Right for Kids Ranking

January 27, 2020

Andrew C. Brown, J.D.

Andrew C. Brown, J.D., is the director of the Center for Families and Children at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Brown has dedicated his career to serving vulnerable children and strengthening families through community-focused, liberty-minded solutions.

Charissa Huntzinger

Nikki Pressley

Nikki Pressley is the Texas State Director and Chief of Staff for Right On Crime with the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Her work focuses on Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice policy.

Nikki is a native Dentonite, earning both her bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of North Texas. Outside of work Nikki enjoys running, live music, and Tex-Mex.

The ‘Right for Kids Ranking’ is an annual look at how well each state performs at achieving the best results for kids who enter the foster care system.

Key points:

Policy may have a more significant impact on the overall performance of state child welfare systems than factors like wealth, geography, socioeconomic makeup, or population.
Performance is not about money—our analysis indicates that there is no statistical correlation between the amount of money spent on foster care and outcomes achieved for kids.
If the entire nation performed like the top 10 highest-performing states, there would be over 57,000 fewer victims of child maltreatment.
Children in the top 10 highest-performing states spend, on average, four fewer months in care as compared to the rest of the nation.

View Full Publication

Andrew C. Brown, J.D.

Charissa Huntzinger

Nikki Pressley

Related content

Higher Education Subsidization: Why and How Should We Subsidize Higher Education?

Responsibly Ushering in Autonomous Vehicles in Texas

Liberty Action Agenda