first place. Even jurisdictions that prioritize strengthening family support encounter significant challenges in securing adequate funding to implement preventative measures effectively. Rebecca Jones Gaston, then the commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), served as a panelist alongside Miranda Lynch-Smith, then-deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Human Services Policy, and Ann Flagg, who was director of the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance (ACF/OFA). Together, they offered invaluable insight to members of the inaugural Foster America Fiscal Leadership Circle, a Foster America fellowship uniquely developed for child welfare finance professionals.
32 | Foster America 2024 Annual Report
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