The FELA resources listed on this guide can be used alone or together to help agencies build individual, team, and agency capacity to engage and collaborate with families.

Explore the supportive relationship between a youth and her attorney.

Reveals how advocating for youth makes a difference in system change and in the advocates’ own lives. The Director of Policy and Advocacy at NMCAN and a youth advocate talk about their shared experience in testifying as expert witnesses for state legislative committees and how it created a strong bond between them.

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

Learn about the importance of successful collaboration and engagement for implementing prevention-focused systems.

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.

Highlights the advocacy work of state and regional youth leadership councils. Two paid regional and state youth specialists and the Texas Director for Transitional Living Services describe how including youth voice by providing them a “seat at the table” at the state capital enhances the child welfare system. All three discuss the rewards and personal impact of their work.

Explore strategies for developing a comprehensive community prevention framework across all levels of prevention.

Tells the story of the relationship, initially forged over a shared meal, between a youth and her CASA worker. The CASA worker’s advocacy for concrete supports to meet the youth’s needs helped grow the trust in their relationship.

Explore the process of transitioning to a prevention-focused child welfare system from several perspectives, including those of a mother and son with lived experience and leaders who set the tone and direction for putting families at the center of child welfare work.

Gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of effective collaboration and how to avoid pitfalls when implementing partnerships for primary prevention.

Examine the benefits of engaging youth voice in practice, peer support, and system-level change.

Use the four domain areas of the Parent Partner Program Navigator to learn the key components of designing and implementing successful parent partner programs.

Tells the story of the relationship between a youth in foster care and a BraveLife peer navigator. Both talk about the personal sharing and mutual trust that have forged a connection that will last a lifetime.

Explore resources related to the Becoming a Prevention-Focused System: Conversation With National Experts video.