Referral and Linkage to Resources

Families need assistance in identifying and accessing resources to meet basic needs and in securing community-based family support services. Child welfare and family resource and support organizations can work together to improve outcomes for families by referring child welfare clients to family resource programs and providing linkages between programs that serve the same clients. Program developers must think strategically about how an existing array of services might be augmented to form a continuum of supports and services for families. Resources include State and local examples.

Community-based Resources: Keystone to the System of Care

Author(s)	National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center for Systems of Care
Availability	View Download (PDF - 941KB)
Year Published	2009

Each of the systems of care principles has individual importance and relational value. Together, they are building blocks that form the infrastructure upon which each community's individualized system of care is built. The keystone to that infrastructure and the system of care itself is a community-based approach. This principle secures the others and allows the infrastructure to stand. Realizing that youth thrive in the context of their homes and communities, child welfare agencies and their partners can support a common or integrated case plan that is culturally appropriate, engages and involves the youth and family, is built upon the strengths of that family, and draws upon the assets of the community. This issue of A Closer Look examines the elements of a successful community-based approach to serving children and families involved with the child welfare system.

The National Parent Helpline: Strengthening Families All Across America (PDF - 319 KB)
National Parent Helpline (2011)
Highlights National Parent Helpline's comprehensive online parenting resources and a bulletin board for parents and caregivers to share their Helpline experiences in order to build community and help others.

Parents' Social Workers Help Parents Succeed (PDF - 32 KB)
Pilnik
Child Law Practice, 27(9), 2008
Profiles a social worker who works with parents in child welfare cases in the fourth Judicial District in Colorado. This federally funded program allows the parents' attorneys to hire social workers to work with parents.

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State and local examples

Bridging the Gap: Replication of Demonstrated Effective Practices in the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (Replication of Family Connections) Final Report 90CW1120
Child and Family Tennessee (2009)
View Abstract
Provides a final report describing the activities and outcomes of a federally funded program that provided community-based, in-home services designed to strengthen families through education, empowerment, and linkage to local resources for vulnerable households in Knoxville, Tennessee's Empowerment Zone.

Child Welfare Organizing Project: Community Connections: Program Evaluation Final Report (PDF - 1,096 KB)
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, Silberman School of Social Work Hunter College, & The City University of New York (2012)
Discusses findings from an evaluation study conducted in an effort to learn more about the parent organizing model implemented by the Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP) in East Harlem, New York City, and identify the role and impact of CWOP community representatives on birthparents, families, and child safety conference outcomes.

An In-Depth Study of First 5 Centers and Their Visitors: Focus Group and Family Portrait Analysis (PDF - 769 KB)
Applied Survey Research & First 5 Contra Costa Children and Families Commission (2009)
Discusses the findings of an evaluation of five family resource centers established in Contra Costa County, California, that investigated the attitudes and parenting practices of families who visited the centers, characteristics of the families, community impressions of the centers, potential enhancements to the centers, and new opportunities.

The Irreducible Needs of Families in King County (PDF - 2,694 KB)
King County Children and Family Commission (2009)
Discusses the findings of a project that investigated the essential needs of families in King County, Washington, such as good health, supportive social and cognitive environments, and neighborhoods that are safe and strong.

Mockingbird Family Model: Reports and Evaluations
The Mockingbird Society
Provides evaluation reports on the Mockingbird Family Model project sites in several States. The project establishes a hub home as a resource in a constellation of other foster families to provide support services to foster parents to sustain their efforts and to overcome their isolation.

Port Arthur HOPE: Helping Our People Excel by Building on Community Strengths and Assets
Port Arthur HOPE, Casey Family Programs, & Texas Health and Human Services Commission Center for the Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities (2011)
Describes a project that uses the Texas community engagement model and integrates strengths-based, family-centered practice into its efforts to engage the community and partner with systems to support at-risk children and families.

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