Child welfare has been a dominant issue in nearly every society. There have always been destitute orphans and poor children, and society has always tried to provide for and protect these defenseless citizens. Child welfare programs and policies in America today are very complex and some would say very efficient, but I think there will always be room for improvement. In this literature review, I will discuss and present the information and arguments I have discovered on the topic of child welfare: adoption, foster care, and what works. I believe that both adoption and foster care have the potential to benefit systems for children who need them, but I also believe that our country needs to decide what the best possible solution is for these children and implement that policy immediately. I realize that nothing is perfect and that no policy or program will ever solve all of our problems, but that doesn't mean we should stop looking for better ways to do things. I will begin with the history of child welfare, discuss the current child welfare process and its outcomes today, and then conclude with an assessment of what is actually working and what is not. Throughout the review, I will continually mention the influence of social work on the topic and how we, as future social workers, can prepare ourselves for the challenges that lie ahead. children) was known as the English Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601. "Dependent children without relatives able to support them were pressed into service under whichever citizen made the lowest bid for public reimbursement to provide the child's care." (Kirst-Ashman, 2010, pg .172). During this period, despite this… half of the document…) in the child welfare system, through evaluations, they were found to have developmental problems on one or more of the three measures of functioning used in that study” (Ward, 2009, page 1). Ward's entire synopsis lists several aspects of this obviously harmful effect of the child welfare system. We discussed the history of child care, the child care process, and the benefits/disadvantages of child care programs today. This is a huge social job that social workers must be prepared to tackle, and we must constantly advocate for these dependent children that we will fail if we do not build a better system and give them better potential by the time they leave the system. No one denies the problems our country's child care programs have, and the research is there; we must study it and actively participate in its change.