Browse by Title

This guidebook presents the SAFERR (Screening and Assessment for Family Engagement , Retention, and Recovery) model for helping staff of public and private agencies to families affected by substance use disorders. SAFERR was developed in response to frequent requests from managers of child welfare agencies for a "tool" that caseworkers could use to screen parents for potential substance use disorders in order to make decisions about children's safety. (Author abstract, modified)

Provides guidance to adopted persons and birth families on the search process and information access as well as resources for further help in conducting a successful search. This factsheet is designed to address the concerns of both adopted persons who are searching for birth parents or other birth relatives and birth parents (both mothers and fathers) who want to locate a child who was adopted. While not a complete "how to" guide to searching, this factsheet provides information on the decision to search, steps in the search process, hiring a professional searcher, international searching, using social media to search, and reunion issues.

This resource listing provides contact information for organizations that serve and have information about child and youth sex trafficking prevention and intervention. Each entry includes a brief description of the organization.

Explores relevant research, strategies, and resources to assist child welfare professionals in preserving connections among siblings. Sibling relationships can provide positive support and improved outcomes for children involved with child welfare as well as for those in the general population. Connections with siblings can serve as a protective factor for children who have been removed from their birth homes, but for a variety of reasons, siblings may not be placed together or may not have regular contact.

In 2010, the Children's Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human services published a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for the Initiative to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care titled "Initiative to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care." The purpose of the FOA was to fund demonstration projects that support the implementation and test the effectiveness of innovative intervention strategies to improve permanency outcomes of subgroups of children who have the most serious barriers to permanency. Although the reform efforts in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 focused on moving children and youth to permanent families more quickly while maintaining children's safety, many jurisdictions struggle with a growing population of children who are aging out of foster care. These projects were to address site-specific issues in order to help children leave foster care in fewer than 3 years. All of the applicants had to identify local barriers to permanent placement and implement innovative intervention strategies that mitigate or eliminate those barriers throughout the continuum of services. The cooperative agreements allowed flexibility in identification of the target population and the design of the interventions.

Using a Children’s Bureau Family Connection grant, Homes for Black Children (HBC) developed and implemented the Nurturing the Resiliency in Wayne County Families: Rethinking the Family Decision-Making Model as Community-Centered Child and Family Work project (Resiliency Project). The focus of the project was to provide family group decision-making (FGDM) and other well-being services to the target population—African-American families at risk of having their children enter the foster care system or who have experienced recent reunification with their children. To develop and implement the project, HBC partnered with the Wayne County Department of Human Services (DHS), which was the primary referral source. DHS referred all Category IV cases to the Resiliency Project.

Organization Description: The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), in partnership with Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the Children and Family Research Center of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Center for the Study of Social Policy and the Child Care Association of Illinois, proposes to demonstrate and take to scale statewide a trauma informed engagement approach to achieving permanency and reduce length of stay in foster care for a group of youth ages 9 to 14 who are at high risk of not achieving permanency.Use(s) of ACF Program Grant Funds: This project will demonstrate the new approach through two cohorts of youth in the target population: one whose members have been in out of home care for more than two years and one whose members will enter care during the demonstration project.

The Permanency Innovations Initiative (PII), a presidential initiative, is a 5-year multisite demonstration project designed to improve permanency outcomes for children in foster care who have the most serious barriers to permanency. In 2010, the Children's Bureau, within the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, released a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) titled "Initiative to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care." The purpose of the FOA was to fund demonstration projects that support the implementation and test the effectiveness of innovative intervention strategies to improve permanency outcomes for subgroups of children who have experienced the most serious barriers to permanency.

The Permanency Innovations Initiative (PII), a Presidential initiative, is a 5-year multisite demonstration project designed to improve permanency outcomes for children in foster care who have the most serious barriers to permanency. In 2010, the Children's Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) titled "Initiative to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care."11 The FOA is available at https://ami.grantsolutions.gov/view/HHS-2010-ACF-ACYF-CT-0022. The purpose of the FOA was to fund demonstration projects that support the implementation and test the effectiveness of innovative intervention strategies to improve permanency outcomes for subgroups of children who have experienced the most serious barriers to permanency.

