A new state program will help find more homes for foster children while maintaining important family connections by assisting relatives who are serving as foster parents, according to a new report from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. The new subsidized guardianship program offered by the Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services allows family […]

More than 400 children in Arkansas are waiting to find an adoptive family. They are in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) and their parents’ rights have been terminated because they were unable or unwilling to care for them. Many of these children wait a long time for a family, especially […]

In the last two decades, during a time when Northwest Arkansas has grown more prosperous and gained a national reputation for its booming economy and quality of life, poverty has taken a stronger foothold. In Northwest Arkansas, the number of people in poverty is growing faster than the population, and the number of children in […]

When parents cannot protect their children, the State of Arkansas has the responsibility to do so. The Arkansas Division of Children and Families Services (DCFS) has the main responsibility for children removed from their homes and taken into care. This year, several children have died from abuse while in the Arkansas foster care system. These […]

Tina and Tracy are sisters who entered the Arkansas foster care system when they were 12 and 13. Their mother was in an abusive relationship and could not care for them, and their father and stepmother did not want the girls living with them anymore. The girls were abandoned and placed in the Division of […]

In January 2007, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) released Poison Problem and Perspective: The Impact of Methamphetamine on the Arkansas Child Welfare System. It was AACF’s first assessment of substance abuse in families suspected of child maltreatment in Arkansas. This is a follow-up to that report and will provide updates on data presented […]

This report is the third annual update of the Arkansas Child Welfare System by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF). It examines the Division of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) performance data from January 2000 through March 2007. The data shows that DCFS performed well on many of its indicators in the early 2000s, but began experiencing a significant decline […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) released its annual assessment of the Arkansas child welfare system today. The report titled, Children in Crisis, examines performance data from the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to determine how well they are serving Arkansas’s children. Although the report shows some improvements, the overall findings are […]

Poison, Problem, and Perspective: The Impact of Methamphetamine on the Arkansas Child Welfare System” is a study conducted by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families that began as a project to determine the effect that methamphetamine, or “meth,” has had on Arkansas’s child welfare system. However, the results of the study brought the author to […]

This report is based on a study conducted by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families that set out to determine the effect that methamphetamine, or “meth,” has had on Arkansas’s child welfare system.  The results of the study brought the author to both interesting and disturbing conclusions about the way the system deals with substance […]