Resource Library

Discusses the importance of building strong partnerships and coalitions to support kinship caregivers-relatives and close family friends who raise children when parents are unable to do so. This article emphasizes the need for trust, clear goals, and inclusivity in collaboration efforts to ensure kinship families receive essential resources. The article underscores how collective action among service organizations strengthens support systems for kinship families, ensuring their long-term stability and well-being.

Emphasizes the mental health and emotional well-being of grandfamilies, bringing attention to mental health challenges prevalent in children, caregivers and birth parents pre- and post-permanency. This report provides innovative solutions and resources to strengthen support for these families while offering policy and program recommendations for child welfare professionals.

Helps agencies offer a 12- to 16-hour curriculum designed to help caregivers understand trauma and its effects, see behaviors as symptoms of trauma, and learn how best to respond to children who have experienced trauma. Offers practical ideas to enable parents and caregivers to become trauma-informed and trauma-responsive—and thus to help children and youth heal and thrive.

Provides an overview of how Catawba County planned to implement Reach for Success, which is a structured early-outreach program designed to identify adoptive families who might be at higher risk for post-permanency discontinuity and may benefit from Success Coach post-adoption services.

Provides introductory information on brain development and how it may be affected by abuse and neglect, including the resulting emotional, mental, and behavioral impacts. Describes the implications and considerations for child welfare practice, such as prevention; early intervention; and working with caregivers, including parents, kin caregivers, foster parents, and others.

Describes causes of burnout and offer tips for leaders to help reduce the risks for their staff.

Provides numerous resources related to Child Trends’ 12th edition of its national survey of child welfare agency expenditures. Includes a detailed report, as well as an executive summary and state-level data, plus deeper dives into each funding stream.

Provides a detailed report on the results of Child Trends’ 12th edition of its national survey of child welfare agency expenditures. Presents accurate, up-to-date information on states’ financing, and on the financing-related challenges and opportunities that agencies face in serving children and families.

Examines (1) the extent to which states are reinvesting their adoption savings, (2) how the Children’s Bureau monitors these reinvestments, and (3) any challenges states face in reinvesting savings and what guidance the Children’s Bureau provides. This report analyzed state adoption savings and spending for fiscal years 2015 through 2019.

Examines how states use federal funding-including Title IV-E, Title IV-B and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-to support child welfare programs. It highlights the significant financial contributions from these sources. It also discusses the variations in state spending, eligibility criteria for assistance, and challenges in effectively using funds to provide consistent, long-term support for families.