Protect Our Children Protect Our Future

We are a coalition with one goal: to protect the lives and futures of California’s abused and neglected children.

Abused and neglected children are our state’s most vulnerable children, and they are depending on us to stand up for them and invest in their futures.

We believe that by investing in these children now and making them a priority, we ensure a brighter future for them and a more prosperous future for California.

Safe homes. Loving families. Basics like clothing, beds and medical care. Counseling services, tutoring and life skills training to succeed as adults.  Abused and neglected children depend on the state to ensure their care and well-being. Unfortunately, foster children and youth in California aren’t being adequately care for because of state budget cuts.

We have mounted a campaign to educate the Governor, Legislature and the public on the significant effect Child Welfare Services have in the lives of children and youth. Our coalition urges the Governor and the Legislature to restore the $80 million cut to Child Welfare Services under former Governor Schwarzenegger’s budget vetoes in 2009-10 and 2010-11. As a parent to California’s nearly 60,000 foster children, we implore policy makers to take full responsibility for caring for abused and neglected children by restoring the vetoed funding.

The Alliance for Children’s Rights; American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO; California Alliance for Child and Family Services; California State Association of Counties; California State PTA; California Youth Connection; Child Abuse Prevention Center; Children Now; Children’s Advocacy Institute; Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles; County Welfare Directors Association of California; John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes; Laborers’ Local 777; Laborers’ Local 792; National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter; Regional Council of Rural Counties; SEIU; Urban Counties Caucus; Youth Law Center