At Voices for Children in Nebraska, we advocate for policies that help make our state the best place to be a kid. Guided by research, we seek to remove barriers to opportunity for all children by engaging the public and elected officials on the issues of child welfare, economic stability,…...
November is National Adoption Month!
November is National Adoption Month! All children need the support of a safe, permanent, and loving family. Achieving permanency in a timely manner should be the priority of our foster care system for children who cannot be reunified with their family. We decided to kick off the month by looking…...
The Cost of Being Poor
Thanks to all who attended the event on Friday,”The Cost of Being Poor: How Small Debt Lawsuits are Hurting Nebraska Families.” At the event, speaker Paul Kiel from Propublica shared the findings from him research for the article “For Nebraska’s Poor, Get Sick and Get Sued” and local panelists State…...
Voices for Children Testimony on LR 514
This week, Voices for Children Policy Coordinator Juliet Summers testified on LR 514, an interim study to examine the availability of transition services for youth who will leave or have left the juvenile justice system while in an out-of-home placement. Voices for Children testified on the need to ensure Nebraska…...
Throwback Thursday: Spotlight Awards Edition
Happy Throwback Thursday! Today, we’re delving into the not-so-distant past to feature our 2016 Spotlight Award winners. We were pleased to honor them at the Spotlight Gala on September 24, and now we are excited to share the videos highlighting their individual accomplishments. The videos are always available on our YouTube channel. Youth Award:…...
Voices for Children Testimony on LR 513
Yesterday, Voices for Children Policy Coordinator Juliet Summers testified on LR 513, which examines workforce issues within the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Voices for Children testified on the need to ensure that case managers and probation officers have an appropriate number of cases, provide more support for the child…...
National School Lunch Week
This week, we are joining President Obama, schools, communities, and advocates across the nation in celebrating National School Lunch Week. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) was created 70 years ago as lawmakers recognized that child nutrition, particularly throughout the school day, was a top national priority. Most importantly, the…...
Voices Releases 2016 Vote Kids Candidate Survey
Child policy issues often receive little discussion within campaigns and elections. This is not because candidates and the public do not care about the issues. They do. But child policy issues often do not lend themselves to simple sound bites. They are not considered “hot button” issues that shape many…...
Proposed Update to Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) has proposed a long overdue update to the federal regulations under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), last reauthorized in 2002. The JJDPA sets four core requirements for state juvenile justice systems in order to ensure safety and equal treatment for youth. The core…...
