Although Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care concluded its work in 2006, its resource materials remain available here for reference.

Pew's Kids Are Waiting campaign continues to advocate for the recommendations issued by the Commission. For more information about the Kids Are Waiting campaign, please contact Hope Cooper, Director or Marci McCoy-Roth, Co-Director at 202-552-2270 or visit www.kidsarewaiting.org.

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More than half a million children in our country are in foster care today, staying there for an average of three years with an average of three different families and sometimes many more.

The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care was established in May 2003 to develop recommendations to improve outcomes for children in the foster care system. Of primary importance were: expediting the movement of such children from foster care into safe, permanent, nurturing families, and preventing unnecessary placements in foster care.

The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care was supported through a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. The Commission was an independent, nonpartisan entity dedicated to developing effective, practical policy recommendations to improve the foster care system.

The Commission was chaired by Bill Frenzel, a twenty-year veteran of Congress and current Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution. William H. Gray, III, most recently President and Chief Executive Officer of The United Negro College Fund, and former House Majority Whip and House Budget Committee Chairman, served as Vice Chairman.

In addition to Frenzel and Gray, the Commission included some of the nation's leading child welfare experts, heads of state and local child welfare agencies, prominent judges, social workers, foster and adoptive parents, former foster youth, and others. (View a list of members) link

In particular, the Commission sought to investigate and offer comprehensive recommendations in the following targeted areas:

• Improving existing federal financing mechanisms to facilitate faster movement of children from foster care into safe, permanent families and to reduce the need to place children in foster care.

• Improving court oversight of child welfare cases to facilitate better and more timely decisions related to children's safety, permanence, and well-being.

Although the list of improvements and reforms that might benefit children in foster care is lengthy, the Commission believed that thoughtful change in the areas of federal financing and court oversight would address some of the fundamental underlying problems that hinder progress in child welfare. Thus, Commission members were committed to reaching consensus on a set of achievable recommendations in these targeted areas, and seeking implementation of these recommendations.

The Commission convened its first meeting in May 2003 and issued its final report and recommendations in 2004.

During its two years of operation, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care released two special reports examining the current financing system and current practice in juvenile and family courts. Additionally, the Commission engaged in a variety of ongoing outreach activities to inform key stakeholders of the Commission’s work, elicit opinions, and build consensus.

More information about The Pew Charitable Trusts’ current work on foster care reform is available at Kids Are Waiting: Fix Foster Care Now’s Web site.