What does Family First mean for families and for child welfare systems?
In this leadership Q & A, BJ Walker, director of Illinois DCFS, shares her perspectives regarding the importance of Family First.
Questions from the field
How can we prioritize constituent voice and choice to transform foster care?
Families involved with child welfare systems can offer critical insights and feedback. Learn to design systems driven by their expertise.
How does Circles of Support help keep children safe at home?
Striving to keep children safe at home, Circles of Support combines evidence-informed interventions within a culturally relevant context.
How can birth and foster parent partnerships help families reunify?
Learn how a foster parent and parent partner worked together to wrap supports around a birth mother so she could reunify with her child.
What are the four tiers of authentic family engagement?
This short video describes how child welfare agencies can operationalize the four tiers of family engagement.
Why is it important to recognize that all families have strengths and all families need support?
These brief videos talk about why it is important to recognize the strengths within each family.
Why should we bring a racial equity lens to our work with children and families?
Dr. Joia Crear-Perry explores issues of race, maternal and child health disparities, and how we can address bias in our work with families.
Why should we re-envision the child welfare system using a public health lens?
Dr. Deborah Daro, senior research fellow at Chapin Hall, outlines the goals of a public health approach to child welfare.
How are Ohio Children’s Hospitals identifying sentinel injuries to reduce child fatalities?
Dr. Jonathan Thackeray and Carrie Baker share collaborative efforts to improve pediatric practices and prevent recurrent child maltreatment.
How did Virginia safely reduce the number of children in congregate care?
This strategy brief describes the key strategies and lessons learned that Virginia employed to reduce reliance on congregate care.