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  • Trauma-Informed Practice in Child Welfare
  • Building Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Systems

Building Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Systems

The following resources help administrators and managers implement changes in policies and procedures and work collaboratively with other service providers to make child welfare systems more trauma informed. Resources include State and local examples.

Advancing Trauma-Informed Care Within and Across Child-Serving Systems
Brennan, Guarino, Axelrod, & Gonsoulin (2020)
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Presents a guide, in partnership with the American Institutes for Research, for child welfare agencies and community partners to develop a multisystem, coordinated response to child trauma. The guide concludes with recommendations for practice improvement.  

Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2020)
Guides caseworkers and supervisors in implementing trauma-informed language and practices into organizational culture.

Creating Trauma-Informed Systems
National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Provides explanations for the importance of trauma-informed child and family service systems and includes resources.

How Can Investigation, Removal, and Placement Processes Be More Trauma-Informed?
Casey Family Programs (2018) 
Describes how the processes of investigation, removal, and placement into out-of-home care are traumatic events for children and families and how child welfare agencies should explore ways of minimizing trauma. 

Recommendations for Trauma-Informed Care Under the Family First Prevention Services Act
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2020)
Details provisions in the Family First Prevention Services Act that require trauma-informed approaches in casework practice and provides recommendations for better understanding Family First.

SAMHSA's Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2014)
Presents a working concept of trauma and a trauma-informed approach that is acceptable and appropriate across an array of service systems. This paper utilizes research, practice, and survivor knowledge to generate a framework for improving the capacity of multiple service systems and public institutions to better address the trauma-related issues of their communities.

Trauma Informed Child Welfare Systems—A Rapid Evidence Review
Bunting, Montgomery, Mooney, MacDonald, Coulter, Hayes, & Davidson (2019)
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(3)
Reviews various implementation strategies designed to create trauma-informed practices at State and local child welfare agencies.

Trauma-Informed Innovative Practices: Insights From Children’s Bureau Discretionary Grantees on Addressing Trauma in Child Welfare
Murphy & Ingoldsby (2020)
James Bell Associates
Highlights common approaches, successes, and lessons learned from 20 Children’s Bureau discretionary grantees that received funding to identify and support children in the child welfare system who are impacted by trauma. The report highlights the grantees’ activities and innovations across five core programmatic components: universal screening, functional assessment, child- and system-level monitoring, service array expansion, and data-driven implementation.

What Is a Trauma-Informed Child and Family Service System?
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2016)
Details essential components of a child and family service system that incorporates trauma-informed practices.

What Steps Can Our Agency Take to Become More Trauma Informed? 
Casey Family Programs (2018) 
Explores how child welfare agencies can become more trauma informed in all areas of practice. The article outlines strategies for becoming trauma informed and lists the benefits of doing so, including increased retention of staff and higher workplace satisfaction. 

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State and local examples

Building a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System: A Blueprint (PDF - 13,834 KB)
Supreme Court of Texas Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families (2019)
Presents strategies for building a trauma-informed child welfare system. The report covers topics such as culture, collaboration, youth and family voice, training, and more. The training section highlights the importance of trauma-informed training that is high quality, culturally competent, and reflected in organizational culture.

Multiplying Connections
Health Federation of Philadelphia
Offers tools to help organizations build trauma-informed systems of care that respond to children suffering from trauma in ways that "do no further harm."

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Spotlight On

The Importance of a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System
Child Welfare Information Gateway
(2020)

Resource Guide to Trauma-Informed Human Services

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (2017)

Policy Issues

National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Why Should Child Protection Agencies Become Trauma-Informed?

Casey Family Programs (2018)

Related Content

Disaster Preparedness & Response

Interagency and Cross-System Collaboration

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Building Trauma-informed Systems

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