How can pre-petition legal representation help strengthen families and keep them together?
Preventive legal representation is an effective upstream intervention that can help families keep children safely at home.
Strong families
We believe that every child deserves a safe and permanent family. Leaders from the field routinely ask questions about how to support practices and policies that strengthen permanency outcomes and reduce re-entries into care. The documents featured here reflect responses to inquiries about best practices for helping children safely return to permanent, loving homes and remain there.
What are some examples of effective family search and engagement?
Learn about effective family search and engagement strategies for locating relatives and fictive kin for children in out-of-home care.
Is there an association between home evictions and child welfare engagement?
Learn from a study that examines the relationship between home evictions, child maltreatment reports, and foster care entries.
How can child protection agencies use telehealth to increase service access for children and families?
Explore how telehealth can give children and families involved in child welfare access to essential physical and behavioral health services.
What strategies support pregnant and parenting teens in foster care?
Learn about effective strategies and programs that meet the unique needs of pregnant and parenting teens in foster care.
How can families affected by substance use disorder safely stay together?
Investing in healing interventions for families affected by substance use disorder can promote recovery and mitigate family separation.
How can the child welfare system help youth and families access needed technology?
Learn about resources to help connect youth in foster care and their families with needed technology.
What are some strategies that prioritize first placement of children with a family?
Explore strategies for prioritizing placement of children with kin or in family settings, when out-of-home care is necessary.
What are some strategies for engaging fathers in child welfare?
Explore strategies for child protection agencies to strengthen their engagement with fathers involved with child welfare.
What supports can benefit kinship caregivers in families affected by substance use disorder?
Learn how the child welfare system can support kinship caregivers whose families are affected by substance use disorders.
Why should child protection agencies engage and involve all fathers?
Explore why it is important for child protection agencies to involve and engage with fathers and how barriers to doing so can be addressed.
How does academic achievement differ for children in kinship vs. non-kin out-of-home care?
Explore how math and reading scores compare among elementary school children in various out-of-home placement settings.
What are some developmentally appropriate interventions for infants and children affected by prenatal substance exposure?
Learn about evidence-based strategies to mitigate effects of prenatal substance exposure and support children across developmental stages.
Can Medicaid be leveraged as a sustainable source of prevention funding for family resource centers?
Learn how San Francisco uses Medicaid Administrative Activities (MAA) as a federal funding source to support its family resource centers.
What are some evidence-based interventions to prevent and mitigate the effects of prenatal substance exposure?
Learn about evidence-based strategies to mitigate effects of prenatal substance exposure during prenatal, birth, and postpartum periods.
How is the practice of hidden foster care inconsistent with federal policy and harmful to children and families?
Learn how the practice of hidden foster care practice can cause harm to families and why it should be avoided.
How can Plans of Safe Care help infants and families affected by prenatal substance exposure?
Learn about strategies for implementing Plans of Safe Care for infants with prenatal substance exposure.
How can we end the need for group placements in child welfare?
Explore four principles that child welfare agencies should consider as they work to end the need for group placement settings.
What should every child protection agency do to ensure that children are placed with kin?
Explore three key principles to learn how child protection agencies can make placing children with kin caregivers a universal practice.
What are kinship navigator programs?
Learn about the key elements of kinship navigator programs, jurisdictional examples, and evaluation outcomes.