CAI’s Amy Harfeld Quoted by ABC 15 Arizona on Foster Families Struggling with Notification of Federal Benefits
SAN DIEGO (April 14, 2026) – University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) National Policy Director Amy Harfeld was quoted by ABC 15 in Arizona on the struggle of foster families to get notification of federal Social Security benefits.
According to the article, Arizona was the first state to pass a law to preserve federal benefits for foster children. However, communication gaps may be leaving foster families in the dark about the money owed to the children.
The article quotes Harfeld, saying she’s spent decades answering the question, “How do we make sure that this child has what they need or what they deserve?”
Harfeld commends Arizona as the first of 10 states and jurisdictions to change the law to preserve federal benefits for foster kids. They no longer use the money to offset the state’s cost of their care.
To date, 39 states and jurisdictions have taken some form of action to preserve the federal Social Security benefits of foster youth. Harfeld is now pushing for a federal law to ensure foster kids in all states can access their benefits for current needs or future savings.
“It looks pretty bad when all of the foster kids in the state have their care paid for, and only the disabled kids and the orphans are left to pay for their own care,” Harfeld said.
CAI, with support from funders, has been leading a multidimensional campaign to eradicate nationwide the practice of states taking foster youth’s federal benefits. A well-established leader on this issue, CAI is leading reform efforts at the federal, state, and local levels to protect the rights and preserve the benefits of foster youth. CAI issued a 50-state report card entitled, “Foster Care or Foster Con? Preserving the Federal Benefits of America’s Most Vulnerable Children.”
To learn more about CAI’s campaign to stop this practice, please visit our Preserving Federal Benefits of Foster Youth website.
To read the full article, please visit ABC 15 Arizona.
About the Children’s Advocacy Institute
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.
In its academic component, CAI trains law students and attorneys to be effective child advocates throughout their legal careers. Its Child Advocacy Clinic gives USD Law students three distinct clinical opportunities to advocate on behalf of children and youth.
CAI's research and advocacy component, conducted through its offices in San Diego, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C., seeks to leverage change for children and youth through impact litigation, regulatory and legislative advocacy, and public education. Active primarily at the federal and state levels, CAI's efforts are multi-faceted—comprehensively and successfully embracing all tools of public interest advocacy to improve the lives of children and youth. To support CAI’s work, please visit our website.
About the School of Law
Each year, USD Law educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.
USD School of Law is one of the 88 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 34th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 35th nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.