A Watershed Perspective for Child Welfare

“Few words appear more frequently in discussions of child welfare today than ‘upstream.’

The term is pregnant with meaning, and anyone who cares deeply about our society’s most vulnerable children would do well to give it full attention. Upstream thinking invites us to consider the tragic dilemma that lies at the heart of child-protection efforts — namely the need for social workers to separate thousands of children from their birth parents. If we can address such crises before they’re full blown, maybe even before they become crises at all, we will prevent much heartache.”