Parents organizing a grassroots movement to reform child welfare

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by David Tobis

This chapter tells an inspiring story of dramatic change in New York’s child welfare system and how parents whose children were in foster care contributed to those changes.

The chapter is divided into four sections. First, it presents some of the major changes in New York’s child welfare system in the past 25 years. Second, it describes what hasn’t changed, what problems persist, and why some things haven’t changed. Third it describes how changes were brought about, describing the role of parent advocates and the role of their allies. And finally, the chapter answers the question: Why has New York City’s child welfare system changed as much as it has in the past 25 years, and why has the child welfare system recently deteriorated?

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