For Immediate Release Friday, August 8, 2003
Contact: Gina Russo, The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, 202.687.0697

Related Materials News coverage of the Call for Input

Washington, D.C. – In response to a call for input issued to the child welfare community, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care has received an overwhelming number of submissions on improving the foster care system.

"The strong, positive response to our call for input illustrates widespread concern about the needs of abused and neglected children," states Commission Executive Director Carol Emig.

Frontline workers, foster and adoptive parents, former foster youth, academics, advocates, judges, physicians, and representatives of organizations, agencies and associations from all 50 states engaged in protecting child welfare have answered the Commission's call for input. Input addressed both facets of the Commission's work - federal financing and court oversight.

The Commission will consider this input and other policy options at its September meeting.

About the Commission

The nonpartisan Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care was launched on May 7, 2003. Funded by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute, the Commission is comprised of experienced legislators, child welfare administrators, family service providers, judges, parents, and youth. The Commission is committed to improving outcomes for some of the nation's most vulnerable children by developing recommendations related to federal financing and court oversight of child welfare. It will report those recommendations in 2004.

The Pew Commission's recommendations will focus on two 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 affecting children's safety, permanence, and well-being.

For more information about the Pew Commission, please visit www.pewfostercare.org. In response to continued interest in the Commission's work, the deadline for input has been extended to August 15, 2003. Please contact Gina Russo at mediaiq@comcast.net or 202-687-0697 with questions about the Commission or the call for input.