November 2022Vol. 23, No. 9Print issueSpotlight on National Adoption Month

The AdoptUSKids Minority Professional Leadership Development (MPLD) program recently graduated its fourth cohort of minority leaders. The MPLD program is a 12-month fellowship that aims to improve diverse representation of minority leaders in child welfare through professional leadership development. The graduating group of 13 fellows, representing 11 states in both public and private sectors, gathered in Washington, DC, during September for the momentous occasion.

Over the course of 3 days, fellows had the opportunity to present their action research project findings to members of the Children’s Bureau, AdoptUSKids, and their peers. The research projects represented a challenge fellows identified within their respective agency, the intervention designed to address the issue, and a detailed explanation of their implementation process. These projects reflected the fellows’ commitment to pursuing systemic change and covered a range of topics. “Collectively, you all have touched on each one of the Children’s Bureaus priorities,” said Aysha E. Schomburg, Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau.

All the presentations were placed on the AdoptUSKids YouTube channel so they can continue to be reviewed and utilized to improve child welfare systems across the Nation. The following are examples of the cohort's presentations:   

• "Transracial Adoption Conversations (TRAC) Coaching Model: Engaging Caregivers Adopting or Fostering Transracially in Conversations on Race Over the Lifespan"
• "The Value of Partnering With Youth in Foster Care: An Assessment Tool Developed Solely by Youth in Foster Care"
• "Young Adult Readiness"

In addition to providing fellows with hands-on experience, mentorship, and exposure to national experts, MPLD connects participants to a network of emerging minority leaders. MPLD now has an alumni base of 59 fellows, and that number continues to grow with each cohort of transformational leaders. The next cohort will begin in January 2023. 

More information about the MPLD program is available on the AdoptUSKids website.

The Children's Bureau funds several technical assistance centers to provide professionals with tools to better serve children, youth, and families.

The following are some of the latest resources from these partners:

Child Welfare Information Gateway
Home Visiting [Webpage update]
Assessing Community Strengths and Needs [Webpage update]
Rural Child Welfare [Webpage update]

Visit the Child Welfare Information Gateway website for more.

Child Welfare Capacity Building Center for States
Inventory of Innovations Series
Spotlight on What Do Kinship Caregivers Need?

Visit the Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative website for more.

FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention
“Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience Framework (ACE|R)” [Webinar]

Visit the FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention website
for more. 

Children's Bureau Learning & Coordination Center (CBLCC)
“Engaging Parents Around Newly Approved Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccines and Building Vaccine Confidence” [Digital dialog]
“Children's Bureau Champion Awards: Honoring Outstanding Work in Support of Children and Families” [Video]

Visit the CBLCC website for more. 

AdoptUSKids
“I Was Adopted Into the Perfect Family for Me” [Blog post]
“Recruiting Foster and Adoptive Families of Color: Stories and Strategies From Leaders of Color in Child Welfare” [Webinar]
Supporting a Positive Racial Identity for BIPOC Children in Transracial Placements: A Discussion Guide

Visit the AdoptUSKids website for more.

National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN)
Rockwool-Duke Global Child Welfare Database [Dataset]
State Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Policies Database 2021 [Dataset]
State Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Policies Database 2019–2021 [Dataset]

Visit the NDACAN website for more.

National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI)
“Centering Child Welfare Worker Well-Being” [Infographic]
“How Peer Support Can Reduce Burnout and Improve Worker Well-Being” [Infographic]

Visit the NCWWI website for more.

National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW)
Engaging Parents and Youth With Lived Experience: Strengthening Collaborative Policy and Practice Initiatives for Families With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
“Meeting the Moment: How Child Welfare & Substance Use Disorder Treatment Professionals Can Address the Needs of Adolescents at Risk of Suicide” [Webinar]

Visit the NCSACW website for more.

James Bell Associates
Finding Opportunities to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences in the Wake of the Opioid Crisis [Webpage]
Reflective Supervision: A Planning Tool for Home Visiting Supervisors

Visit the James Bell Associates website for more.

Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse
New Ratings Available From the Prevention Services Clearinghouse 

Visit the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse website for more. 

 

A recent research paper, Improving Human-AI Partnerships in Child Welfare: Understanding Worker Practices, Challenges, and Desires for Algorithmic Decision Support, explores child welfare workers’ experiences with using artificial intelligence-based decision support (ADS) tools at a public child welfare agency. These tools are increasingly being used in public sector agencies to augment human decision-making in high-stakes social contexts.

