For the first time in our country’s history, 95 percent of children have the health care coverage they need to be healthy and thrive, according to a new report by the Urban Institute and funded by the Packard Foundation. As impressive, 97 percent of children ages 0 to 5 have access to health coverage, which […]

More than 5 million children in the United States (7 percent of the total child population) have had a parent incarcerated at some point in their lives, including an estimated 61,000 in Arkansas, announced Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) and the Annie E. Casey Foundation today. In its latest KIDS COUNT® policy report, […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families applauds Governor Beebe for his leadership on this important issue. A significant increase in Arkansas’s severance tax is long overdue and through the Governor’s proposal, will have a real impact on the economic well-being of Arkansas’s working families. At Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, our main priority is […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) released its annual assessment of the Arkansas child welfare system today. The report titled, Children in Crisis, examines performance data from the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to determine how well they are serving Arkansas’s children. Although the report shows some improvements, the overall findings are […]

Poison, Problem, and Perspective: The Impact of Methamphetamine on the Arkansas Child Welfare System” is a study conducted by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families that began as a project to determine the effect that methamphetamine, or “meth,” has had on Arkansas’s child welfare system. However, the results of the study brought the author to […]

Today, Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families (AACF) released an updated child welfare report examining performance data from the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)/Child Welfare System. The report, “A Long Road Ahead: An Update on the Arkansas Child Welfare System,” details research on child safety indicators and performance measures related to family […]

Today Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) released an in-depth analysis of what occurred during the expansion process of the quality preschool program. The report “Quality Pre-K Expansion in Arkansas: Lessons Learned,” details the successes and challenges of expanding access to the Arkansas Better Chance for School Success programs for an additional 7,000 eligible […]

A report released today by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) describes how Arkansas families are faring after the recession and subsequent economic recovery that have gripped the U.S. for the first half of the decade. The 2005 State of Working Arkansas analyzes these recent economic trends and details how Arkansas families are faring […]

This week the nation celebrates the 40th birthday of Medicaid. It was signed into law on July 30, 1965. And 40 years later it is providing 605,000 Arkansas residents with access to life-saving and life preserving health care. In Arkansas, Medicaid has kept many low income adults and children from becoming uninsured. The state’s Medicaid […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) took issue with comments made recently by Governor Huckabee concerning reform of the state and federal Medicaid system that provides health care for many of the state’s families. “We don’t agree with the Governor’s recommendations that states should be given broad discretion in establishing premiums and raising co-pays […]