Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families created this guide to introduce you to the world of of child advocacy and to outline the skills needed to be a successful child advocate. It is a practical guide suitable to a variety of children’s issue areas such as education, health, economic self-sufficiency, child welfare and juvenile justice. […]
The 2007 session of the Arkansas General Assembly was a successful one for children and families. Under Governor Beebe’s leadership and with the support of legislative leaders, the state took major steps to improve the well being of children and families. Most notably, the legislature approved the final $40 million of funding for quality Pre-K […]
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 […]
This report is based on a study conducted by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families that set out to determine the effect that methamphetamine, or “meth,” has had on Arkansas’s child welfare system. The results of the study brought the author to both interesting and disturbing conclusions about the way the system deals with substance […]
The past year was an exciting one for the staff and board of AACF. Our work led to an important victory for low income families — raising the state minimum wage to $6.25 an hour. Our work also helped set the stage for increasing funding by $40 million for quality pre-k for at-risk children during […]
The performance of the Arkansas Child Welfare System declined significantly beginning in 2004, as measured by a broad range of indicators related to protecting children from abuse and neglect and providing services to help children and families. The decline corresponded with a severe shortage of family service workers at the Division of Children and Family […]
In 1997, with the enactment of Title XXI of the Social Security Act, the State Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was created with strong bipartisan support. Initially authorized as a 10-year program, SCHIP has become widely regarded as one of the greatest recent social policy successes. SCHIP was crafted to provide affordable health care coverage to […]
There has been much discussion in this legislative session about how to provide tax relief for low-income families. Two proposals are currently being debated in the legislature. One is to immediately cut the grocery tax by 3% and gradually phase it out completely in future years. The second proposal is to establish a state earned […]
This report is the result of a collaborative effort between multiple agencies and healthcare providers in the state. These organizations share a common interest in improving the health status of Arkansas’ children. This report includes a range of data on the current health status of Arkansas children, a discussion of their health needs, strategies for […]
In February 2005, President Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 which was the result of the administration’s call to reduce federal spending by approximately $35 billion by 2010. Medicaid, one of the nation’s largest federally funded programs, was an obvious target. Since Medicaid was an entitlement program, across the board cuts could […]