The Administration for Children Youth and Families recently issued an Information Memorandum (IM) to demonstrate that family and youth voice are critical to a well-functioning child welfare system.
According to the IM:
"It is absolutely critical to strengthen our efforts to listen to the families and youth served by the system and integrate their voices into all aspects of child welfare planning and improvement."
The IM strongly encourages all public child welfare agencies, dependency courts, and Court Improvement Programs to work together to ensure that family and youth voice are central in child welfare program planning and improvement efforts.