ELLSWORTH, Maine – A new Annie E. Casey Foundation report shows that more young people in foster care have been placed with families than in group homes over the last decade – and Maine is leading the way.
In 2017, Maine placed 94% of foster children in family settings, making it one of the top six states in the country. Maine also has a higher share of teens living with families.
Ken Olson is executive director of KidsPeace National Centers of New England, which serves young people in foster care. Olson thinks Maine is doing a good job because the state and private agencies are training more foster families to support children with complex needs.
"These are kids that, 15 years ago, would have been sent to a group home,” says Olson. “They are able to be maintained because the foster family is specially trained and the private agencies carry low caseloads, and are able to provide crisis response and more regular support to that family."
Olson describes this as "therapeutic foster care." He says the state has seen that outcomes are better for young people placed with families and supportive services than in group homes.
Rob Geen, director of policy and advocacy reform with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, says Maine is one of 16 states now placing at least 90% of children with families. The report also acknowledges the need for residential care facilities for some young people with acute needs.
"If a child needs a therapeutic intervention that is not appropriate in a family setting, of course we want them to have very high-quality residential care,” says Geen. “But the point of that is for them to then succeed in a family later on."
Olson agrees with this assessment. But he sees many residential facilities closing – which has an unintended consequence.
"Right now, we have 80-some kids in the state of Maine that are placed out of state in residential care,” says Olson. “And that's been sort of the downside to the reform efforts in Maine is that we simply don't have some of the resources we need."
Olson says he is encouraged by the new administration in Maine, and hopes the state can invest more resources in the foster care system. The "Keeping Kids in Families" report is on the Annie E. Casey Foundation's website.
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The lack of quality child care for infants and toddlers costs Colorado nearly $3 billion each year in lost earnings, productivity and revenue but an initiative in Mesa County shows what is possible when local governments, businesses and civic groups team up.
Keller Anne Ruble, client success manager for the software firm BridgeCare, said officials saw huge demand for child care in the town of Clifton, but no providers. So they built a new facility that provides child care and also trains new caregivers.
"So that they can meet the needs of working families and invest in their early care workforce pipeline," Ruble explained. "And because of that investment, they now have 270 seats at this child care center, and they've completely eliminated their child care desert."
Budgetary constraints imposed by Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights make it much harder for the state to invest tax revenues in initiatives such as the one in Clifton. The state also recently froze enrollment in the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program. Over the past 15 years, Colorado's economic growth has dropped from fifth in the nation to 41st, according to the 2025 Colorado University Leeds School of Business report.
Half of Colorado parents said they have quit jobs, worked fewer hours and taken unpaid time off. In 2023, more than 10,000 moms left the workforce, all because of a lack of child care.
Ruble emphasized when the cost of child care is too high, many parents just cannot afford to go to work.
"Families across the country are spending up to 60% of their income on child care," Ruble pointed out. "That's equivalent to a second mortgage or a second rent payment."
Children younger than age 3 are experiencing one of the most crucial periods of brain development and Ruble stressed investing in quality care is important for their long-term health.
"When young children have high-quality, enriching early experiences with trusted caregivers, it sets them on a strong foundation for growing, flourishing into thriving adults that contribute to our workforce and our society," Ruble asserted.
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The number of Kentucky children enrolled in preschool increased in 2024, along with state spending per child, according to new data from the National Institute for Early Education Research.
The commonwealth spent around $6,500 per child during the last academic year, an increase of more than $800 from the prior year.
Steve Barnett, founder and senior director of the institute and the study's co-author, said it is unrealistic to think states could replace cuts to Head Start funding amid the Trump administration's proposed freezes of federal grant funding.
"And particularly replace it overnight if the program is suddenly defunded," Barnett emphasized. "States are going to have to step up and figure out what to do if that happens."
He added if Head Start funding is eliminated, access to public preschool will decline in several states by more than 10 percentage points, and in some, by 20.
Kentucky lawmakers have taken recent steps to expand preschool access, including passing House Bill 695, which established the Adaptive Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Project. The measure aims to provide no-cost, online education for 3- and 4-year-olds who may not be attending state-funded preschool programs.
Allison Friedman-Krauss, associate research professor at the institute, said states spent more than $13 billion on preschool last year, including $257 million in federal pandemic relief funding, in part to attract more qualified teachers.
"We also see in our data that many states are reporting teacher shortages in early childhood, that they've had to increase their waivers in order to get teachers in classrooms," Friedman-Krauss reported.
Research shows toddlers who attend preschool are more prepared for elementary school and less likely to be identified as having special needs, or be held back, than children who do not.
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Medicaid is in the crosshairs, as Republicans in Congress are expected to lay out proposals in May to cut $1.5 trillion from the federal budget, prompting strong opposition from educators.
Around 15 million Californians rely on Medicaid, known here as Medi-Cal, for their health care. However, as Mayra Alvarez, president of the Children's Partnership, noted, the cuts would also deal a devastating blow to schools.
"Medicaid is the third-largest source of funding for K-through-12 public schools to help children have access to routine health screenings, preventive services and physical speech and occupational therapies," she said.
The Trump administration is looking for savings to fund the president's other priorities, including extending his 2017 tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy and corporations. School districts are uneasy because they are legally required to provide accommodations for students with disabilities, regardless of how much the federal government is willing to reimburse.
Sacramento County schools superintendent David Gordon said districts would have to make big cuts across all programs.
"Without those funds, there would be a huge bill," he said, "and school districts would be forced to basically play financial roulette to figure out what do we cut?"
Gordon said his district uses Medi-Cal funds to place mental-health clinicians at each school site, so students with psychological needs get early diagnosis and treatment.
Shana Hazan, a trustee for the San Diego Unified School District, said people don't realize the critical role districts play in providing health-care services.
"Students rely on Medi Cal for things like audiology, mental-health support, nursing and wellness, occupational and physical therapy, home hospital care," she said. "These are really essential for many students with the highest needs."
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