Child Welfare Archives - Page 3 of 12 - National Wraparound Initiative (NWI)

Best Practices in Child Welfare: Resources

June 13, 2022 | NWI

The Children’s Bureau has selected a series of resources on best practices in child welfare. These resources demonstrate how prioritizing the placement of children and youth in foster care with biological family, or kin can help transform the child welfare system into one that truly supports families and maintains connections. This includes an emphasis on family finding and other child-specific recruitment strategies, best practices for family engagement, and licensing relative caregivers who understand their unique ability to partner with parents to support reunification. These resources also highlight the positive impact that culturally appropriate trainings and services and equitable supports to kin caregivers can have on placement stability and permanency outcomes for children and families.

View resources »

Child Welfare Publications in Spanish

April 4, 2022 | NWI

The Child Welfare Information Gateway provides an index of its Spanish-language publications. Most of these are factsheets for families.

View the publications »

Shadow Foster Care

January 21, 2022 | NWI

Over the past decade, states have increasingly institutionalized “hidden” foster care, when caseworkers persuade parents to send their children to live with someone they know, often by threatening a foster placement if they refuse. Unlike the foster system, this shadow system is not designed to protect children or to support caregivers.

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Parents Billed for Costs of Foster Care

January 21, 2022 | NWI

A recent investigation found that it’s common in every state for parents to get a bill for the cost of foster care. Those bills can bury parents in debt and make it harder to create the stable home they need to get their children back – and to keep them from being taken again.

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Evidence for Culturally Specific/Responsive Programs in Child Welfare

January 21, 2022 | NWI

Children and families of color are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system. This brief provides an overview of 10 culturally specific and two culturally responsive programs and services designed by tribal communities and communities of color and the evidence for each.

Read the brief »

Fear of Coming Out for LGBTQ+ Youth in Foster Care

November 14, 2021 | NWI

This editorial in USA Today argues that, for many LGBTQ+ young people living in foster care, celebrating their identity openly could have dire consequences. It is fear of these consequences that silences LGBTQ+ young people and creates an invisible population that is overrepresented in foster care.

Read the editorial »

Family First Planning and Implementation Toolkits

October 17, 2021 | NWI

These toolkits are designed to help jurisdictions capitalize on the opportunities provided under the Family First Prevention Services Act. Part 1 focuses on planning and readiness, and Part 2 focuses on implementation and change management.

Access the toolkit »

Preventing Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Involvement

September 12, 2021 | NWI

This report explores a variety of approaches to prevention, hoping to promote “upstream” efforts and work across systems and in partnership with youth, families and communities in a new and impactful manner.

Read the report »

Youth Experiences of Institutional Placements in Foster Care

September 12, 2021 | NWI

This report shares the stories and insights of youth with lived experience in foster care and institutional placements, and provides their perspectives on reforming or ending these living situations.

Read the report »

Washington State Moving Toward Abolishing Foster Care

July 10, 2021 | NWI

Poor outcomes and disproportionate impacts on kids of color have propelled a once-fringe idea into the mainstream in Washington state.

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