Child Welfare Transformation Convening

The Domestic Policy Council invited me to attend a Child Welfare Transforming Convening on July 30th at the White House. Here are some of the items presented in this convening that stood out me the most:

- In the state of Michigan, families with newborn children are being awarded $1,200 at birth and $500/month for the first year of their lives. This initiative in response to research findings that expressed that families are statistically poorest at birth and the year following.

- Connecticut has began providing trusts for children born into poverty, issuing $3,200 that grows until their 18th birthday and can then be used to build assets and wealth (purchase a home, further education, business start up, etc.) to center equity and work towards closing the gap between classes.

- Footbridge for Families is an organization that supplies rapid responsive care to families in financial crisis that make them vulnerable to the Child Welfare system. They provide immediate support for evictions and other crises, sometimes within just hours of being notified.

I am so grateful for this experience and feel a renewed sense of hope as an American. I would also like to highlight the efforts towards decriminalizing poverty and eliminating the term "general neglect" from criteria for child removal, as poverty has often be convoluted with neglect by the Child Welfare system in the past. I am incredibly impressed with the character and culture of accountability I witnessed in that convening, and surprised to see how many people in power admitted to "not getting things right" early in their career, and galvanizing to make that right now.