We continue this week with our coverage of the ABA National Conference on Children and the Law, held April 13 to 15 at Harvard Law School. In our April 26 issue, we highlighted the first part of a moving speech by Casey Family Programs President William Bell, who emphasized the need to represent the personal human needs of children in the legal process.

"Our tendency is to view and engage children in the context of making sure that the systems respond appropriately," Bell said. "It's my contention that we should be viewing our actions through a different lens; we should be viewing them through the lens of our own children; what we at Casey Family Programs have begun to call 'The Standard of Our Own.'"

In this issue, we highlight the closing portion of Bell's remarks, in which he underscored the need to listen to the children.

William Bell Closing Remarks:

"This brings me back to where I started this discussion today ... the Standard of Our Own ... actually comes from a foster care alumni who I've had the good fortune to know for a few years now.

He is a young man who now makes his living as a congressional staffer on Capitol Hill, helping to influence and shape legislation that can improve the lives of vulnerable children and families.

His story is a familiar one:

• Abused and neglected, he entered the child welfare system at a young age.
• He bounced from family placement to family placement.
• He attended five high schools before eventually graduating.

But that is where his story took a different path -- because of his own work ethic and resilience, and because he had a community of people around him who were willing to hear his voice, and promote his best interests.

He calls them angels.

But in reality, they are just people like you and me.

We're the ones who hold so much power, so much influence over what a foster child's life COULD look like. We're the ones who have the opportunity to know every child; to understand their needs, and represent those needs along with judges, social workers, members of a family, and others.

But we can only do that if we truly hear the voice of every child. It doesn't matter which of the titles we hold: parent, foster parent, case worker, CASA, attorney -- or judge -- the responsibility doesn't change.

These are our children, and our responsibility is to do no less for them than we would for our own children.

Thank you for your willingness and commitment to hear the voices of America's foster youth, and to fight for their most critical needs."

Casey Family Programs launches the "20/20 Strategy"

In his address, William Bell discussed an important new initiative by Casey Family Porgrams, the "20/20 Strategy". At the core of the initiative is a plan to cut the number of foster children in the U.S. by 50% by the year 2020, and to improve the well-being of kids on foster care through programs focused on education, mental health and employment. Bell laid out some key statistics to underscore the need for action:

At Casey Family Programs we have launched what we call our "20/20 Strategy ", designed to safely reduce the number of children in foster care in America by half by the year 2020, and improve the long-term health and well-being of children in care through a focus on education, mental health and employment

Why 2020? Consider what the data tell us:

If nothing changes in our child welfare system - or in the way we care for our most vulnerable children - in the 15 year period from 2005 to the year 2020:

• Nearly 14 million children will be confirmed as victims of abuse and neglect will be reported.
• 22,500 children will die of abuse or neglect. Most before they reach their 5th birthday.
• 9 million more children will experience foster care.
• And approximately 300,000 children will age out of foster care, most with inadequate support to build successful and productive adult lives.

When Casey Family Programs and the ABA came together to create a national Legal Center for Foster Care and Education, we were driven by the poor educational outcomes of foster youth:

Only 9,000 of those 300,000 youth who will age out of foster care can expect to graduate with a 4 year college degree.

• That's about a 3% graduation rate, compared to 28% for the general population.

Imagine attempting to build a successful, meaningful life without the advantages a college degree or technical training brings.

How important is your child's education? How troubled would you be if your child was unable to graduate with his or her high school class? Or if 1 out of every 2 children who aged out of your home never received a high school diploma?

How troubled would you be if they had little or no opportunity to earn a college degree or training that would ensure them employment that paid them a living wage and offered medical benefits from them and their family?

Research over the past three decades shows that, compared to the general school population, the half-million children in foster care too often have lower grade-point averages, change schools more frequently, earn fewer credits toward graduation, and have lower scores on state testing.

School Stability:

Children and youth in care have an average of one to two placement changes per year while in out-of-home care. o A three-state study of youth aging out of care (the Midwest Study) revealed substantial levels of school instability associated with out-of-home care.

• Over a third of the young adults reported having had five or more school changes.

A Chapin Hall Study of Chicago Public School youth found that: 15-yearold students in out-of-home care were about half as likely as other students to graduate 5 years later, with significantly higher percentages of students in care having dropped out (55%) or experienced incarceration (10%). Post-Secondary Entrance/Completion: o The North West Alumni study found that while:

• 42.7% of the study participants completed some education beyond high school.
• But only 1.8% completed a bachelor's degree.

And now ask yourself - would you demand better for your own children?