November is National Adoption Month! We decided to kick off the month by looking at some state facts and policies that tell us more about how to strengthen adoption as a permanency option for children in our state foster care system. Be sure to click the infographic for a closer…...
Bipartisan Movements in Federal Child Welfare Legislation
With the 2016 session of the Nebraska Legislature just around the corner, our policy team is gearing up to continue building pathways to opportunity for children in our state. Although much of our work at Voices is centered on advancing policies in the Unicameral, we also monitor federal legislation that…...
The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story
Last week, the New York Times highlighted a newly-released Georgetown University Law Center report on the “sexual abuse to prison pipeline.” The report focuses on girls who become involved with the juvenile justice system after being charged with prostitution, although they are victims of sex trafficking. The researchers estimate that approximately…...
National Child Abuse Prevention Month
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, which presents an opportunity to consider child welfare issues from a wider context before allegations of maltreatment come about. In 2013, 3,993 Nebraska children were victims of maltreatment (at a rate of about 8.6 per 1,000 children), marking a slight increase from the…...
Race Matters in Juvenile Justice
In the wake of a violent fall, with the highly publicized deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, among others, disproportionate minority contact with the law has become a front page issue. Though we are grateful that Nebraska has not suffered through a tragedy of this nature, information…...
Supporting Informal Kinship Families in Nebraska
Children thrive in a stable and loving home with a family that offers support in a safe environment. Research tells us that the relationships that children have with the adults in their lives are an extremely important component of successful development. Without these relationships, children have an increased risk of lasting health, behavioral, and…...
September is Attendance Awareness Month
It’s already September! Across the country, communities, school districts, and nonprofits are marking Attendance Awareness Month. The research is pretty clear: missing lots of school, for any reason, can cause children to fall behind academically and put them at increased risk of dropping out or delaying graduation. In January of…...
