March 2023Vol. 24, No. 2A Look Inside Sharing Power in Child Welfare: A Podcast

The Capacity Building Center for States has produced a three-episode podcast series, A Look Inside Sharing Power in Child Welfare: A Podcast, that features conversations between those with lived experience in child welfare and agency leaders about how they shared knowledge and power to build trusting relationships. These podcasts highlight the successes and challenges of sharing power in child welfare and how deeper engagement of people with lived experience can improve child welfare policy and practice and, ultimately, create better family, child, and youth outcomes.

The first episode features a conversation between lived experience consultants and provides an introduction to what terms like "lived experience," "lived expertise," and "sharing power" mean in order to help create a common understanding of the concepts. The second and third episodes are centered on an in-depth conversation between two child welfare agency leaders and the hosts—two lived experience consultants—on how they have learned to share power, develop young leaders, and build trust. These episodes can be conversation starters to explore the benefits and challenges of creating deep, authentic engagement of people with live experience.