Babies and young children in the child welfare system have a high prevalence for physical, cognitive, and social-emotional delays and often don t have access to the services and supports that could make all the difference. Demystifying the world of child welfare shows early childhood practitioners how to successfully navigate this complex system and collaborate with a wide range of other professionals to meet young children s needs. Discover what new brain research says about the importance of effective early intervention and consistent caregiving in the earliest years of life, see how the current system works by tracing several children s journeys through child welfare and juvenile court, help fulfill the promise of new laws related to child welfare, health care, and early intervention and education, understand the juvenile courts powerful potential to influence young children s healthy development, help improve access to coordinated, consistent health care for young children in the child welfare system, work to make early intervention screening universal and services readily available to young children and families, make the most of early childhood education as a portal to school readiness, social emotional development, and overall well being.