This paper serves as the introduction to the State Children's Cabinets and Councils Series, a set of reports intended to capture and organize the decisions and experiences of more than 20 children's cabinets and councils and present them against an emerging set of expectations about what the public and policy makers could and should expect from them. State Children's Cabinets and Councils: Getting Results for Children and Youth delves into the - why - question. It provides the rationale behind the Forum's assertion that children's cabinets and councils should be taken seriously, spells out how state children's cabinets and councils are operating in ways that are consistent with the Forum's assumptions about change, identifies challenge areas and introduces the Ready by 21 Change Model that is used to frame the issue briefs and directory.