When agencies, families, and community partners work together, they can more effectively promote the well-being of the children and parents they serve and increase the chance of keeping families together.
Family Empowerment and Leadership Academy (FELA) resources can help managers, supervisors, frontline staff, and family leaders:
- Build a shared understanding of what empowering families looks like in practice
- Invest in collaboration, shared leadership, and meaningful partnerships
- Work with families to create sustainable change
- Provide peer-to-peer support
- Collaborate with parent partners and family leaders
- Prepare for implementing agency- and system change, including sustainability, and using data and evidence-based practice
Use these resources to build foundational knowledge about family empowerment and engagement, see examples of real-life strategies, and spark conversation with staff and stakeholders.
Do You Need a Quick Overview of the FELA Resources?
Read the User’s Guide to Family Empowerment Leadership Academy (FELA) Resources to learn about the FELA resources offered by the Center for States and ways they can be used singly or together to improve family empowerment and engagement. Share it with your colleagues to start a conversation about ways your agency can improve collaboration with families.
Would You Like to Build a Foundation for Family Engagement?
Use the FELA E-Learning Modules (available in CapLEARN; registration required) individually or in groups to prepare managers, supervisors, frontline staff, and family leaders to work together through shared leadership, knowledge, and experience to create systemic change in child welfare.
Do You Want to Improve Shared Knowledge and Skills Around Collaborating With Families?
Implement the 2-day, in-person Family Empowerment Training Curriculum (available in CapLEARN; registration required) to help child welfare agency managers, supervisors, frontline staff, and family leaders establish foundational knowledge and skills. Agency staff and family leaders can co-facilitate this curriculum to model the collaborative partnership described in the training.
Are You Implementing an Agency-Wide Family Engagement Initiative?
Used together with the FELA e-learning and curriculum, the FELA Implementation Manual (available in CapLEARN; registration required) can help you plan, implement, evaluate, and sustain agency family engagement and empowerment programs or initiatives.
See User’s Guide to Family Empowerment Leadership Academy (FELA) Resources for more information.
Additional Center for States Resources
The Center for States has identified additional resources to complement the Family Empowerment Leadership Academy. Select the category below to access the resources that best fit your needs.