The largest portion of children entering care in 1990 were adolescents, ages 13-17. White adolescents were reunified with birth families more often than their counterparts with minority heritage. Reunification rates for American Indian children with birth parents were particularly low. In 1989, when compared to their proportion in the population, minority children were over-represented in foster care placement by a 7 to 1 ratio. One of the chief barriers to reunifying children with their parents after separation is the lack of affordable, clean, safe housing.
Little information is available on how children thrive once they are returned home.
These studies suggest that there is premature discontinuance of services to reunified families. For example, a support system, respite care, and basic income, which are generally available to foster parents, is often lacking to birth parents whose children are returned. No Child Behind is the theme of a national, nonpartisan campaign to educate voters and candidates about the need to make children's concerns a priority in the 1992 election. In Minnesota the Leave No Child Behind campaign is being led by the Children's Defense Fund-Minnesota, Congregations Concerned for Children and the Junior League. Representatives from over 50 state and local organizations concerned with meeting the needs of children are carrying out the work of this campaign.