Three distinct toolkits available: American Indian & Alaska Native Grandfamilies: Helping Children Thrive Through Connection to Family and Cultural Identity Both inside and outside the foster care system, American Indian and Alaska Native children are more likely to live in … Read More
Author Archives: Susan Shaffette
Academic Success for Students in Foster Care Begins with Strong Partnerships Between Child Welfare and Education Systems
July 6, 2022 | Aysha E. Schomburg, Associate Commissioner | Children’s Bureau and Ruth Ryder, Deputy Assistant Secretary | Office of Elementary and Secondary Ed The 2021-2022 school year has come to a close. As students begin their summer break, … Read More
Disrupting Stigma: How Understanding, Empathy, and Connection Can Improve Outcomes for Families Affected by Substance Use and Mental Disorders
Stigma specifically related to child abuse, neglect, and prenatal substance exposure affects the attitudes of healthcare and treatment professionals; child welfare and court professionals; social service agencies and workers; as well as family, friends, and most notably, the person with … Read More
Child Protection: Dependency Courts
Annotation This Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) In Focus fact sheet outlines programs, training, and funding to ensure that dependency court personnel have the skills to address the complex needs of children and their families who come … Read More
Adoption: Parenting in Racially and Culturally Diverse Families
Parenting in Racially and Culturally Diverse Families Parenting an adopted child of a different race or culture can be a rewarding, yet challenging, experience for all involved. When bringing a child from a different racial or cultural background into the … Read More
National Foster Care Month Resources
The annual Children’s Bureau initiative recognizes foster parents, family members, volunteers, mentors, policymakers, child welfare professionals, and other members of the community who help children and youth in foster care find permanent homes and connections. Did you know…? More than … Read More
Toolkit: How to Engage People with Lived Experience
Federal agencies have often made decisions about programs and services based on “expert” consultation. Notably missing from the list of experts have been the very families and individuals the federal program is trying to serve. More recently, agencies have become … Read More
Welcoming, Affirming, Supporting: Child Welfare Systems Must Honor the WHOLE Child
This report summarizes the lessons learned and resources from six years of work with the getREAL initiative. Understanding and acting on these lessons can help changemakers to create a welcoming and affirming child welfare system to support these youth and … Read More
Homelessness and Housing Instability Among LGBTQ Youth
Trevor Project. 2022 Executive SummaryLGBTQ youth are overrepresented among young people experiencing homelessness andhousing instability in the United States. This elevated risk of homelessness and housinginstability has detrimental effects on LGBTQ youths’ mental health. This report uses datafrom the 2021 … Read More
Recommendations for Child Welfare System Support from Youth Currently and Formerly in Foster Care
The Survey of Youth Transitioning from Foster Care (SYTFC) collected information from youth currently and formerly in foster care in two states who were at risk for human trafficking experiences based on their demographic characteristics, maltreatment allegations, and removal and … Read More