In 2010, a group of human services agencies in Duval County, Florida, evaluated the services offered to children in the community who were between birth and the age of 3, and were also involved with child welfare. Although there were services available for school-age children and youth in transition (18 to 23 years of age), there were very few coordinated services available for preschool children. With the Family Support Services of North Florida (FSSNF) as the lead agency, the group focused on providing services for young children in foster care through a 17-month grant within the Children's Bureau's Child Welfare - Early Education Partnerships to Expand Protective Factors for Children with Child Welfare Involvement grant cluster. The Child Welfare-Early Education Partnership (CW-EEP) was formed, and its primary objective was to improve child care and early education services for young children in foster care, thereby improving educational outcomes for these children, and to increase the number of children in foster care enrolled in high-quality early education programs.

The Permanency Innovations Initiative (PII) is a 5-year multisite demonstration project designed to improve permanency outcomes for children in foster care who have the most serious barriers to permanency. In 2010, the Children's Bureau published a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for the Initiative to Reduce Long-Term Foster Care. The purpose of the FOA was to fund demonstration projects that support the implementation and test the effectiveness of innovative intervention strategies to improve permanency outcomes of subgroups of children that have the most serious barriers to permanency. Although the reform efforts in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 focused on moving children and youth to permanent families more quickly while maintaining children's safety, many jurisdictions struggle with a growing population of children who are aging out of foster care. These projects were to address site specific issues in order to help children leave foster care in fewer than three years.

In fiscal year 2011, the Children's Bureau awarded a Family Connection Grant to the Children's Home Society of New Jersey (CHSofNJ) for a 3-year project to use family group decision-making (FGDM) to build and/or enhance protective factors for kinship families that are not actively involved in the child welfare system, but are caring for relative children and youth at risk of entering or reentering the State's care. Project staff recognized that kinship families, many of which live on low and/or fixed incomes, often experience challenges, including the inability to meet the basic needs of the children in their care, assist school-age children with homework, and manage difficult adolescent behavior. However, unlike foster families served by the child welfare system, kinship caregivers have access to and receive fewer support services. So, project staff posited, if kinship caregivers are provided with the necessary services and supports they need, then children can be safely maintained in their homes and families will experience less stress, thereby reducing the likelihood of placement disruption and child welfare involvement.

In fiscal year 2011, the Children's Bureau awarded 10 grants to promote collaboration between child welfare and education systems in order to increase educational stability for children ages 10 to 17 and who were involved with child welfare. The Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) received one of these grants to implement the Waterbury Educational Stability Initiative, which provided training on trauma-informed child welfare practice and child traumatic stress to education and child welfare stakeholders, including child welfare professionals, school counselors, parent liaisons, and foster parents. The project also tried to bridge the gap between the schools and law enforcement by training the school resource officers, who are municipal police officers assigned to the schools.

Using a Children’s Bureau Family Connection grant, the Youth and Family Services Division (YFS) of the San Diego YMCA, in partnership with San Diego County Child Welfare Services (CWS), Casey Family Programs, and Harder and Company Community Research, developed and implemented the Families United Family Group Conferencing Program. The project uses a regionalized service delivery model based on the Guidelines for Family Group Decision Making in Child Welfare created by the American Humane Association. This demonstration project is measuring whether the use of Family Group Conferencing (FGC), which supports families in finding their own solutions to problems, will improve child welfare outcomes.

Describes the advantages and challenges workers may encounter when using social media with foster parents and youth in foster care. Issues that should be considered and tips for handling issues are also offered, as are ways to use social media to support families and youth.

Describes the advantages and challenges foster parents may encounter when using social media in their role as foster parents. Issues that should be considered and tips for handling issues are also offered. Ways to guide youth in the safe use of social media are also discussed.

Describes the advantages and challenges youth in foster care may encounter when using social media. Topics include ways that social media can be unsafe, ways to stay safe, and things to ask yourself before you post.

Examines State standby guardianship laws in which a parent may transfer guardianship of his or her child to a specific person under certain conditions. Many States developed these laws specifically to address the needs of parents living with disabling conditions or terminal illnesses who want to plan a legally secure future for their children. Standby guardianships differ from traditional guardianships in that standby guardianships allow the parent to retain much of his or her authority over the child. This publication covers the establishment of standby guardianship, the role of noncustodial parents, parental authority, and withdrawal of guardianship.

Includes contact information for the Adoption Assistance Specialist in each State and Territory, when available.

Photolisting services provide pictures and brief descriptions of the children in the State's foster care system who are available for adoption and waiting for families. This resource list provides website addresses for State photolisting services.

