Child Welfare

Supporting a Positive Racial Identity for Black, Indigenous, and Other Children of Color in Transracial Placements with White Parents

Part 1: Setting the stage This guide is designed to help parent group leaders facilitate discussions with their groups about their responsibilities as they parent children of color. These discussions will specifically help white parents and caregivers understand their critical … Read More

Supporting the School Readiness and Success of Young African American Boys Project: Reflections on a Culturally Responsive Strength-Based Approach

The Office of Head Start (OHS) is committed to programming that reflects culturally responsive, strength-based practices for ALL children birth to five and their families. Quality programming in Head Start and other early childhood programs incorporates knowledge of and respect … Read More

When Forced Marriage and Human Trafficking Intersect

What is Forced Marriage? Forced marriage occurs when one or both parties do not or cannot give consent to be married and in which there is force, fraud, or coercion. This coercion can manifest as physical, emotional, psychological, cultural, or … Read More

Rethinking Protection: Raising the Bar on Legal & Economic Protections for Survivors & Children

The legal structure that undergirds child welfare creates challenges to the safety and well-being of survivors of domestic violence and their children. Mandatory reporting creates a vast surveillance system of low-income children and families, who are disproportionately Black and Indigenous … Read More

An Approach to Mandatory Child Abuse Reporting in Cases of Questionable Confessions

Introduction The hypothetical case introduces the complex ethical and legal implications of physicians as mandatory reporters when treating patients with mental illness. When a patient with reality challenges (e.g., psychosis, mania, or delirium) endorses having sexual contact with minors, how … Read More

Rethinking Protection: Innovating to Advance Safety, Well-being, and Justice

Child welfare system responses to families experiencing domestic violence (DV) and child maltreatment are based largely on the premise that children need to be rescued from the parent(s) who have “failed to protect” them. This understanding of the problem justifies … Read More

Rethinking Protection: Keeping Domestic Violence Survivors Out of Child Welfare

In many states, mandated reporters are trained to report any and all concerns about a child’s exposure to domestic violence (DV) to the child protection system. Even in states where reporters have somewhat more discretion, child protection systems accept large … Read More

SNAP Benefits to Change in October: Here’s Who’s Impacted

SNAP recipients need to prepare for some major changes this month. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits low-income Americans and helps them access healthy foods each month. Specific SNAP maximum allotments, deductions and income eligibility change each year in line with the beginning of the … Read More

Coordinating Integrated Prevention Approaches to Serve the Whole Person

OVERVIEW Supporting families and individuals means understanding that their needs are complex, interrelated, and affected by the particular opportunities available in their environments. Integrated service approaches to prevent homelessness or involvement in systems like child welfare may be best positioned … Read More

Case Studies in Supporting Prevention Through Human Services Program Integration

OVERVIEW Human services have an opportunity to build and enhance people’s strengths and resilience by shifting services from responding to crises like eviction to preventing these crises by reducing risk factors, promoting protective factors, and creating the safety and stability … Read More