Building Bridges for Babies in Foster Care: The Babies Can't Wait Initiative

In 2001, the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, chaired by New York State's Chief Judge Judith Kaye, developed the Babies Can't Wait Initiative to maximize the well‐being and permanency prospects of infants in foster care. This court‐based innovation became a path to healthy development for babies in foster care, a bridge to unprecedented collaboration among the New York City Family Court, child welfare system, and service providers and merged knowledge about child development with court and child welfare practice. This article tells the story of the Babies Can't Wait Initiative—its creation, implementation, successes, and lessons.     

Questions Every Judge and Lawyer Should Ask About Infants and Toddlers in the Child Welfare System

We need to change the culture in our courts. Instead of ignoring the special needs of babies and toddlers, we need to recognize that abused and neglected children are at risk for developing negative sequelae as a result of their maltreatment. The science of early development is unequivocal that early intervention can be effective. The following questions were developed as a guide for lawyers, judges, and child advocates in the child welfare system as a first step toward advocacy and intervention for young children. Armed with the questions, the scientific reasons they need to be asked, and the research that provides support, we recommend that these questions be used as a tool and be asked over and over until the needs of maltreated infants and babies are addressed. It is our legal obligation under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and it is our moral responsibility to these young children.