Within Our Reach
Within Our Reach is an office established within Social Current to further the recommendations of the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities. Social Current is the key organizer in this national effort that works to achieve its goals through a spirit of shared ownership and collaboration with many partners. Within our Reach is made possible through a partnership with Casey Family Programs, whose mission is to provide, improve—and ultimately prevent the need for—foster care.
Goals
The goal of Within Our Reach is to equip policymakers, practitioners, and advocates with the tools they need to fundamentally reform child welfare. Based on the commission’s national strategy, desired reform includes a proactive public health approach—a shared family and community responsibility to keep children safe. It includes three interrelated components:
- Leadership and accountability
- Decisions grounded in better data and research
- Multidisciplinary support for families
About the Commission
The Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, which released its report to President Obama and Congress in March 2016, was formed as a result of the Protect Our Kids Act of 2012. This act garnered broad, bipartisan support in the House, passed the Senate unanimously, and was signed by President Obama Jan. 14, 2013. Members of the commission included Alliance President and CEO Susan Dreyfus and Casey Family Programs Executive Vice President of Systems Improvement David Sanders, who served as its chairman. Visit the commission’s archived website for more information.
Partners
Within Our Reach Blog
First Progress Report
Released Jan. 31, 2018, Steps Forward: First Progress Report on Within Our Reach, the Final Report of the Federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities finds a groundswell of recent reforms in child welfare practices across the country that reflect CECANF recommendations. Read the news release.
Policy, Education, and Communications Toolkit
Within Our Reach developed this toolkit to offer human services leaders, policy makers, and communicators tools to support building a preventive, 21st-century child welfare system that is based on a public health approach.
November 2020: New Report Released
It highlights the elements of a prevention-aligned, public health approach to child welfare and provides examples of innovative programs from communities and states across the nation that working to shift from a child welfare system to a child and family well-being system.