Here’s a roundup of this week’s news on low-income children, youth and their families:

In the Chronicle of Social Change, leadership from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative make the case for focusing child welfare system financing on best practices. They argue that “Many state and local governments have demonstrated how to maintain family connections for children...But these best practices are not yet common practice. And that is partly because our 30-year old federal financing system does not prioritize them,” they say. It’s time to bring this system up to date, and make it consistent with innovations in child welfare practice.”

In Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, Gary Gately examines indigent juvenile defense. “But today, nearly a half-century after the Gault case began, due process rights remain elusive for thousands of indigent juvenile defendants facing felony charges that could lead to years of incarceration,” the report finds. This new article is the most recent in JJIE’s series.

Calendar

• November 19, 4:30 pm, Canal & Varick streets:  Every School a Community School, a forum at Talking Transition, an open conversation about the future of New York City to help shape the transition to a new mayor. Join the Children's Aid Society, Good Shepherd Services, Phipps CDC, the UFT, the Center for NYC Affairs at The New School and others to learn how all of New York City’s children and families can receive the supports and opportunities they need to succeed and thrive in school. Community schools remove barriers to learning by organizing the resources of schools and communities around student success.

• November 20, 8:30 am - Rising Family Homelessness in NYC: What Can the New Mayor Do? Join the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School for a forum to discuss strategies to stem the tide of rising family homelessness. Despite the severity of the current homelessness crisis, New York City has a strong legacy of successful approaches to addressing family homelessness that the new mayoral administration can build on.

• November 25 - The New York City Council Committee on General Welfare and the Committee on Women’s Issues will hold a joint oversight hearing on Hunger in NYC.

• November 25 - The New York City Council Committee on Education will hold an oversight hearing on the Impact of Standardized Testing on Children. The Committee will also consider new legislation about providing information to students on college savings plans.