Child Well-Being

Four Ways That Courts Can Actively Engage Children and Youth Involved in Child Welfare Proceedings

Four Ways That Courts Can Actively Engage Children and Youth Involved in Child Welfare Proceedings, authored by the NCJFJC in partnership with the Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Permanency, outlines how judges and other court professionals can engage … Read More

 Family First – Title IV-E Prevention Plan Implementation Updates

Part One Watch Video The Children’s Bureau (CB) hosted a webinar to share the lessons and experiences of two jurisdictions whose Title IV-E Prevention Plans received approval from CB. The webinar’s intent was to provide child welfare leaders and their partners with … Read More

2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers

Actions for States, Communities, and Others Introduction & Purpose This document is a component of the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers (Strategy), which was developed by the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Act Family Caregiving Advisory … Read More

Immunity for Persons Who Report Child Abuse and Neglect

Among the State plan requirements for establishing eligibility for Federal grants under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, States are required to provide “immunity from civil or criminal liability under State and local laws and regulations for individuals making good faith … Read More

A Guide to Implementing Family First

WATCH VIDEO It’s really easy to get bogged down in the details and get bogged down in the legislative text. So, what we tried to achieve here was a lay person’s translation of what all this means for child welfare … Read More

Child Welfare and FFPSA

The landmark bipartisan Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) represents sweeping reforms to federal child welfare policy, and it provides significant new opportunities for states to improve the health and well-being of children of all ages, including very young children … Read More

The Mental Health and Well-Being of Multiracial LGBTQ Youth

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Multiracial youth are the fastest-growing demographic in the United States (Jonesetal.,2021; however, minimal research specifically explores multiracial youth’s mental health and well-being. Even less research explores the intersection of multiracial and LGBTQ identities, particularly among youth. The unique … Read More

The Racial Justice Organization Assessment Tools for Court

Final Report – February 2023 Executive Summary In July of 2020, the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) resolved to “intensify efforts to combat racial prejudice within the justice system, both explicit and … Read More

Highlights from a special issue of Family Court Review

Vivek Sankaran and Christopher Church turn the current “master narrative” about securing “permanency” for children on its head.  That false narrative, pushed hardest by those who hate birth parents (and yes, that’s the right word) claims that only adoption guarantees a … Read More

Federal and State Resources for Students Experiencing Homelessness

Daniel Espinoza, Michael Griffith, Dion Burns, and Patrick M. Shields Executive Summary Approximately 1.3 million public school students in the United States were identified as experiencing some form of homelessness in 2019–20. Due to their unstable living situations, students experiencing … Read More