For more than 35 years, the KIDS COUNT Data Book has ranked states on child well-being overall and in four domains: Economic Well-Being, Education, Health, and Family and Community. In 2026, these rankings remain an important tool. However, starting...
New Scoring Index from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to Increase Accountability by Showing How Arkansas’s Policies and Investment Affect Children’s Daily Lives Sharp increases in the children’s uninsured rate and the number of young children not in school...
As we draw to the end of National Kinship Care Month this September, we continue to honor the grandparents, other relatives, and close family friends who step up to raise children whose parents cannot. Importantly, this National Kinship Care...
During the 2025 legislative session, the Arkansas General Assembly passed HB1653, now Act 636. You can read AACF’s testimony against this piece of legislation here. This law allows the number of psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) beds in Arkansas to...
We encourage lawmakers and officials in Arkansas to use this detailed information to unite across party lines and respond with initiatives that invest in young people.
This bill would result in more children being institutionalized in highly restrictive settings.
About the Bill SB585 | Sen. Greg Leding | Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor This bill would require every employer with more than ten employees to provide pay stubs to each employee who is under the age...
A legislative effort to change child labor laws would make it easier for businesses to hire children under 16 without their parents’ permission.
This should be a time that people of all political backgrounds can agree that the well-being of mothers and children should be the top priority in our public policy.
Arkansas lawmakers are headed home today for a few months, taking a long recess in one of the most difficult sessions in recent memory. We want to thank you for staying engaged for more than three months. No matter...