For the Welfare of Children

In each of these cases both the plaintiffs and the defendants wanted to achieve the same high level of performance and positive outcomes for children and families. Finding ways to capture and build on the shared goals has allowed jurisdictions to take advantage of the positive attributes of litigation and minimize the negatives.

The jurisdictions that achieved the most success were able to balance expectations in order to provide time to build the infrastructure before expecting to see significant improvement in child and family outcomes, sometimes after one or several false starts and prolonged periods of frustration and non-compliance.

Court orders must be able to respond to new understandings and changing internal and external conditions and must incorporate changes based on experience and data analysis. The case studies of successful litigation-driven reform efforts demonstrate the importance.

The fact is that children of color are more likely to enter foster care in the United States. Once in care, they also receive fewer supports, have higher occurrences of placement changes, remain in care for longer periods of time and are less likely to be adopted or reunited with their families.