How Ascend Fellows are reshaping the child welfare system

2021 Ascend Fellow Aysha E. Schomburg 

(Photo by Stephen Jaffe)

2021 Ascend Fellow Aysha E. Schomburg is the associate commissioner of the United States Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families, which envisions “a loving approach to helping children obtain what they need to live with dignity.” One of the Children’s Bureau’s priority goals is preventing children from coming into foster care. To do that,

Aysha is encouraging states to rethink their definitions of neglect. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, neglect is the primary cause  of child maltreatment cases, accounting for 76 percent of all cases. The problem is that in many states, the definition of neglect is often conflated with indicators of poverty. For example in Michigan, the definition of neglect included “the failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care,” without acknowledging that inability to pay for these items may be a factor.

Aysha and the Children’s Bureau are raising awareness to make sure that the difference between neglect and poverty is clear in state policies, and states are starting to listen. In California, economic disadvantages are no longer considered part of general neglect. States like Iowa and Kentucky now have clauses that specify that neglect exists in cases where caregivers have failed to provide basic needs for their children “while financially able to do so.”

The hope is that these policies result in children being safely supported in their communities rather than separated from their families. “We have approved Family First prevention plans in 44 jurisdictions, and we have established our plan to promulgate a regulation that would advance equity and provide much needed support for kinship caregivers,” Aysha wrote in March 2023. “There is still a lot of work to do, but I am encouraged about how far we’ve come.”

Written by Associate Commissioner 

Aysha E. Schomburg 

We entered the month of June in full celebration mode. All around the country, we acknowledged and celebrated Juneteenth, the commemoration of the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African Americans in this country. This was only the first anniversary of Juneteenth as a federal holiday; as old as Juneteenth is for the African American community, its observance by this nation is still new. Juneteenth is all about freedom. 

Power, Policy, and Purpose: Advancing African American 

Family Well-Being

Keynote: Aysha E Schomburg, JD

Schomburg shared how policy can serve as a powerful force for equity and urges collective leadership across sectors to center healing and generational well-being in policy design. 

Take a peek as President and CEO,  Aysha E. Schomburg, shares her opening remarks "You are Fit to Weather a Storm

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