Time for reform: investing in prevention, keeping children safe at home.

Kids Are Awaiting, a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts, finds that the current federal child welfare financing structure does not adequately support services and supports that could help keep more children safely with their families. The report shows that the majority of dedicated federal funding for child welfare is currently reserved for placing and maintaining children in foster care and cannot be used for prevention or reunification services or supports.

States may access dollars under Title IV-E, the principal source of federal childwelfare funding, only after children have been removed from their home and enter foster care. Of the $7.2 billion federal funds dedicated for child welfare in 2007, about 90 percent supported children in foster care placements ($4.5 billion) and children adopted from foster care ($2 billion). States can use about 10 percent of federal dedicated child welfare funds flexibly for family services and supports, including prevention or reunification services.

For more information about the report, see www.kidsareawaiting.org.

By Kids Are Awaiting