 

The paper presents findings from a series of interviews and inquiries at the Office of Children, Youth and Families in Allegheny County, PA, regarding their use of ADS tools. Specifically, investigators looked into how the workers’ reliance upon ADS tools was guided by their knowledge of contextual information beyond what the artificial intelligence model captures, their beliefs about the tool's capabilities, organizational pressures, and awareness of misalignments in decision-making objectives.  

 

The ADS tool used at this specific agency augmented the human decision as to whether to investigate a call alleging abuse or neglect. However, most of the workers interviewed expressed that the ADS tool plays a relatively minor role in their overall decision-making processes. In addition, most workers knew very little about how the tool works, what data it relies on, or how to work with the tool effectively.

 

Based on the findings, researchers provided the following design implications for agencies using or implementing ADS tools:

 

• Support workers in using their expertise to improve an ADS tool's performance.
• Design training tools that support workers in understand the boundaries of an ADS tool's capabilities.
• Support open, critical discussion around the tools.
• Provide workers with balanced and contextualized feedback on their decisions.
• Codesign measures of decision quality with the workers.
• Communicate how decision-making power should be distributed among workers and the ADS tool.
• Support diverse stakeholder involvement in shaping ADS tool design.

 

The findings also highlight opportunities for further research into how ADS tools are used in child welfare and other decision-making contexts.

 

More information is available in the research paper, Improving Human-AI Partnerships in Child Welfare: Understanding Worker Practices, Challenges, and Desires for Algorithmic Decision Support. 

The Reconnecting Youth project, which is sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aims to determine what programs and practices are available to support young people who experience disconnection from school and work during the transition to adulthood. It developed a compendium of programs that provides an overview of 78 programs that address this issue. The project also issued a report that analyzed program characteristics and practices.

 

The following are some of the key findings:

• Program characteristics: The programs are mostly provided through nonprofits operated by community-based organizations, and most receive public funding.
• Outcomes targeted: For education outcomes, programs mostly focus on basic skills gains, high school completion, and postsecondary education enrollment. For employment outcomes, programs mostly focus on short-term outcomes, such as job placement and readiness.
• Services provided: Most programs provide both secondary and postsecondary education services as well as both work-readiness services and job-placement supports.
• Program implementation practices: Common practices across the programs include support services for overcoming barriers, youth development practices, community partnerships or collaborations, and racial equity practices.
• Data collection and evaluation: Almost all programs reported that they collected data, but only a minority were part of a formal study or evaluation.

 

More information on the analysis, including recommendations for further research, is available in the full report, Responding to Young People: An Analysis of Programs Serving Young People Not Connected to School or Work.  

 

A full list of programs included in the compendium is available on Youth.gov.

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Written by the Capacity Building Center for States

This National Adoption Month, we have an opportunity to center permanency efforts on the recognition that all children and youth deserve an intentional and individualized approach to a lifetime of love and support, regardless of their age or circumstances.

Gather a team of agency staff, youth, and family members to think about the challenges and possibilities you face in moving toward flexible, youth-centered permanency planning. Start by asking yourselves “What would it take to ensure that every permanency plan from conceptualization to implementation is driven by and reflective of youth priorities?” Then, review the questions and ideas below as you create a plan for action.

Youth-Centered Concurrent Planning

Every youth should have the opportunity to define permanency for themselves and to have a plan that reflects their unique permanency goals.

Discuss the following questions with your team as you identify the steps your agency will take to ensure youth-centered concurrent permanency planning:

• What policies and practices currently limit our opportunities to engage in concurrent, multitrack permanency planning for all youth?
• How will we ensure all permanency plans are driven by youth priorities for legal and relational permanency?

• • How will we ensure youth are driving permanency planning from the very beginning? Is permanency planning approached as a series of ongoing conversations rather than a “one and done” process?
  • Are we remaining flexible as youth priorities change over time? Youth may define their priorities for permanency differently at age 13 than they would at age 20.
  • What needs to happen for permanency plans to reflect youth priorities instead of agency priorities? For example, is adoption on the table for all who want it? Is relational permanency a part of every plan? Are relationships with families of origin and kin (including fictive kin) facilitated for all youth who want them?
  • How can we ensure permanency plans for youth in special populations—such as youth with disabilities and youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, or other diverse identity—are structured to achieve permanency in the way they prioritize?

