WASHINGTON, D.C. – William C. Bell, president and CEO of Casey Family Programs, will join a panel of experts at the 36th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Child Welfare Braintrust on Friday, September, 8th. Bell will address the Caucus with an urgent call to action, “We must make the health and well being of our most vulnerable children our #1 priority.”
Over half of youth that have spent time in foster care suffer from one or more mental health disorders-including post-traumatic stress disorder at rates nearly double that of U.S. war veterans. Six out of every 10 children in foster care are children of color despite the fact that research shows that parents of color are no more likely to abuse or neglect their children than Caucasian parents.
Who: William C. Bell, Casey Family Programs president and CEO and nine nationally recognized health and child welfare experts
What: A panel entitled, “Child Welfare and Adolescent Health.”
When: 8:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. EDT on Friday, September 8, 2006
Where: Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW, Washington, D.C.
Before joining Casey Family Programs, Bell was commissioner of New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services, where during his tenure foster care admissions decreased significantly with more children being placed with their families safely and more adoptions completed.
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. was established in 1976 as a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy, research and educational institute. The vision of the “Child Welfare and Adolescent Health” braintrust is to create a forum for policy makers, child welfare experts, community-based organizations and concerned citizens to identify, discuss and solve urgent problems facing the youngest and most vulnerable members of our communities.
In the United States, at any point in time, there are over 500,000 children and youth in foster care – an increase of approximately 60 percent over the past two decades. More than 54 percent of youth that have spent time in foster care report one or more mental health disorders - including post-traumatic stress disorder at rates nearly double that of U.S. war veterans. Roughly six out of 10 children in foster care are children of color, and too often are less likely to receive services they need to succeed.