Frankie is 14 years old and lives with his sister, brothers, and moms. He and his sister were adopted when they were 2 years old and 4 years old, respectively. He loves spending time with his aunts, uncles, and cousins and loves being part of a big family.

Learn strategies for accurately and safely collecting data on LGBTQIA2S+ youth and young adults.

Listen to a foster care advocate’s mental health journey.

Hear a foster and adoptive father of African American boys talk about fighting cultural biases to support his sons’ well-being.

Shares Stephen’s story about being a community-based provider and policymaker in Florida, the need for laws that empower caregiver decision-making, creating Florida’s reasonable and prudent parent standard (RPPS), and the effect RPPS and normalcy laws can have on foster care.

Learn how to create a culturally inclusive environment by developing a welcoming, culturally sensitive, supportive, and affirming agency for all people.

Learn about the Capacity Building Center for States’ diversity, racial equity, and inclusion terms and definitions and the importance of shared language to advance equity. 

Meet the series cohosts as they talk about sharing lived expertise and power with child welfare agency leaders and staff.

Hear about the experiences of sharing power between a child welfare agency leader in Nevada and a young adult with lived expertise.

Hear how sharing power begins with building trusting relationships.

Hear a father and an agency administrator talk about what needs to be in place to make family engagement easier.

Watch this recorded webinar to learn how other jurisdictions encourage kinship care placements and then discuss kinship support with your team.

Bruce and Brenda have been married for 33 years and have four daughters. From 2006 to 2009, they provided a kinship placement for their four grandchildren. In 2010, the couple adopted Bruce (now 18 years old), Tre’Nae (now 15 years old), Mason (now 13 years old), and Kiaunna (now 10 years old).

Learn strategies to address the mental health needs of children, young people, and families.

Explore a family-focused program that embodies many of the changes that Kentucky wants to see throughout its child welfare system in this podcast. The START, program demonstrates a shift in organizational culture to focus on family and serves as an example of a truly collaborative team that uses early intervention and a shared decision-making model to work with families.