A National Conversation
Leaders gather at White House in support of child welfare transformation In late 2024, national leaders came together at The White House Child Welfare Convening, shining a spotlight on the urgent need to rethink how the U.S. supports children and families. The gathering — an extraordinary recognition of child welfare as a national priority — brought together federal, state, and local leaders to address the deep-rooted challenges in the system and chart a bold path forward. Foster America’s co-founder and executive director Marie Zemler Wu was honored to be among the invited attendees, reflecting on what she called a “generational moment” in the field. The convening underscored a long-overdue shift: from child protection and family separation toward prevention, family support, and structural reform. Marie noted that the last time the White House convened such a discussion — President Herbert Hoover’s 1909 Conference on the Care of Dependent Children — the focus was on the harm of institutionalizing vulnerable youth. Today, the conversation centers on another harmful practice: conflating poverty with neglect and over-relying on child removal rather than family strengthening.
38 | Foster America 2024 Annual Report
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