Thursday's Child

One important provision of the 2008 Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act extended federal support for keeping foster youth in care until age 21. The goal is to improve educational and health-related outcomes. This extension of care has significant implications for service providers as they plan adaptations to their programs for a group of older youth who need services that will help prepare them for independence. It has implications as well for the budgets of state agencies and program providers. Panelists Mark Courtney, Ph.D., is Professor, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago and Affiliated Scholar, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and Principal Investigator of the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth. Angie Schwartz, J.D., is the Policy Director at The Alliance for Children's Rights, where she works to improve the child welfare system through systemic reform. Miller Anderson is Deputy Director o

Youth violence is a public health crisis in the United States. Based on the most recent statistics, approximately 20 percent of high school students report being bullied at school, and over 30 percent report being in a physical fight. Homicide is the second leading cause of death of young people, with an average of 16 youth murdered every day. There is no simple or single answer to reducing youth violence. The problem is multiply determined and requires coordinated effort at multiple levels and across systems. Because of the complexity of the issue, programs need to address children and families at different developmental ages and engage with youth at varying levels of associated risk and involvement. Efforts should be coordinated among the social systems that have the most direct influence on youth at different stages of development--families, schools, community agencies, and justice--and should focus both on primary prevention and interventions directed toward both high-risk and "dee

State agencies finance and administer a range of services -- from foster care for abused and neglected children to prisons to long-term care of the elderly. How can large public agencies and small community organizations plan better to meet the needs of the people they serve? Traditionally, useful and timely data for planning purposes have been in short supply. Recent research linking data across a number of public agencies has highlighted some significant findings about state services and the people who use them. One study suggests that comparatively few families consume the lion's share of Illinois's service resources. Researchers looked at five services-mental health care, substance abuse treatment, foster care, adult incarceration, and juvenile incarceration-and found that the 23 percent of Illinois families using multiple services accounted for 86 percent of the dollars spent on those services. Another study -- of former prisoners in Illinois -- showed that 52 percent of them went

The nation's urban service systems for children and families often struggle with conflicting goals, inadequate resources, and intense but temporary public attention during turmoil and tragedies. This forum will examine the many challenges of systems reform -- through the lenses of education, health care and child welfare -- and the steps, partnerships, and strategies required to help foster the successful development of vulnerable children and families. Join us as we investigate such issues as: What does it take to reform urban systems? What are the lessons for suburban and rural services? What can one service system learn from another? And how can research on practices and policies contribute to reform? Panelists Juanona Brewster, director of Early Childhood Development Projects at the Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Olivia Golden, Institute fellow at the Urban Institute and former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services John Simm

On the horizon is a push to monitor outcomes for children and youth across the systems that serve them, including education, child welfare, and healthcare. With healthcare reforms and changes to the No Child Left Behind Act looming, and as state child welfare agencies strive to comply with federal requirements, ideas and insights about performance measurement are especially timely. Please join us to examine the performance measures used by sectors serving children and families. Be part of the discussion as experts explore where intersections might work, where they won't, and why, and drill down on such questions as what are the opportunities for developing more effective program design and service integration through performance monitoring? How can monitoring practices across sectors support fiscal responsibility? Where do federal and state policies on performance measurement converge or diverge? How can a child development perspective enable all sectors to identify outcomes and monito

Soon after the new administration begins governing in January, it is expected to propose an ambitious, multipronged urban policy that includes both housing and community-development activities, and the establishment of "Promise Neighborhoods" that provide networks of community-based diversified services for low-income children and youth. Do these two approaches run on parallel tracks, or can they be interwoven so they more effectively stem the cycle of concentrated, intergenerational poverty? This Thursday's Child explores how initiatives that integrate services for high-need young people can complement the kind of comprehensive neighborhood development work now being enacted in Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit, and other cities. Panelists will discuss lessons learned from established community-building initiatives, as well as the research agenda that is still needed to strengthen new and continuing efforts. Speakers examine models of place-based integrative services and an

America's teen pregnancy rate is among the highest in the developed world, despite consistent declines over the past 15 years. Advances here might be ending, however: the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the rate of teen childbearing increased 3 percent between 2005 and 2006, the first uptick since 1990. Today, three female teenagers out of every ten become pregnant at least once before they turn 20. Teen pregnancy rates are highest among those who are unmarried, and from families that are low-income, minority, and with lower levels of education. This Thursday's Child examines the many costs and varied policy implications of teen motherhood. Panelists discuss the effects teen childbearing has on the life trajectories of the mother and child, the costs to government agencies aiding teens' children, and the increased risks these children face, including maltreatment, being placed into foster care, and incarceration. Private and public programs that reduce teen preg

As we explored in our May forum, Americans across the political spectrum embrace universal early childhood education. But what about school-success initiatives that reach back even further to support newborns, toddlers, and their parents? What can be achieved when educators, abuse-prevention experts, parents, government officials, businesses, philanthropies, and community groups collaborate? This Thursday's Child analyzes the complexities of enacting effective school-readiness policies and programs. The observations address what's behind the latest interest in such initiatives, the social and political environments needed for successful early learning centers and home visitation efforts, the lessons states can draw from Illinois' recent experience; and the importance of integrating home-based and learning-center programs, and providing consistent training and supervision for providers. Panelists Ajay Chaudry, director, Center on Labor, Human Services & Population, Urban Institute Debra