Children's Advocacy Institute

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Children's Advocacy Institute

Protecting Children. Strengthening Systems. Training the Next Generation of Advocates.

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), founded at the nonprofit University of San Diego School of Law in 1989, is one of the nation's premiere academic, research, and advocacy organizations working to improve the lives of children and youth, with special emphasis on improving the child protection and foster care systems and enhancing resources that are available to youth aging out of foster care.

Our children are our legacy. How we treat them, and what we leave for them, are the proper measures of the worth of our institutions and of us.
―Professor Robert C. Fellmeth

Advocacy Highlights

Protecting Financial Futures

Youth in foster care are particularly vulnerable to identity theft. When personal information such as a youth’s social security number is shared among individuals and agencies, that information can fall into the wrong hands. Victims of identity theft and credit fraud can experience financial problems such as being denied credit or loans or being unable to rent an apartment.

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Ensuring Online Safety for Kids

Online protections for children and youth have not kept pace with technological advances and societal trends and innovations. CAI's work seeks to hold social media platforms accountable to parents and children for knowingly or willfully addicting children and causing eating disorders, child suicides, fentanyl overdoses, or other harms.

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Preserving Federal Benefits of Foster Youth

Most foster care agencies routinely screen and apply for Social Security benefits on behalf of youth. They then routinely request to have the benefit checks sent directly to them. After receiving the child’s check, foster care agencies almost uniformly intercept the full amount of the check to reimburse themselves for that child’s foster care. The Children’s Advocacy Institute, with the support of the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, is leading a multidimensional campaign to eradicate this practice nationwide.

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