Human services agencies, schools, faith-based groups, health-care facilities, businesses, and other agencies and organizations all have a stake in helping to prevent child abuse and neglect. Working in isolation, these groups often struggle to find the resources to make an impact on the lives of children and families. Working together, they can combine resources to prevent physical and emotional harm to children, build strong families, and help communities thrive.
Use these resources to learn how community-based partners can collaborate to build successful child abuse and neglect prevention initiatives.
2021/2022 Prevention Resource Guide: Chapter 5 Embracing Community and the Wisdom of Lived Experience (PDF - 1,743 KB)
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2021)
Discusses strategies that child abuse prevention and family support agencies can use to engage more effectively with the communities and families they serve. Listening to community and family members with lived experience can improve family engagement and ultimately increase the effectiveness of services. This chapter focuses on (1) valuing community voice in program assessment, implementation, and evaluation; and (2) growing authentic partnerships with parents, caregivers, and youth.
Bring Up Nebraska: Community-Led Prevention Is Making a Difference
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau (2020)
Children’s Bureau Express, 21(7)
Describes how local communities are creating well-being systems in Nebraska through collaboration, data, and innovation.
Building and Sustaining Collaborative Community Relationships (PDF - 648 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2017)
Highlights the importance of effective, ongoing collaboration between child welfare agencies and community-based partners to strengthen assessment and decision-making, increase understanding of the family’s needs, promote communication and information sharing across systems, and provide better overall support to children and families.
Collaboration
FRIENDS National Center
Provides information and resources on Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) programs and creating effective partnerships for child maltreatment prevention. The website includes the 2018 CBCAP State Summary of Exemplary Practices.
Community Coalitions, Collaborations, Collective Impact
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
Offers a collection of resources and tools to help child abuse prevention programs align with members of the community to promote positive outcomes for children.
Coordinating Prevention Services in the Community: Episode 6 [Podcast]
Capacity Building Center for States (2020)
Highlights how child welfare agencies should work with community partners to ensure their focus on prevention services is coordinated, culturally responsive, and provides seamless services to families.
The Evolution of Hope
Casey Family Programs (2017)
Provides information and resources on 2020: Community of Hope, a framework for safely reducing the need for foster care and improving the educational, employment, and mental well-being of young people.
Faith-Based & Community Initiative (FBCI)
Commonwealth of Virginia
Provides information and resources on the Virginia faith-based community collaboration, including a partnership guide for faith-based groups, a toolkit for faith and community leaders for the opioid epidemic, and the initiative newsletter.
How Collaboration Fosters Safer Communities for Kids
Davis (2018)
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Culture of Health Blog
Provides approaches that communities can utilize to help ensure children grow up in safe and supportive environments.
Narrow the Front Door: Community Partnerships and Primary Prevention
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau (2021)
Children’s Bureau Express, 21(7)
Outlines how child welfare agencies can work with community partners to develop primary prevention initiatives and provides links to more information about working with the community.
Prevention Planning Roundtable
Capacity Building Center for States
Offers a series of videos featuring child welfare leaders sharing their experiences with prevention planning as a result of a prevention-planning roundtable. The videos show successful strategies, lessons learned, and advice from States that are developing and implementing prevention plans.
The South Carolina Foster Parent Association
Supports and addresses the needs of foster parents as they care for children who are in out-of-home care. Furthermore, the organization works to engage the community to raise awareness about the needs of children and youth involved in foster care and offer supportive services to support child and youth well-being.
Spotlight on Shifting Agency Values Toward Collaboration for Supporting Health Families
Capacity Building Center for States (2021)
Explains how successful child abuse prevention work requires collaboration with a community’s system of care and meaningful partnerships with families and youth.