Advocating for a Better Future- Policy Recommendations for Transforming the Child Welfare System
The Honorable Teresa Leger Fernandez
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Fernandez,
My name is Elizabeth, and I am a professional in the Child Protective Service. I am writing to bring to your attention some crucial policy changes in foster care that deserve attention in the next legislative session. Your support in these reforms will help create a successful child welfare system in New Mexico.
Foster care has a significant impact on the lives of children. For instance, students in foster care have low performance in state standardized testing compared to peers not in foster care; they score 16-20 percentile points below peers (The Policy Circle, 2024). Further, following a lawsuit claiming that the New Mexico foster care system re-traumatizes children (Coates, 2022), it is evident that foster care, if not properly reformed, can exert more trauma on children. Policy changes are thus urgently needed to ensure safe, nurturing environments and positive outcomes for children placed in foster care.
One consideration lies in improving education stability for foster children. Placement changes often disrupt children’s education, thus affecting their academic performance. This warrants implementing policies that will ensure educational stability, for instance, by warranting timely transfer between schools and providing transportation support. Second, supporting kinship care is critical to ensuring stability and a comfortable environment for children, thus preventing more trauma. Policy reforms in this area should focus on increasing financial assistance for kinship caregivers and easing the processes relatives follow to become foster caregivers. Lastly, “trauma-responsive” approaches should be supported to prevent re-traumatizing children in foster care. Policies in this area will ensure child welfare workers receive proper training so that they can establish procedures for trauma screening and provide trauma-focused interventions when necessary.
Thank you for your attention. I look forward to your continued support in addressing these changes in the New Mexico foster care system.
Sincerely,
Olubukola Elizabeth Adetayo
1500 S. Avenue K, Portales
New Mexico 88130
References
Coates, K. (2022, July 1). New Mexico lags in mandated foster care reforms. New Mexico Child Welfare. https://newmexico-childwelfare.youthtoday.org/posts/new-mexico-lags-in-mandated-foster-care-reforms/
The Policy Circle. (2024, February 23). The failures and future of the U.S. foster care system – the policy circle. https://www.thepolicycircle.org/brief/the-failures-and-future-of-the-u-s-foster-care-system/
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Question 
What are your ideas to create a successful child welfare system of the future and to whom would you advocate? Write a personal letter to advocate for your ideas for policy change in the child welfare system to be considered in the next legislative session.
Advocating for a Better Future- Policy Recommendations for Transforming the Child Welfare System
This should be no more than 3 paragraphs. Follow letter formatting for this assignment. An easy search in Word will get you to the correct letter formatting template. You do not have to list your address on the letter. You can make up an address, or you can use 1500 S. Avenue K, Portales, New Mexico 88130 as your return address. Please make sure to use an academic tone throughout your letter. You must include statistics in your letter. Think about what the statistics are for the issue you are addressing. Include this in your letter to help defend your idea of improving the child welfare system. Make sure you include in-text citations and list your references in APA style at the end of your letter. I am excited to read about your ideas for improving this system! When deciding who to write your letter to, think about who might impact your community or state most. Local, State, or Federal level? Senator? Congressman/Congresswoman? Governor? Here is a website that might be helpful: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/NM#senatorsLinks to an external site.