Letter to the Editor:
Support White House conference on children's welfare

March 21, 2009 -- The current state of our nation certainly necessitates focus on issues such as national security, Social Security, health care and mobilizing against economic angst. Nonetheless, overlooking the welfare of America's children is a national tragedy, which arguably, unless we do something about it, shows the potential for greater national despair than any of the aforementioned issues.

In 2005, more than 3 million cases of child abuse were reported nationally, and in Louisiana there were more than 7,400 substantiated cases alone. Louisiana is blessed with over 1.1 million children. However, over 4,800 of those children reside in out-of-home placements, and almost 24 percent (nearly 262,000) of our children under the age of 18 live in economic poverty, one of the highest child poverty rates in the country.

So, what can we do about this? On a national level, The Child Welfare League of America, joined by President Obama and Sen. Mary Landrieu, is calling to re-establish an important policy-making event that will focus much-needed national attention on the well-being of children and families. Supporting the White House Conference on Children and Youth is just the beginning of the incredible impact that each one of us could have in a child's life. Within the fiscal realities our nation must face, as Americans and Louisianans, we can choose to be proactive in preventing the maltreatment of children by ensuring that government policies and funds are targeted to proven strategies that make a positive difference in the lives of children and youth.

Please join us in supporting President Obama and Sen. Landrieu by calling on our congressional leaders to organize a national conference on the welfare and well-being of our children and youth, and to establish national goals for significant reform and improvements over the next decade. Our children are our future and it is time to make protecting and supporting them our nation's highest priority.

Keith H. Liederman, Ph.D
Executive Director, Kingsley House

The letter was published in the following newspapers:

Times-Picayune, March 21, 2009 (Link)

Shreveport Times, March 26, 2009 (Link)

The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.), March 27, 2009 (Link)

The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.), March 28, 2009 (Link)