Annie E. Casey Foundation

The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) is a child welfare foundation (philanthropic organization), focused on improving the well-being of American children. The foundation's goals are to build better futures for disadvantaged children, and their families, in the United States.

The AECF is one of the dominant organizations in child welfare issues in the U.S., and one of the most influential "watchdogs" for child welfare — famed for its publication of U.S. child welfare data, annually, through its KIDS COUNT Data Book — the most widely used reference on the subject.

History

The AECF was started in 1948 in Seattle, Washington, by UPS founder James E. Casey and his siblings George, Harry and Marguerite. Their foundation was named in honor of their mother. The foundation moved to Baltimore in 1994.

Originally a charity, chiefly focused on providing foster care, the organization gradually shifted to a broader role in advancing child welfare through social experimentation, research and publicity — particularly gaining notoriety as a "watchdog" over child welfare conditions across the nation. Along the way, it divested its foster care operations, while increasing its focus on family-preservation research, advocacy and action.

Through its extensive publicity efforts, the AECF has become the leading independent source of information on the welfare of children in the United States, and one of the dominant organizations for advancing child welfare in the U.S.

Foster Care and Related Services

The AECF has had a long connection with foster care services, owning two such agencies.

However, this eventually resulted in some conflict-of-interest with the AECF's later role as a "watchdog," publicizing data on child welfare issues (including the quality and quantity of foster care in states, nationwide). By the early 2000s, foster care was falling somewhat into disrepute, and child welfare advocates increasingly focused on family preservation initiatives; the AECF was among those organizations.

Eventually, by 2012, the AECF had separated itself completely from its ownership of foster care and related operations, including...:

Casey Family Programs

In 1966, the Casey family philanthropy started a child welfare agency (foster care and related services) in the Seattle, Washington area. In 1973, When Jim Casey's company, United Parcel Service (UPS), moved its headquarters from Seattle to New York City, Jim Casey gave the agency enough funds to become officially a separate, independent entity from the AECF. The resulting organization is known, today, as the Casey Family Programs, and claims to be "the nation’s largest operating foundation focused on safely reducing the need for foster care and building Communities of Hope for children and families across America" — broadening their role from traditional foster care to a wider goal: "to influence long-lasting improvements to the safety and success of children, families and the communities where they live." They claim to now be working in "50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico".

Casey Family Services

From 1976 to 2012, the AECF operated a foster care service, and related services, in the Northeastern United States -- eventually grouped under the title "Casey Family Services. Starting out in Connecticut and Vermont, the program expanded throughout New England, and also into Maryland, before its closure in 2012.

Child Welfare Publicity & Publications

Among the organization's practices is the development of "public accountability" for child welfare outcomes — through continuing publication, and publicizing, of research and comparative data that assess the health and wellness of children in the various states and communities across the nation.

In keeping with this goal, the foundation is a regular contributor to public broadcasting, including National Public Radio.

Another key form of "public accountability" the foundation develops are written publications reporting the current status of children across the nation, state-by-state.

In particular, the foundation produces a detailed, annual child-welfare research report, the KIDS COUNT Data book (also known as the Kids Count or simply the Data Book) — surveying the well-being of children in the 50 US states, ranking the states on 10 core indicators, and overall — drawing heavily on documented sources and official reports. This reference book, printed every year since 1990, is considered one of the foremost reference documents — for academics, media, business and public leaders — on child health and well-being in the United States, and particularly in each of the 50 states, comparatively.

In 2014, the organization also released its Race for Results Index, comparing the previous 23 years data accumulated on the well-being of America’s children — intending to start a national conversation about startling disparities between racial and ethnic groups. For the first time, this index was based on indicators of success: reading & math proficiency, high school graduation rates, teen birthrates, employment futures, neighborhood poverty levels, family income and education levels. Standardized scores, indicating the childrens' likelihood of success in adult life, were presented for each state and racial group (where valid data was available) using data gathered between 2010 and 2013.

The foundation also sponsors (or produces), and distributes, research reports and white papers on various topics involving child welfare and related programs and public policy issues.

Child Welfare Development Grants

The foundation works with — and makes grants to — governments (particularly states), universities and civic organizations, to improve conditions for children.

Juvenile Justice Alternatives

The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), a project developed in 1992 by the AECF, demonstrates ways for jurisdictions to safely reduce reliance on secure confinement of children, and strengthen juvenile justice systems through interrelated reform strategies. The JDAI reports that it is now being copied in approximately "200 jurisdictions in 39 states and the District of Columbia." The U.S. Department of Justice has worked Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has worked directly and extensively with the AECF on these issues, as well.

The JDAI Helpdesk is an online information tool for juvenile justice advocates, practitioners, policymakers, and other parites seeking to improve juvenile justice systems, sharing the juvenile justice "best practices," research and materials produced by JDAI jurisdictions. Featured materials include: strategies and tools documented to safely reduce secure confinements, while improving public safety, avoiding costs and doing "what works for youth" to develop them into "healthy, productive adults." The materials are catalogued and available for downloading and sharing, and the Helpdesk responds to questions for additional information.

The JDAI Helpdesk is operated — in partnership with the AECF — by the Pretrial Justice Institute

Financial Affairs

In 2012, the AECF was reported by a libertarian critic to have "$2.8 billion in assets," and to have disbursed, in 2010, "over $194 million in grants."

People

Senior Executives

Dr. Patrick McCarthy, 2010, became President of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. — moving up from senior vice president, where he oversaw Foundation work in various areas, including health, substance abuse and education, the AECF Strategic Consulting Group, and AECF's direct services agency (chiefly foster care), Casey Family Services. McCarthy's initial career was as a psychiatric social worker and instructor in graduate schools of social work at the University of Southern California, and at Bryn Mawr College (where he earned his Ph.D.).

Douglas Nelson, in 1990, became the first President of the AECF, and led the foundation for 20 years (to 2010); he subsequently served in the Carter Center, and in 2014 was named to head the Congressionally chartered CDC Foundation (support affiliate for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ralph Smith, during 2005, was senior vice president of the AECF, and was credited with being the "architect" of the AECF's $25-million-dollar-a-year investment in revitalizing poor American cities.

White House Fellows & Fellowship Commissioners

Bruno V. Manno, the AECF's Senior Program Associate in Education, was one of 23 persons appointed by President George W. Bush, in 2001, to serve on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. (Through executive order, the Commission defines the standards and procedures for annually recommending a few outstanding individuals, among whom the President may select to serve as White House Fellows: exceptional civic and intellectual leaders, public servants and scholars who bring their talents to serve up to a year on the White House staff, or in the Executive Office of the President, or in the offices of the Vice President, members of the Cabinet, or other Executive Branch officials).

Heather H. Graham, in 2002, was a Program Associate at the AECF, managing a portfolio of grants to non-profit organizations, and to city and state governments focusing on education reform, family economic security, and community development. Before that, Graham was Director of a Corps Program for Teach for America. In June, 2002, she was among 13 White House Fellows selected by President George W. Bush's Commission on White House Fellowships. Graham holds a Masters in Public and International Affairs (Princeton University, 1999) and a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa with Honors and Distinction, (University of Wisconsin, 1993). Awards included the Fielding Internship Award and the Luce Scholarship to the People's Republic of China.

External links

• Annie E. Casey Foundation website
• 2015 KIDS COUNT Data Book
• "Annie E. Casey Foundation: Helping Children Becomes Advocacy for the Welfare State", Foundation Watch, June 2012, on the website of libertarian think-tank, Capital Research Center, retrieved 2015-08-05, a detailed Libertarian critique of the AECF, by Eric Hogberg.