Across the political divide, Americans agree: the government makes a terrible parent.
That makes it critical to fund approaches that strengthen families — and keep children out of foster care.
The looming spending package moving through Congress proposes cuts that would devastate government programs that are essential for keeping families together — programs that help pay for food, housing, heat, health care and more — while keeping federal spending for foster care intact.
Among the most alarming proposals are cuts to the Medicaid program — which would have profoundly negative effects on families. Medicaid provides coverage for services like counseling, substance use treatment, or home visiting that support parents, stabilize families and make it possible for children most at risk of entering foster care to stay at home with their families. Medicaid also supports relatives who step up to provide kinship care. This is about much more than visits to the doctor — Medicaid keeps families whole.
Relying on foster care as an intervention for many more struggling families — which is what could happen — not only has long-lasting consequences but is the opposite of fiscal prudence. Some safety situations call for protective services, but currently, more than a third of children are subjected to a child protection investigation before they’re grown; among Black children, more than half will be subjected to such scrutiny.
And most states are ill-equipped for this volume. Unmanageable caseloads drive rapid turnover, leaving important decisions in the hands of inexperienced staff. Some kids removed from their families sleep in offices and hotels. Siblings are split apart. These outcomes prove government-run systems were never meant to raise children.
Consider also the long-term effects of trauma caused by family separation. Children who experience foster care are twice as likely as U.S. war veterans to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They’re four times more likely to attempt suicide. A childhood spent in foster care is common among adults who experience homelessness, incarceration and commercial sexual exploitation.
This reality has prompted movement to build more support to keep families together, and prove that when we invest in programs that strengthen families, they stay healthy, safe and together. These programs are also better for the public dollar.
In our work at the Doris Duke Foundation and Foster America, we’ve seen governments and communities in both red states and blue prove we can keep children safe by keeping families together.
With an array of national, philanthropic, government and community partners, our organizations are guiding OPT-In for Families. This initiative is built to meet families’ needs early rather than waiting until a crisis hits. What sets these solutions apart is how they’re designed: not just for families, but with them. We’re building trust — so parent and community advisors can drive these innovations.
Places like New Jersey inspire this approach. Once in national headlines for horrific failures, the state now operates with a family well-being mission. Today, fewer than 3,000 children are in child protective custody — 1.6 per 1,000 compared to the national average of 6.1 — and more than half are with relatives.
What promotes family well-being and togetherness in New Jersey Support, when and where parents need it, including universal home-visiting programs for new parents and Family Success Centers that offer free support and services for families before they are in crisis.
Recognizing that 10% of foster care placements stem from parents’ housing instability, the Family Keys program in Wisconsin worked with landlords and law enforcement to offer housing options, which both stabilized families and saved money.
In Colorado’s Larimer County, community navigators guided fellow parents as they accessed services and overcame struggles. Their five-year federal demonstration grant proved early voluntary assistance greatly reduced subsequent child protection involvement.
And in Idaho, Alex Adams — now nominated to lead the federal Administration for Children and Families — championed efforts to improve child welfare with “prevention specialist teams” as the signature investment.
The federal government has also been involved in this movement. In 2018, President Trump signed the historic Family First Prevention Services Act into law which, for the first time, allowed federal child welfare dollars to fund services for families in order to avoid placing children in foster care.
Today, national foster care numbers are at their lowest in decades, and at the same time, rates of substantiated child abuse and neglect have declined. But progress is at risk if this spending bill prioritizes tax cuts over the needs of our most vulnerable families.
We must protect supports that are meaningful to families and expand proven bipartisan approaches. As our federal leaders weigh changes to programs for children and families, they must not ignore the long-term consequences of short-term savings.
Cutting programs like Medicaid, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, may reduce spending on paper. But the real cost will be paid by families and children.
We shouldn’t accept costly and cruel cuts that show a willingness to break families apart — instead, let’s invest in supports today that prevent crises tomorrow.The Doris Duke Foundation is a financial supporter of The Imprint. The foundation played no role in our decision to publish this article, per our editorial independence policy.
