{"id":31957,"date":"2022-02-07T17:25:02","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T17:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caseyfamilyv2.wpengine.com\/codesign-lived-experience-2\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T16:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T16:12:19","slug":"codiseno-de-experiencia-vivida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/es\/codesign-lived-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00bfC\u00f3mo pueden las organizaciones evaluar su preparaci\u00f3n para el codise\u00f1o?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Summary<\/h3>\n

Despite growing interest in co-designing child welfare policy with those who have lived experience, clear frameworks remain scarce. This brief explores co-design fundamentals and offers essential strategies for leaders to build authentic, meaningful partnerships.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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By Christopher Rudd, Surbhi Kalra, Justin Walker, and Justin Hayden1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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As the child welfare system and its providers, partners, and other key stakeholders become more aware of and intentional about addressing racial inequities, collective focus is necessarily shifting to strategies that promote equity, prevention, and family well-being. While recent efforts have increasingly encouraged racial equity, kinship care support, and collaboration with adjacent agencies, there is still much work to be done to repair the disproportionate harm the system has caused to Black and American Indian\/Alaska Native, and multi-racial children and families.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Prior to the 1960s, Black and American Indian\/Alaska Native children largely were excluded from the child welfare system.3<\/sup><\/a>,<\/sup>4<\/sup><\/a> Since their inclusion, children and families of color have been overly surveilled and separated, creating and perpetuating disparate outcomes. According to the Children’s Bureau<\/a>, “racial disparities exist at every major decision-making point along the child welfare spectrum.” Nationally, Black, American Indian\/Alaska Native, and multi-racial children continue to be overrepresented in the child welfare system. These children collectively make<\/a> up 19% of the total child population but 32% of children in foster care. Additionally, Black and American Indian\/Alaska Native children are more likely than others to be removed from their homes and their families,5<\/sup><\/a>,<\/sup>6<\/sup><\/a> and are more likely to have their parental rights terminated<\/a>. These outcomes highlight that racially disproportionate interactions with child welfare persist throughout the system and raise critical questions about the extent to which structural racism and decision-making biases impact these outcomes.<\/p>\n

In order to address these disparities, there has been increased interest in co-designing the future state of child welfare policy and practice with people with lived experience<\/b>. However, there is an overarching lack of understanding of how to approach co-design, including determining who should be involved, identifying equitable and authentic strategies for engagement, and clearly defining processes and methods for co-creation. This brief provides an overview of what it means to engage in co-design, and offers key considerations for leaders and other key stakeholders who want to authentically engage people with lived experience. For more information on engaging communities and individuals with lived experience through co-design, please see What are the four pillars of authentic engagement with communities and individuals with lived experience through co-design?\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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What is co-design?<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

Co-design is an approach to designing with, not for, people and communities. This approach amplifies the voices and experiences of the people closest to the needs<\/b> addressed through an engagement or initiative. It also prioritizes relationships, increases trust across all stakeholders, and uses participatory approaches<\/b> to ensure the work is guided by those most affected. Co-design actively involves all stakeholders – people with lived experience, community residents, organizations, and institutional partners – in the design process to help ensure the results meet their needs and are usable.<\/p>\n

Co-design requires sharing power with people with lived experience across the entirety of an engagement or initiative, from determining the focus of exploration, to the design, implementation, and evaluation.<\/b> It is a partnership where all stakeholders have equal opportunities to utilize their abilities, make decisions, and own responsibilities. This collaborative model recognizes the value people with lived experience bring to the work, and it challenges everyone involved in the process to provide them with meaningful opportunities to learn and develop skills that can be utilized beyond a single engagement.<\/p>\n

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What values and principles bolster ChiByDesign’s co-design practice?<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

ChiByDesign’s co-design practice is grounded in servant leadership, enabling a serve-first attitude that centers the work on empowering and uplifting those with lived experience.<\/b> For ChiByDesign, servant leadership is the core tenet of co-design, enabling it to be fully in service of and biased in support of the most affected or oppressed. It is a leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve: the servant-leader shares power, prioritizes the needs of others, and helps people develop with the intention of seeing growth in those being served.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Are you ready for co-design?<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

Before engaging people with lived experience in co-design, it is crucial to identify if the system and its actors are willing to engage in the practice of co-design. Regardless of intention, attempts at authentic engagement miss the mark and may fail if those involved are not ready to shift power dynamics, decision-making structures, and engagement strategies.<\/b> Organizations and leaders must collectively assess their readiness to co-design with people with lived experience, and address a number of key considerations before an engagement can begin in order to gain clarity and identify and resolve any foreseeable operational barriers to engagement.<\/p>\n

1. Compensation for lived expertise.<\/b> Organizations must provide equitable financial compensation to individuals and communities with lived experience, valuing their time and expertise. Expecting people with lived experience to volunteer their time, or otherwise failing to adequately and equitably compensate peers, is exploitative, particularly in the context of marginalization and systemic vulnerability (i.e. reduced or compromised ability to realize or maintain a sustainable livelihood).7<\/sup><\/a>,<\/sup>8<\/sup><\/a> Moreover, because social stigma accompanies financial barriers, it is recommended that organizations adopt a trauma-informed approach to providing compensation to people with lived experience.9<\/sup><\/a>,<\/sup>10<\/sup><\/a> Thus, leadership and other staff must create a safe space for people to bring forward their lived experiences without judgment or fear of not being compensated if their opinions and experiences differ from those of the organization.<\/p>\n

Questions for consideration:<\/p>\n