Includes website links to adoption information provided by State child welfare agencies in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. Links to State adoption information in Spanish are provided when available.

A resource directory listing of national organizations that provide information & services to combat or recover from human trafficking.

Includes State agency website links to information and resources for mental health care services for children and families in all 50 States and the District of Columbia.

This list provides statewide toll-free telephone numbers for reporting child abuse and neglect. It also includes links to State child welfare agency websites, which provide information on how and where to make a report of suspected child abuse and neglect.

Contact information for the Child Welfare Agency Directors in each State and Territory.

Includes links to State-specific agencies, organizations, and universities providing training and/or continuing education for the child welfare workforce.

Includes website links to foster care information provided on State child welfare agency websites in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. Links to State foster care information in Spanish are provided when available.

The State Foster Care Manager is the administrator who has oversight responsibility for all foster care services provided to children in the custody of the State and is the key point of contact for concerns regarding foster care programs that cannot be resolved by other existing procedures. This resource list provides contact information for each State's Foster Care Manager.

Includes State-level associations/coalitions of families that work to strengthen foster and adoptive parents and kinship/relative caregiver families through training, support, advocacy, and outreach activities. Social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) links are included, when available.

The Education and Training Voucher (ETV) Program was originally created in 2001 with the passage of the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 2001. Eligibility was expanded in 2008 with the Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. The purpose of ETV is to provide financial assistance for post-secondary training and education to youth who have aged out of foster care or who have left foster care after age 16 for kinship guardianship or adoption. Listed below is each State's ETV contact information.

This resource listing includes State Kinship Care contacts or website links to kinship care programs provided by State child welfare agencies in relevant States and the District of Columbia.

Each State has a designated State Liaison Officer (SLO) for child abuse and neglect. The SLO is responsible for ensuring the compliance to State laws and policies regarding issues such as how and when to investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect. This resource list provides contact information for each State's SLO.

This resource listing includes associations, programs, and organizations throughout the United States that work to promote the safety, well-being, and permanency of families by empowering parents to be engaged in family life through education, support, advocacy, and outreach activities.

This resource listing Includes website links to postadoption information provided by State child welfare systems as well as State-funded and State-contracted organizations. Each entry includes a brief description of the organization.

Provides an overview of Federal requirements that apply to adoptions finalized in another country by U.S. citizens. It also discusses requirements that adoptive parents must meet in their State of residence in order to gain State recognition of the adoption and to receive a new State-issued birth certificate for their adopted child. The topics addressed include recognition of foreign adoption decrees, when readoption is required by the State of residence, and applying for a State birth certificate.

Outlines the administrative framework for child welfare services across the country. The way States administer child welfare services can be classified as State administered, county administered, or hybrid—partially administered by both county and State.

This directory lists State Youth Advocacy Boards and Councils, State-based advocacy groups, and foster care alumni associations in each State. Information is provided on the name of the organization, telephone number, website, and the focus of the organization.

Highlights the adoption-related resources and services Child Welfare Information Gateway offers for both professionals and families. Child Welfare Information Gateway promotes the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families by connecting adoption and other child welfare professionals to information and resources that help them address the needs of children and families in their communities.

Describes the steps involved when a person wishes to adopt the child of his or her spouse and discusses legal issues and help for parents. The issues addressed include requirements for home studies and background checks, obtaining the consent of the child's noncustodial parent, and the process for completing the adoption. Resources for more information are included.

This brochure informs professionals and the public about the Children's Bureau's history, mission, and activities. It includes information about the Bureau's involvement in research, funding, monitoring, and special initiatives that promote safety, permanency, and well-being for children and families.

The videos showcase the experiences of two Systems of Care communities that worked with birth parents and kin-caregivers in paraprofessional roles. Additional resources include discussion guides, webinar proceedings highlighting strategies and lessons learned, and implementation resources to support the design, development, and implementation of family engagement.

This Resource Guide was written to support service providers in their work with parents, caregivers, and their children to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. The guide includes information about protective factors that help reduce the risk of child maltreatment, strategies for changing how communities support families, and evidence-informed practices. It also offers suggestions for enhancing protective factors in families, tools to build awareness and develop community partnerships, information about child abuse and neglect, a directory of national organizations that work to strengthen families, and tip sheets in English and Spanish on specific parenting topics.

