This podcast series, produced on behalf of the Children's Bureau, presents a series of interviews and group conversations intended to provide beneficial information for busy child welfare and social work professionals. The podcasts cover a wide range of topics and provide perspectives from communities served by child welfare agencies along with tips and stories from professionals about implementing new services and programs, working across agencies, and improving practice.
The podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, and SoundCloud. Subscribe to receive new episodes as they are released.
The views and opinions expressed within these podcasts do not necessarily reflect those of the Children's Bureau or the Administration for Children and Families.
Episode 40: Five Steps to a Stronger Child Welfare Workforce
Features insight and perspective from Tracey Field, director of the Child Welfare Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Episode 39: Tribal Courts and Child Welfare: Being Family Centered
Hear examples of Tribal courts partnering with families and enabling families to shape how they use Tribal child welfare and support services for rehabilitation and reunification.
Episode 38: Tribal Courts and Child Welfare: Overcoming Challenges to Working With States
Shares examples of Tribal court and Tribal child welfare agencies navigating legal and jurisdictional challenges from the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, told by Tribal social services court staff, respectively.
Episode 37: Tribal Courts and Child Welfare: Building Relationships With State Counterparts
Features successful examples from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Saint Regis Mohawk Tribes, told by Tribal social service and court leadership.
Episode 36: Foster Care: A Path to Reunification – Part 2
Explores all the partnerships, trainings, and coordination within San Diego County’s Children’s Services.
Episode 35: Foster Care: A Path to Reunification – Part 1
Shares the work of the Center for Family Life, an organization that aims to stabilize families by providing an array of neighborhood-based family and social services in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Episode 34: Tribal Courts and Child Welfare: Partnering With Tribal Social Services
Shares the stories from three Tribes strengthening their partnerships with their Tribal social services departments and agencies.
Episode 33: Tribal Courts and Child Welfare: Revising Your Children's Code
Features the challenges faced and methods used by two different Tribal courts in reviewing and updating their court’s Children’s Code.
Episode 32: Housing's Critical Connection to Child Welfare – Part 2
Continues a conversation exploring how the San Francisco Human Services Agency partnered with the San Francisco Housing Authority and the Homeless Prenatal Program to help families obtain vouchers and locate affordable housing in the Bay Area.
Episode 31: Tribal Courts and Child Welfare: Adapting to Child Welfare Cases
Shares the stories and perspectives from the Saint Regis Mohawk and Mashpee Wampanoag Tribes, told by a chief judge and chief of the Tribe’s Elders Judiciary Committee, respectively.
Episode 30: Casework: What it Really Takes
Provides future and new caseworkers guidance and tips on how to perform the work, along with examples from former caseworkers of how they managed their time, energy, and emotion.
Episode 29: Housing's Critical Connection to Child Welfare – Part 1
Explores how the San Francisco Human Services Agency partnered with the San Francisco Housing Authority and the Homeless Prenatal Program to help families obtain Family Unification Program vouchers and locate affordable housing in the Bay Area.
Episode 28: Family Group Decision-Making: Becoming a Family-Centered Agency
Features the lessons learned and experiences gained through the YMCA Families United Family Group Conferencing Program, a recipient of a 2015 Children's Bureau grant within the Building the Evidence for Family Group Decision-Making in Child Welfare discretionary grant cluster.
Episode 27: Prevention: The Power of the Parents' Voice
Features a conversation with three members of the Parent Advisory Council who discuss how agencies can identify and engage parents to share their voice and experience, how to involve parents across the entire system to improve outcomes, and the biggest ‘a-ha’ moments practitioners have when hearing parent’s stories for the first time.
Episode 26: Prevention: Stabilizing Families Through TANF
Showcases the Oregon Department of Human Services' Family Support and Connections, a Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention program.
Episode 25: Prevention: Delivering Services Through Education
Presents how the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services manages its network of Family Support Centers through its Office of Child Development and Early Learning.
Episode 24: Workforce Part 4 – Creating Change at the Local Level
Shares how frontline child welfare professionals were empowered their staff to design solutions that improved office culture, partnerships, and outcomes for the children and families they serve.
Episode 23: Prevention: Reorganizing Community Collaboratives
Details how Washington D.C.’s CFSA reorganized the contracts and the services for the Healthy Families Thriving Communities Collaborative Network, which serves the city’s diverse wards.
Episode 22: Prevention: Connections Matter
Showcases how a specific training developed by Prevent Child Abuse Iowa serves as a community-based effort to promote and build understanding, trauma-informed communities by tailoring evidence-based training to the following community sectors: early education, education, health care, faith based, and workforce.
Episode 21: Workforce Part 3 – Child Welfare Scholars
Showcases a National Child Welfare Workforce Institute university-agency partnership between the University of North Dakota Department of Social Work and the North Dakota Department of Children and Family Services.