What We Do
We are working to drastically change the systemic challenges that youth who are or have been involved with the foster care system experience.
How It Started
Creating Actionable and Real Solutions (CARES) is an initiative of the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP). CSSP is a national, non-profit policy organization that connects community action, public system reform, and policy change to create a fair and just society in which all children and families thrive. Learn more about CSSP here.
Our Approach
On any given day in the United States, there are more than 400,000 children in the foster care system—and more than 82,000 are youth older than 14. These young people, specifically transition-age youth of color, are more likely to experience disparate treatment and outcomes. It is our belief that, with the right combination of innovation, authentic engagement of youth, and community collaboration, we can start to change that.
Learn more about our approach to the work here.
Continue scrolling for more detail on our specific areas of work.
Cultivate Youth Power
CARES Youth Ambassadors, selected in Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; and Atlanta, GA (each of the cities in which we are conducting our work), function as advisors for this work. By working directly with them, we ensure that our work is both authentically youth-serving AND empowering. CARES Ambassadors are deeply involved in all steps of this work, and their advice, guidance, and experiences are centered in all parts of the co-design process. Their lived experience is the most important resource we have to authentically proceed in this work.
Identify Structural Challenges
Using an adaptation of CSSP’s Institutional Analysis methodology, CARES conducted a strategic analysis designed to understand how communities are able to affirm, include, and support youth transitioning out of foster care. Investigative teams applied qualitative tools and analysis to understand how communities are organized to support youth aging out of the child welfare system. As part of the analysis, teams also examined current concepts, theories, policies, initiatives, and accountability mechanisms that serve to create the current conditions youth are experiencing and provide the opportunities for improvement.
Read CARES: Understanding How Transition Age Youth Experience their Communities here.
Advance Anti-Racist Policies
Working directly with Ambassadors, we co-designed a national anti-racist and intersectional policy agenda: A Policy Agenda for a Nation that CARES for Young Adults. This agenda centers youth experiences and prioritizes the needs of youth currently in and previously involved with the child welfare system. Reflecting the goals and priorities of the Ambassadors, the agenda includes policies beyond child welfare as youth are impacted by multiple systems.
Read A Policy Agenda for a Nation that CARES for Young Adults here.
Disrupt Harmful Narratives
With help and guidance from the Ambassadors, we have co-designed a national narrative change campaign designed to address and change the existing negative narrative—or damage imagery—about youth who are or who have been involved in the foster care system. Visit our blog and follow us on Instagram to see the latest.
#CARES4Power
Follow us on Instagram to learn more about our work, the CARES Ambassadors, and the policies we are building to advance change for all transition age youth.
Swipe left to understand the significance of the policy principle of Meaningful Employment featured in the National Policy Agenda, as perceived by Atlanta CARES Ambassador Jada. Jada shares what it would mean to her to have a job that pays a livable wage. These principles are crucial for our community`s progress and welfare.
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#CARES #CARES4Power #NationalPolicyAgenda #CARESNationalPolicyAgenda #Employment #FosterYouth #Policy #Youth #YoungPeople #TAY #TransitionAgeYouth
Swipe left to understand the significance of the policy principle of Meaningful Employment featured in the National Policy Agenda, as described by Atlanta CARES Ambassador Jada and Los Angeles CARES Ambassador Joseph. These principles are crucial for our community`s progress and welfare.
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#CARES #CARES4Power #NationalPolicyAgenda #CARESNationalPolicyAgenda #Employment #FosterYouth #Policy #Youth #YoungPeople #TAY #TransitionAgeYouth #Gainfulemployment
When woven into practice, cultural humility includes:
- An examination of one`s own biases.
- Open dialogue with families.
- Proactive efforts to level the playing field and address systemic inequities.
While race and culture are not synonymous, cultural humility with a racial equity lens can help address the stark racial disparities in the [child welfare] system and promote attention to the intersections of race and other cultural identities.
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#classisinsession #KeyEquityTerms #CARES #CARESAmbassadors #Equity #CulturalHumility #ChildWelfare
The Housing portion of the Policy Principles shared on https://cares4power.org/policy-agendas/housing/ emphasizes the need for safe, affordable, and stable housing for all individuals, particularly marginalized communities. These housing recommendations advocate for policies that prevent displacement, improve housing conditions, and ensure long-term affordability.
Swipe left to understand the significance of the policy principle of housing featured in the National Policy Agenda, as perceived by New York-based CARES Ambassador Andre. These principles are crucial for our community`s progress and welfare.
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#CARES #CARES4Power #NationalPolicyAgenda #CARESNationalPolicyAgenda #Housing #FosterYouth #Policy #Youth #YoungPeople #TAY #TransitionAgeYouth
Skin-based privilege impacts all of our lives. Showing preference based on color is referred to as colorism. Colorism is based on a hierarchy of skin color, giving privilege to lighter skin tones while disempowering darker skin tones. Research suggests that colorism continues to be a problem across the US. According to The Grio, a study in Michigan found that out of 1,183 adoptive families, 42% of the adoptive parents` most recently adopted children were "very fair or somewhat fair" in skin color. At the same time, 31 percent were "somewhat dark or very dark."
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#classisinsession #KeyEquityTerms #CARES #CARESAmbassadors #Equity #Colorism #ChildWelfare
Happy Friday! Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. Cultural practices and values promote family well-being and improve child welfare outcomes. Strong ties with cultural, racial, and ethnic identities can build resilience and act as a buffer against the effects of trauma.
This series aims to expand the reach and use of many terms that appear in our work, lives, and communities.
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#classisinsession #KeyEquityTerms #CARES #CARESAmbassadors #Equity #Culture #ChildWelfare
We all want children to be happy and healthy. Fortunately, research has confirmed what families already know about how to promote healthy and happy children. To read more about the research and to access the 2024 anti-trans bills tracker, please click the link in our bio!
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#CSSP #CARES #Pride #HappyPrideMonth #PrideMonth #Equality #Equity
Happy Friday! We`re back with our "Key Equity Term" Series; today`s Key Equity Term is ✨Discrimination✨. This series aims to expand the reach and use of many terms that appear in our work, lives, and communities.
Discrimination fact: According to the American Bar Association, "Racial discrimination in U.S. child welfare is a human rights issue. On August 30, 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a group of international experts charged with monitoring state compliance with human rights obligations on racial discrimination, expressed concern at the `disproportionate number of children of racial and ethnic minorities removed from their families and placed in foster care` in the U.S. Stay tuned for new terms in the coming weeks, and if you have additions — let us know!
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#Discrimination #classisinsession #KeyEquityTerms #CARES #CARESAmbassadors #KeyTerms #Wordoftheday #WOTD
