Pushing for a White House Conference on Children and Youth

Are there things about the foster care system that you think need to change? Would you like to get involved to help bring about foster care reform? This page is dedicated to educating and empowering current and former foster youth in the push for child welfare reform.

Current Issue: Pushing for a White House Conference on Children and Youth Right now there is a bill going through Congress which would focus national attention on child welfare reform. The bill is called the White House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010 Act (H.R. 618 and S. 938). The White House Conference would encourage hundreds of state and local conferences bringing together judges, attorneys, social workers, policy makers, and foster youth to talk about problems and possible solutions to the current issues in child welfare. These conferences would lead to an official conference at the White House to recommend changes in federal, state and local policy. In summary, the White House Conference would focus national attention on the child welfare system in order to make necessary changes in the law. Click here for more information.

Three Easy Steps to Take Action Now:

1) Join the Movement (link no longer available).

2) Send an email to your Representative and Senators about the White House Conference. The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) has made sending an e-mail really easy! Just click here, fill out a really quick form, and you've made your voice be heard! Let your Representative and Senators know that you care about foster care reform. By going to this link you can send them an email message asking them to support the White House Conference on Children and Youth. Feel free to add anything that is important to you to the letter. Do not feel like you have to keep it the same.

3) Stay Connected.If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Foster Youth Outreach Coordinator Lily Dorman-Colby at [email protected]

Lily Dorman-Colby is a former foster youth and one of FosterClub’s 2009 Outstanding Young Leaders. Read more about Lily.
Right now Lily is working on a project with the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) to bring foster care reform to the attention of our nation’s leaders.

If you would like to join the movement and advocate for foster care reform too, send her an email at [email protected] with your contact information. From there, she will send you more information about how you can help. Whether it is writing letters and making calls or giving your own feedback about what should be changed, you can choose how you want to be involved.
Legislative Update: The White House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010 Act has two parallel bills H.R. 618 in the House of Representatives and S. 938 in the Senate. There are 49 cosponsors (supporters) in the House of Representatives and 11 cosponsors in the Senate. In order to get this bill passed we need to make sure that more Representatives and Senators know about this bill and sign on as cosponsors. Stay Tuned: We will be updating this website to let you know more about this bill and how you can help. In the near future we plan on sending a joint foster youth letter to President Obama.