This Resource Guide was written to support service providers in their work with parents, caregivers, and their children to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. The guide includes information about protective factors that help reduce the risk of child maltreatment, strategies for changing how communities support families, and evidence-informed practices. It also offers suggestions for enhancing protective factors in families, tools to build awareness and develop community partnerships, information about child abuse and neglect, a directory of national organizations that work to strengthen families, and tip sheets in English and Spanish on specific parenting topics.

This Resource Guide was written to support service providers in their work with parents, caregivers, and their children to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. The guide includes information about protective factors that help reduce the risk of child maltreatment, strategies for changing how communities support families, and evidence-informed practices. It also offers suggestions for enhancing protective factors in families, tools to build awareness and develop community partnerships, information about child abuse and neglect, a directory of national organizations that work to strengthen families, and tip sheets in English and Spanish on specific parenting topics.

This paper focuses on the placing of substance abuse specialists in either child welfare offices or dependency courts. The purpose of co-locating substance abuse specialists is to ensure that parents are assessed as quickly as possible, to improve parent engagement and retention in treatment, to streamline entry into treatment, and to provide consultation to child welfare and dependency court workers. In addition to briefly describing substance abuse specialist programs and their various components, this paper includes findings from eight qualitative interviews of programs that place substance abuse specialists in child welfare offices or dependency courts. The interviews highlight ways in which early decisions about the program's collaborative structure influence other design decisions. Understanding how design decisions are related to one another can help jurisdictions to systematically create substance abuse specialist programs that best meet their specific needs and use resources most efficiently. This information is intended to provide those interested in creating a substance abuse specialist program with valuable data on programmatic and collaborative structures, lessons learned about program design, problems or challenges faced by these programs, and how the issues were resolved. Table 1 at the end of the appendix includes a summary of key components of the programs. (Author abstract)

In 2005 -- 2006, the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) undertook a review and analysis of States' policies regarding prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs, in order to help local, State, and Tribal governments: 1. Gain a better understanding of current policy and practice in place at the State level that address substance exposed infants (SEIs); and 2. Identify opportunities for strengthening interagency efforts in this area. This study assessed State policy from the broadest perspective: prevention, intervention, identification, and treatment of prenatal substance exposure, including immediate and ongoing services for the infant, the mother, and the family. It reviewed States' policies regarding -- pregnancy prevention efforts; Screening and assessment in the prenatal period; Testing at birth and notification of child protective services (CPS) in cases in which infants are identified as substance affected; The provision of services to SEIs and their parents after a CPS referral is made or other agencies become involved; and The processing of SEI; related referrals to developmental disabilities agencies. (Author abstract, modified)

This manual provides the foundation for effective supervisory practice in child protective services (CPS). It describes the roles and responsibilities of the CPS supervisor, and it provides practice oriented advice on how to carry out supervisory responsibilities effectively. Best practices and critical issues in supervisory practice are underscored throughout. Topics include: The nature of CPS supervision; Making the transition from caseworker to supervisor; Building the foundation for effective unit performance; Building staff capacity and achieving excellence in performance; Supervisory feedback and performance recognition; Results-oriented management; Clinical supervision; Recruitment and retention; Managing from the middle; and Taking care of oneself and the unit. While the manual is designed primarily for CPS supervisors and administrators and reflects state-of-the-art management research and practices tailored to CPS, it also is relevant to all child welfare supervisors. In addition, it may be useful to child welfare agency staff who train supervisory personnel and to schools of social work as they prepare new social workers for the child welfare field. Appendices include a glossary of terms, a diagram of the child protection process, and the child protection service pyramid.

This bulletin presents an overview of child welfare supervision and explores the dimensions of supervision that agencies may want to consider as they seek to strengthen the effectiveness of their services to children and families. This bulletin is designed to provide child welfare supervisors, managers, and related professionals with examples of States' efforts to strengthen supervisory capacity and with tools and resources to enhance supervisory skills.

Summarizes the effects of early trauma on brain development and steps child welfare professionals can take to screen for developmental delays and identify the trauma-affected children and youth in their care. Looks at ways to access cross-sector, therapeutic, and evidence-based treatment to encourage healthy recovery for trauma-affected children and youth.

