Karen Pittman recently sat down with the real experts on the "high school dropout crisis"—seven students from Des Moines, five of whom had dropped out and another who had come very close. In her latest Youth Today column, Karen shares what these young people had to say about why they left, what made them return to school and what they recommend for education.

To borrow a tagline and flip it: what happens in Washington, doesn’t stay in Washington—far from it. Budget and policy decisions on Capitol Hill (and in state capitals across the country) have a big impact on even the smallest neighborhoods. Connectforkids.org looks at the new child welfare reform law, enacted in October 2008, and other policies to watch.

Could you have made it entirely on your own at 18 or 21? Each year, roughly 25,000 young people “age out” of the foster care system, many without family or economic supports. Without connection to a caring adult and support to plan and prepare, these youth face steep challenges, including higher rates of unemployment, poor educational attainment, health issues, incarceration, and homelessness.

But those are the problems, the statistics—what about the potential of these teens, and their desire to succeed? We spoke with Betsy Krebs, co-director of the New York City-based Youth Advocacy Center, about what works to help teens aging out of foster care succeed. There’s room for the whole community...

Connect for Kids spoke with Candice Douglass, communications director with Casey Family Programs, to get the latest on foster care and child well-being, and emerging trends we should all know about. We also got the scoop the Kinship Caregiver Support Act currently in Congress and an innovative approach to permanency for teens in a Q&A with Celeste Bodner, executive director of FosterClub, the national network for young people in foster care. Find out what’s new, what’s working, and how you can make a difference no matter how much time you’ve got to give.

Tracking the reach and results of the work is a challenging task for many child and youth organizations. In our ongoing Scorecard series, CFK and Child Advocacy 360 highlight examples of organizations' efforts to measure impact and results. Here, Children's Rights, Inc., shares its follow-up to the groundbreaking Hitting the M.A.R.C. foster care reimbursement study.

Mississippi plans a serious overhaul of its child welfare system to do more to protect the approximately 3,400 abused and neglected children in its care. Last week, the state settled a class action lawsuit spearheaded by the advocacy group Children's Rights by enacting a truly comprehensive reform plan. Connect for Kids has the details -- and will track the progress of the reforms on our site.

More than 4,000 teens age out of California's foster system annually.  Over 50% of those youth leave the state's care without high school diplomas, jobs or - most importantly - families of their own.

Kristal McCoy, 23, who spent eight years in the foster-care system, became homeless at the end of her freshman year at California State University, Hayward, and started 'couch surfing' with friends or relatives.

As a young girl, Ebony dreamed of a career in music. Her father was a musician in New York, and told her she could perform with his group when she grew older.

Continuing the "Best Of" series we began last month with Issues and Insights, we move on to revisiting top "Who's Doing What That Works" stories published in the last six months.

In its May 22 issue American Profile.com celebrated foster mother Pat Robinson, 62, who has welcomed children into her heart and home for 15 years in Stratford, Conn.

We continue this week with our coverage of the ABA National Conference on Children and the Law, held at Harvard Law School.

It is clear that a new way of thinking has begun to take root on issues of how to support older children and youth in foster care in finding families. As a result, there is a promise for brighter futures for foster children and youth.

This is a summary review of two recent stories out of Michigan. We call it The Shame Report because, at one end, the death of 2-year-old Isaac Lethbridge is such a powerful reminder that child abuse and neglect is about totally helpless children, victimized in so many ways by their home environments, and then re-victimized by the very system responsible for their care and safety.

Foster Parents? Who Are They? What are their motivations? in a Pew Survey from 2003 covered in Youth Law News, July-Sept 2005

It's been a year since the death of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown turned the attention of New York and the world to the horrors of child abuse. But perhaps some good has come from her death -- the number of abuse and neglect filings has risen.

Survey Spotlight on Critical Role of Adoption Subsidies