Advocates, professionals, legislators, families, caregivers and all those who interact with the child welfare system grapple with the question of when and how resources should be invested at local, state, and national levels, to most effectively help children and families who may be touched by the foster care system.

If we are serious about helping children, we must ask ourselves with greater urgency: At what point should we begin to pay attention to families who are at risk?

The vital importance of the early years of children’s lives in setting the stage for their futures cannot be overstated.

To understand why foster care, as critical as it is in some instances, is a less effective intervention than assistance in advance of removing children from their homes, it will help to know something about stress, trauma and brain development. Some of what I will describe we know and have known for a long time, and some we didn’t really know until quite recently, but all has important implications for how we approach child welfare decisions and policies.

Some 415,000 children are in foster care in the U.S. on any given day. As a nation, we know and believe that the safety of children who are determined to be at imminent risk of neglect or physical, sexual or emotional abuse, and for whom remaining in their homes poses immediate danger must be protected. Before that moment when a child is taken from her home and family, a great deal has already happened to all of the people in the family. And a great deal happens afterward as well.

Read more in The Chronicle of Social Change.