This report presents information gathered from a small sample of federally funded Systems of Care communities between March and October 2010. Project directors, lead family contacts, clinical supervisors, family partners, and other staff , along with representatives of partner organizations, especially child welfare, generously shared information about their approaches to policies and practices designed to support whole families -- children, youth, and parents or other caregivers. (Author abstract)

Offers information to help child welfare agency managers achieve successful reunifications. This bulletin includes a description of the benefits of supporting reunification and preventing reentries, statistics, factors that affect reunification and reentry, and relevant strategies and approaches. It also includes examples of promising practices being implemented by States and localities.

Provides information for foster parents to help them learn about LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) youth in the child welfare system, the unique risks they face, and the important role that foster parents can play in reducing those risks. The factsheet outlines specific actions that foster parents can take to create a welcoming home for all youth in their care and to promote youths' health and well-being in the community. Also included are links to many resources for more information and support.

Intended to help caseworkers, foster parents, or other caring adults understand trauma and treatment and support youth in making decisions about their mental health and using Making Healthy Choices: A Guide on Psychotropic Medications for Youth in Foster Care.

Since 1996, seven States have implemented assisted guardianship waiver demonstrations: Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Montanna, New Mexico, North Carolina and Oregon. Montanna and New Mexico's demonstrations offered a guardianship option for children in either Tribal or State custody. In two States -- North Carolina and Oregon -- assisted guardianship was one component of a larger, flexible funding waiver demonstration. The number of States implementing guardianship demonstrations reflects growing interest nationally in the use of guardianship as an alternative permanency option for some children in foster care, particularly children placed with relatives, who cannot be safly reunified with birth parentsor who cannot or do not wish to be adopted. Families may choose not to pursue adiption for many reasons, including reluctance to terminate parental rights fo rfear of the detrimental effects on family relationships, rejection of adoption by the child, and cultural opposition to termination of parental rights. (Author abstract)

Since 1996, four States have implemented substance abuse waiver demonstrations: Delaware, New Hampshire, Illinois, and Maryland. Findings from Delaware and Illinois are summarized in this report. Findings from New Hampshire are incomplete; and Maryland obtained no data on the outcomes of its demonstration. The use of the title IV-E waiver demonstrations to implement substance abuse projects reflects a growing national realization that the substance abuse issues of parents must be addressed to decrease the incidence of out-of-home placement, reduce lengths of stay of children in out-of-home placement, and reduce the cost associated with foster care. These demonstrations have provided States with the means to institute reforms and explore the extent to which child welfare systems can more effectively address safety, permanency, and well-being for children in families with substance-abusing parents.

Throughout the 1990s, several trends in child welfare services contributed to a growing interest in waivers that offer flexibility to States and local municipalities in spending Federal Title IV-E funds while limiting the total IV-E allocations available for services. Key factors that have provided impetus to the development of flexible funding waivers include growth in out-of-home placement costs, increasing complexity in the risk rofiles and service needs of children and families and Federal limitation of the use of title IV-E funds. (Author abstract)

In 2011, the Children’s Bureau published a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for Child Welfare - Education System Collaborations to Increase Educational Stability. The 17-month infrastructure-building grants were to support collaborative initiatives among State, local, or Tribal child welfare agencies and education systems to improve educational stability and permanency outcomes for youth ages 10 to 17 years in foster care.

In 2011, the Children’s Bureau published a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for Child Welfare - Education System Collaborations to Increase Educational Stability. The 17-month infrastructure-building grants were to support collaborative initiatives among State, local, or Tribal child welfare agencies and education systems to improve educational stability and permanency outcomes for youth ages 10 to 17 years in foster care.

In 2008, the Children’s Bureau published a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for Diligent Recruitment of Families for Children in the Foster Care System. This announcement identified a need for the development and implementation of national adoption and foster care strategies, data systems, interventions, and training and technical assistance to address the fact that “in 22 States, [there is] a need for more culturally diverse homes (e.g., Native American, African-American, and Hispanic)…” In addition, the FOA noted that findings related to the systemic factors in the Child and Family Services Review process revealed that “30 States had no formal process for analyzing the characteristics of the children in foster care in order to formulate a diligent recruitment plan with specific strategies for different communities based on the demographics of the children in foster care from that community. All of these findings support the need to develop more effective programs in support of placing children and youth with families who can provide permanent family connections.”

The Policy Action Guide is a capacity building tool that supports the process of identifying and advancing policy strategies to improve child welfare systems and practices. The Policy Action Guide provides a framework for thinking about child welfare policy options and initiating actions that help promote an effective policy initiative.