Resource Library

Examines various types of respite care services offered and provides examples of jurisdictions offering each type.

Reviews factors that affect adoption/guardianship disruption and how to respond to them, including examples from various states and jurisdictions.

The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) created this resource as a tipsheet for service providers to share with relatives/kin caring for Native children. It provides guidance to help caregivers access services, utilize them effectively, and advocate for Native children in their care.

Explains why child welfare agencies should create and maintain a comprehensive census of all children in their post‑permanency population (adoption or guardianship) and how doing so strengthens stability, service delivery, and long‑term well‑being. This brief covers the definition of post-permanency child population, how to create a census of the population, and how to use that information.

Provides key elements, distribution strategies and best practices for developing and disseminating an outreach letter and well-being questionnaire to adoptive and guardianship families. This tipsheet also includes practical tips for the outreach letter along with implementation tips for the well-being questionnaire.

Explores the impact of traumatic life events on children, including the significant risk for developing serious and long-lasting problems across multiple areas of development. Provides information about how children are far more likely to exhibit resilience to childhood trauma when child-serving programs, institutions, and service systems understand the impact of childhood trauma, share common ways to talk and think about trauma, and thoroughly integrate effective practices and policies to address it—an approach often referred to as trauma-informed care. Presents the four Rs of trauma-informed-care: Realize, Recognize, Respond, and Resist Re-traumatization.

Offers strategies for child welfare workers to develop a self-care plan to help avoid burnout.

Outlines strategies for reaching adoptive and guardianship families before they experience crises, emphasizing proactive outreach, normalizing the need for support, and offering services at various stages of their adoption and guardianship journey.    

Offers advice about ensuring that people with lived expertise receive the development and support they need as they advise, provide, develop, or lead support services for other resource families.

Provides guidance for child welfare agencies on how to track and analyze post-permanency instability specifically focusing on foster care re-entries among children who were previously adopted or placed in guardianship. This article emphasizes the importance of understanding post-permanency instability to improve services and outcomes for families. It covers such themes as the purpose of tracking, data-driven decision making and measurement approaches.