Ideas for Action and Tips for Success

Bring a team of youth together to review the agency’s permanency planning policies and practices to ensure they reflect youth priorities, including the following:

• Engaging youth reviewers in a meaningful and psychologically safe way so they can share their perspectives honestly
• Ensuring a feedback loop is in place so youth can see how their input informed changes in policy and practice

Check out Strategies for Authentic Integration of Family and Youth Voice in Child Welfare to find tips for engaging youth in system-level and agency-level efforts.

Support for Relational Permanency

While youth may have different priorities and perspectives about legal permanency, everyone should have lifetime access to a strong, supportive network of people who love them.

Discuss the following questions with your team as you consider the steps your agency will take to strengthen relational permanency for all youth:

• How will we ensure all youth are connected to a large network of supportive adults (e.g., fictive kin), regardless of legal permanency?
• How will we facilitate a relationship between youth and their family of origin if youth desire it?
• How will we ensure youth are driving the permanency process at all stages?

Ideas for Action and Tips for Success

Invite supportive adults identified by youth into the permanency planning process and use the following strategies:

• Engage youth and supportive adults as partners in the process. Being invited to the table is not enough. They need the freedom to set (and define) the table.
• Engage a neutral third-party facilitator with skills and expertise in youth-driven permanency planning. 

Check out The Role of Leaders in Engaging Youth and Families to Achieve Timely Permanency for Children and Youth Waiting to Be Adopted and Supervisor Toolkit: Engaging Youth and Families to Achieve Timely Permanency for Children and Youth Waiting to Be Adopted for approaches to engaging youth in individual permanency planning.

Authentic Relationships

Centering youth voice in permanency planning requires strong relationships based on trust.

Discuss the following questions with your team as you consider the steps your agency will take to facilitate authentic relationships and shared decision-making in permanency planning:

• What needs to happen for casework to be centered around building authentic relationships?

• • How can caseworkers’ time be freed up to focus on building relationships?
  • How can caseloads be adjusted to ensure time for caseworkers to adequately engage in thoughtful permanency planning?
  • How does the agency’s culture facilitate meaningful relationships with youth and families?

• What steps will your agency take to center and prioritize lived expertise?

• • How are lived expertise and diversity infused throughout the case, peer, and agency levels?
  • What kinds of pathways to employment exist in your agency for people with lived expertise?

• What steps will your agency take to ensure the workforce is reflective of the youth you serve?

• • How do your agency's hiring practices strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion?
  • What other diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging policies and practices are in place?
  • Are agency staff well versed in cultural awareness and culturally inclusive practices?

Ideas for Action and Tips for Success

Pair youth with peer mentors who have their own experiences with permanency and ensure the process includes the following:

• Supporting and compensating peer mentors for their work
• Ensuring youth have opportunities to explore different types of permanency and their own permanency priorities and goals with their peer mentor
• Integrating peer mentorship into the permanency planning process

Check out the Menu for Youth Engagement series to learn more about developing peer mentoring programs.

A recent brief from Casey Family Programs, How Can Child Welfare Systems Apply the Principles of the Indian Child Welfare Act as the "Gold Standard" for All Children?, discusses the many ways that the principles of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) can be applied to child welfare practice with nonnative children, youth, and families.

 

ICWA was passed by Congress in 1978 to protect American Indian and Alaska Native children and families in response to mass family separation across the country. Technically, the law only applies to child welfare cases involving members of federally recognized tribes. However, the core values and principles of the act reflect current child welfare best practice by requiring efforts to keep children connected to their families, communities, and cultures.

 

The brief explores four key principles inherent in ICWA and provides considerations to help agencies apply the principles to support the permanency and well-being of all children, youth, and families.

 

• Principle 1: Children’s right to their families and communities. ICWA specifically promotes children’s rights to be connected to their extended family, elders, community, and culture and has a higher standard to prevent removal than other child welfare statutes.

• Principle 2: Active efforts to preserve and reunify families. ICWA’s requirement of active efforts to maintain or reunify children with their families is a higher standard of engagement than title IV-E’s requirement of reasonable efforts.

• Principle 3: Valuing inclusive and diverse cultural practices. These practices require child welfare professionals to critically analyze assumptions about which family structures or communities best support child well-being.

• Principle 4: Authentic engagement with tribes. Meeting families where they are, beyond the walls of child welfare agency offices, can help build cross-cultural understanding.

