Description: The American child welfare system is bent toward protecting adults, not children.
Kids in danger are treated instrumentally to promote the rehabilitation of their parents, the welfare of their communities, and the social justice of their race and tribe--all with the inevitable result that their most precious developmental years are lost in bureaucratic and judicial red tape. It is time to stop letting efforts to fix the child welfare system get derailed by activists who are concerned with race-matching, blood ties, and the abstract demands of social justice, and start asking the most important question: Where are the emotionally and financially stable, loving, and permanent homes where these kids can thrive?Brief description: Naomi Schaefer Riley is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on issues regarding child welfare; a senior fellow at the Independent Women's Forum; and a writer who examines parenting, higher education, religion, philanthropy, and culture. She is a former columnist for the New York Post and has worked as a Wall Street Journal editor and writer. She is also the author of six books, including, Be the Parent, Please: Stop Banning Seesaws and Start Banning Snapchat. Her book, Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage is Transforming America, was named an editor's pick by the New York Times Book Review. Ms. Riley's writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the LA Times, and the Washington Post, among other publications. She appears regularly on Fox News, Fox Business, and CNBC. She has also appeared on Q&A with Brian Lamb as well as the Today Show. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in English and Government. She lives in the suburbs of New York with her husband, Jason, and their three children.