Adult‑First Child‑Welfare Agenda

A growing policy orientation among some progressive child‑welfare actors emphasizes material supports and diversion for parents (poverty relief, housing, cash, treatment) over investigatory oversight and removal. That shift reframes 'helping families' as the primary objective even in cases where children may face acute danger, changing frontline practice, reporting incentives, and the threshold for state intervention. — If institutionalized, this adult‑first framing will materially alter abuse detection, fatality prevention, and foster‑care caseloads, making it a central trade‑off for policymakers balancing poverty alleviation against immediate child safety.