 

For each principle, the brief includes questions for child welfare agencies to encourage discussion about how to apply the principle outside of just ICWA contexts. Read the full brief, How Can Child Welfare Systems Apply the Principles of the Indian Child Welfare Act as the "Gold Standard" for All Children?, for more information.

Many families that come to the attention of the child welfare system have experienced trauma necessitating a visit to the hospital emergency room. The Oregon Health Authority, in consultation with families who have experienced crisis situations with their own children, developed a guide to equip parents and caregivers with the information and skills needed to advocate for their loved ones in a health-care setting.

Using the insights and lessons learned by families with lived experience, the publication also aims to empower parents and caregivers to voice their concerns, be proactive in finding and accessing information and services, understand patient and family rights, and more.

Information is organized into 12 easy-to-read sections that address topics such as the following:

• What to expect at the emergency department
• What to know before you leave the hospital
• What to do when you are not satisfied with services
• Release to other levels of care
• Safety planning at the hospital
• Confidentiality
• What youth want parents and caregivers to know
• Dealing with grief and trauma

The guide concludes with a list of and links to additional resources and a glossary of terms.

Advocating for Your Loved One During a Crisis: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers While at the Hospital Emergency Department is available on the Oregon Health Authority website.

 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of grandparents raising grandchildren has grown to nearly 3 million. For older Americans who live on fixed incomes and lack sufficient disposable income, caring for their grandchildren can be financially challenging. One form of support that may be available to families caring for young children (age 5 and younger) is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a federally funded program administered by states that provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, makes referrals to health care, and more.

A factsheet from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) developed for WIC providers highlights the important role grandparents raising grandchildren can play in utilizing WIC in their communities, and it provides two recommendations aimed at helping those in need overcome barriers and maximize participation in the program:

• WIC partners should integrate WIC resources and referrals into agencies and programs serving grandparents raising grandchildren.
• WIC agency programming and practices should facilitate the inclusion of grandparents raising grandchildren.

FRAC is a national nonprofit organization working to improve the nutrition, health, and well-being of people affected by poverty-related hunger in the United States through advocacy, research, training and technical assistance, public education, and more.  

Parenting Done Differently: Parents With Disabilities, a podcast series from the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW), explores how parenting can be done differently and how professionals can best support parents with disabilities. The podcast series is hosted by Marjorie Aunos, a clinical psychologist, author, and researcher who works with parents with intellectual disabilities. She also has experience as a parent with disabilities herself. So far, the podcast has an introduction and five episodes, with a sixth expected to be released soon. Each episode provides resources with additional information.

 

To listen to the podcast and access links to additional resources, visit the podcast’s page on the CASCW website.

Upcoming conferences and events on child welfare and adoption include the following:

November

Advancing EDI for a More Perfect Union [Workshop]
Social Current
November 1, 8, and 15 

Adoption in the 21st Century: Ethical Practice in a Changing World [Virtual event]
National Council for Adoption
November 2 

18th Annual "Fatherhood Is Leadership" National Conference
Native American Fatherhood & Families Association
Mesa, AZ, November 2–4

Strengthening Families Conference [Virtual]
Family Education & Support Services
November 3–4

“Race & Racism: How Are Children of Color Doing in Our Child Welfare Systems?” [Webinar]
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children
November 9

Trauma-Responsive Parenting Strategies for Parents and Professionals Conference [Virtual]
North American Council on Adoptable Children
November 9

“An Overview of The Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI): A Brief, Evidence-Based Early Intervention for Traumatized Children and Families With Carrie Epstein” [Webinar]
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children
November 10

2022 CQI Conference  
Illinois School of Social Work, Children & Family Research Center
Champaign, IL, November 15–16

"Supporting Safe and Effective Investigations Through Training Labs" [Webinar]
Social Current
November 29

December

“21st-Century Child Welfare Research Agenda Series” [Webinar]
Social Current
December 1

Living the Protective Factors [Workshop]
Be Strong Families
December 5–6

“21st-Century Child Welfare Research Agenda Series” [Webinar]
Social Current
December 6

“Listening to What Voters Want for Children” [Webinar]
Brazelton Touchpoints Center
December 7

ZERO TO THREE LEARN Institute
ZERO TO THREE
San Diego, CA, December 7–8

“Integrating Race, Power, Privilege & Perspective Into Child Protective Services” [Webinar]
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children
December 9

2022 OJJDP National Tribal Youth Conference
Tribal Youth Resource Center
San Diego, CA, December 13–15