Highlights the importance of recognizing the foster family as an extension of a child’s biological family and the role of effective communication between caregivers and biological family members. This video shares the experience of one caregiver who found that successful collaboration with biological family members, along with agency assistance to promote family engagement, proved effective for family reunification.

Explore how caseworkers, supervisors, and stakeholders can use data and feedback to improve child welfare practice. 

Explore how child welfare leaders and decision makers can communicate data effectively. 

Explore how child welfare leaders, managers, and supervisors can motivate their staff to use data and evidence in their everyday practice. 

Explore how frontline child welfare professionals can use data and evidence in their everyday practice. 

Explore the role of all staff as discerning consumers of evidence. Learn how data and information from children, youth, and families can be used to inform practice at every level of the organization. 

Explore how research, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement efforts help strengthen practice and increase effectiveness in child welfare. 

Learn to prepare transgender children and youth for court and support them in the courtroom.

Develop a better understanding of customized congregate care and learn about implementing the FFPSA provisions in congregate care QRTP assessment.

The journeys of children, youth, and families in child welfare are seldom a straight line. Typically, there are highs and lows and winding paths in between

Use this discussion guide with the Child Welfare Virtual Expo (CWVE) 2020 videos to access a description of each topic; individual reflection questions to facilitate personal, on-demand learning; and conversation starters and team activities for child welfare staff and collaborative partners.

Explore actions that can lead to building authentic, collaborative, and prevention-focused child welfare systems.

Explore the need for involving multiple voices in developing and implementing prevention plans, as well as the important role courts play in prevention.

Learn to be more intentional about creating opportunities to relate to the staff and families you serve and to infuse more empathy into your agency.

How Do We Know What Works? Challenges and Opportunities for Building Evidence for Practitioners focuses on the role of frontline staff as important (and discerning) consumers of evidence, critical data, and information from children, youth, and families to inform their practice. This session also addresses the role of frontline staff in continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes and as contributors to building evidence in child welfare.