Policy and statistical trends are effective indicators of social change. These trends are readily utilized to measure the success of advocacy organizations and government agencies. Further, policy and statistical trends are vital to numerous funding initiatives. Accurate, up-to-date statistics are essential to researchers, advocates, policy-makers and administrators of children’s services.
American FactFinder (formerly US Census Stats) - Provides individual community data and statistics on income, population, housing, eduatioonal attainment. The collection can be searched by zip code, state, city, county or town.
ChildStats.gov - Access to national data sets on Family and Social Environment, Economic Circumstances, Health Care, Physical Environment and Safety, Behavior, Education, and Health.
Child Trends DataBank - Provides a data bank on the research and latest trends based on more than 100 indicators, including child welfare, poverty, marriage, health, adoptions, international concerns, and social-emotional development.
Child Welfare Information Gateway Statistics - The State Resources database provides access to child-welfare related state legislation, adoption agencies, support groups, publications, organizations, adoption assistance and adoption-related services, and state and local initiatives to improve the management of workload issues.
American Public Human Services Association: Releases a series of policy briefs on present policy and funding concerns.
Child Welfare Information Gateway: One of the government’s leading child welfare agencies which hosts a clearinghouse of publications, tools and information for child welfare professionals and the general public.
Child Welfare League of America: Celebrating 100 years, CWLA is a coalition of private and public agencies that develops policies and programs to aid children throughout the United States.
Children's Rights - Defends abused and neglected children from languishing in foster care.
National Center for Children in Poverty - Provides an extensive compilation of research and policy publications, data tools, state profiles, news, and a risk calculator to analyze risk factors such as parental education, family size, age of parent(s), and household indicators to predict the level of risk of economic hardship, poor health, and other outcomes affecting children.
National Center for Youth Law - A non-profit law firm that acts as a resource for private attorneys, researches and analyzes legal issues, and provides legal services free of charge.
Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care: Although the Commission concluded its work for children in the foster care system in 2006, the website remains active offering valuable research and policy information.
Research Guide for the Immigrant Child Advocacy Center: The University of Chicago D’Angelo Law Library
Foster Care to Success: provides a college fund for foster youth
