Dear Members and Friends of BACW,

The Black Administrators in Child Welfare Inc. is celebrating 38 years of service as the only national African American organization focusing on abused and neglected children and families, as well as at risk children and families, who come to the attention of the child welfare system. We exist because there are those in the field who still believe that, more than ever, there is a need for an organization that focuses on the needs of African American children and families in child welfare.

From the beginning, BACW assumed the responsibility for leadership development and mutual support among African American professionals in public and private child welfare agencies. BACW has embarked on many successful endeavors and continues to expand our capability in areas of research, training, technical assistance and consultation on behalf of the disproportionate number of African American children in the child welfare system. To provide you with information about our services, we can make available a Business Profile, including a capability statement. It is our hope that you will request our services and encourage others to see the value in our organization in providing consultation and training.

Child maltreatment remains a major social problem in our country, and African American leaders must step up and be more involved in the solutions. For your information, BACW has initiated the following Goals to establish and monitor effective programs and services that prevent placements, protect and treat children, youth and families, as well as reduce disproportionate representation in the child welfare system.

2008 Organizational Goals

1. To secure funds in order to fulfill our mission, provide leadership in public policy and improved practice, and to reduce treatment disparities and the disproportionate representation of African American children and families.
2. To partner with community-based organizations to prevent foster care placements, and to improve the outcomes for youth aging out of the foster care system.
3. To develop a plan to create a National Center to study the future of African American children and families, in partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
4. To continue to promote and support Kinship Care as the most important program to preserve families, when children cannot be cared for by their parents.
5. To develop a national campaign strategy that would target middle-class African American families to adopt African American children.
6. To secure funding to establish a Leadership and Training Institute for African Americans who aspire to become child welfare administrators.
7. To work on the development of and test a new Anti-racism Assessment Tool to be compatible with BACW’s cultural competence training curriculum, in order to work with agencies and communities with a goal of reducing disproportionality and treatment disparities for children of color in the child welfare and juvenile justice system.

There is much to be done. To achieve our goals on behalf of our children, we must increase our membership, and we need your help. If you will make a personal commitment to get at least two new members or one agency membership for BACW, it would be a tremendous help.

Your participation is vital to BACW as well as to the participation of others who believe as we do that we must reduce treatment disparities and the disproportionate representation of African American children and families in the child welfare system, not just talk about it. Through the annual conference, regional meetings, national committees and financial support, we hope you will be an active member of BACW on behalf of our children.

We will continue to share with you new developments as they occur for BACW. It is our desire to be in constant communication with our members through our website. Please visit our website, which should provide you with updated information, and the newsletter that will be reactivated and available in September 2008. If you have not given us your e-mail address, please do so. Thank you again for your support, and if we can be of further service to you, please feel free to contact our office.

Respectfully Submitted,