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July 31, 2024

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Youth Law Center’s Quality Parenting Advocacy Attracts International Attention and New Funding

Youth Law Center’s Advocacy Tapped by Delegation from Japan

In May, our Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) hosted a delegation from the Nippon Foundation, a major social innovation organization in Japan, to share its learnings over three decades of its advocacy work to end the use of institutions for infants and toddlers in foster care in the United States. QPI was one of just three projects in North America this delegation identified as the top advocacy change makers during its global tour of fact finding and information gathering about foster care systems worldwide.

The Nippon Foundation is leading efforts in Japan to transition foster care from a long history of use of government-run institutions, to ensuring children live with foster families or family homes. Currently, over 75% of all children in out-of-home care in Japan are growing up in institutions, lacking the consistent primary caregiver relationships that are critical for every step of their healthy development.

Over three days of meetings, QPI Champions from California, Nevada, Louisiana, Florida, and Connecticut, joined us with our host, the San Diego County Department of Human Services, to present and share their role in our systems change efforts which have succeeded in the following:

  • Legally restricting the use of institutions for babies in foster care through legislative, administrative and court action;
  • Public education in partnership with child development experts;
  • Collaborative work with agencies across the country to develop new practices and policies that better support families caring for babies in foster care.

Our QPI team and Champions shared how the legal changes YLC made restricting the use of congregate care for babies, and our work integrating child development science into the field, ultimately changed the culture in foster care around the use of institutional care for young children. Our multifaceted approach to advocacy through QPI has supported the field in new best policies and practices for family care to support excellent parenting.

Our meeting guests, who ranged from state and local agency leaders, foster and relative caregivers, birth parents, social workers, and community organizations, all shared how they are working to avoid shelter or institutional placements through new QPI developmental research informed policies and practices that include:

  • Support for birth and foster parent relationships;
  • Strong partnerships with and supports for foster parents and kin;
  • Prioritizing identification of and customer focused practices for kin;
  • Child-focused transitions in and out of family homes;
  • Improved placement staffing and procedures.

A constant theme that was reiterated and reinforced throughout the meetings was the necessity of the foster care system to treat all the families of children in foster care – birth, foster and kin- with respect and to see them as valued partners and members of the village supporting the healthy development of children in foster care. While the purpose of these meetings was to share our expertise, they also gave us an opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate the vision our QPI Champions are implementing and the ways in which they are leading change in their jurisdictions across the county.

Click here to watch a recap of the session or click the image below.

QPI Will Scale Advocacy Improving Foster Care Transitions

The Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) of the Youth Law Center (YLC) in San Francisco, CA is a national advocacy strategy building the power of children, youth, and families to create long-term systems transformations resulting in quality, effective parenting for all children in foster care. After three decades of impact, QPI is preparing to scale its advocacy promoting improved and healthy transitions of babies and toddlers in foster care  through building the power of families and advocates.

This project will impact a significant number of children with great needs. Of the total children under 18 entering foster care in 2022, nearly 72,000, or 39% were three years or under  and nearly 50,000 of those children are 1 year or younger. Transitions are also foster care issues with racial justice and equity implications as over 50% of the 186,000 children under 18 entering foster care in 2022 were Black, Brown, Native or bi-racial. The need for improved transitions is particularly important for relative caregivers, who make up an increasing percentage of families caring for children in the United States.

“In QPI, everyone plays a role in shifting foster care culture from one that feels transactional to one that focuses on connection and caring. I see the difference- when we obtain input and feedback from the people we serve, services get better,” said Carlos Perdomo. QPI Champion; Lead Foster Care Trainer & Licensing Specialist, Citrus Family Care Network, FL


This project, funded by a $500,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan, will expand the capacity building work within QPI and externally with national child welfare agencies and youth-led advocacy organizations, and will harness the power of QPI’s network of more than 500 community advocates, known as QPI Champions, from 80 jurisdictions across the country who share a common goal of transforming child welfare systems to ensure all children and youth in foster care can thrive. In support of QPI’s principle that those closest to the work, particularly those affected by it, are best positioned to advocate for change, these local advocates including birth, kin and foster parents, youth, caseworkers, lawyers, and community supporters have identified improved transitions as the most critical issue for children in their local jurisdictions.

“This project will focus on ensuring the foster care system is responsive to the developmental needs of infants and toddlers through addressing wide-spread policies and practices that continually sever attachments at a critical developmental period for children. This is such an important area for change- these policies and practices cause both immediate suffering and long term harm to children, while developmentally appropriate transitions can reduce the likelihood of unplanned moves and increase the likelihood of successful reunification with families. “ said Jennifer Rodriguez, Executive Director of the Youth Law Center.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.