Engaging State Child Welfare
Casey Family Programs supports Idaho in its efforts to implement family group decision making, a service that gives families a chance to create and carry out a plan that will protect their child. The process respects the family’s history and cultural heritage and empowers the family to participate in the decisions that are made. Family group decision making can prevent foster care, safely reunite youth with their families, strengthen family connections and better prepare youth for adulthood.

Supporting Kinship Care
Casey Family Programs supports the statewide Kincare Coalition, a group of public agencies, private organizations and individuals that support the efforts of relatives who are raising their grandchildren, nieces, nephews and younger siblings either temporarily or permanently. Casey Family Programs has taken the lead to assist and provide resources to the Kincare Coalition, which promotes awareness of the needs of kinship caregivers by engaging communities and holding policy forums.

Preparing Youth to Leave Foster Care
Casey Family Programs’ Integrated Transition Practice Framework (ITPF) provides a focus and direction to working with older youth needing preparation to successfully transition out of foster care. We work closely with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to embed the ITPF model so older youth in state foster care are properly prepared for adulthood. Idaho also incorporates the use of Casey Life Skills, an online resource to assist case workers in developing independent living plans for older youth.

Reducing Disproportionality
Casey Family Programs provides training for state leaders to help reduce the overrepresentation, or disproportionality, of children of color in the child welfare system. Called Undoing Racism, the training educates, challenges and empowers staff to remove the institutional insensitivities and biases that result in disproportionality. Casey Family Programs has also been key in updating caseworker training to include aspects of our Knowing Who You Are, a curriculum designed to help child welfare workers understand the signifi cance of race, ethnicity and culture in their work with children in foster care.   .