Demonstrates how showing up and listening are foundational to developing a nourishing relationship with youth. A young woman describes the constant support she and her family received from a social worker as she evolved from a youth into a teen mom and an advocate.

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.

See how listening and relatability helped build trust between a youth and his attorney.

Explore the supportive relationship between a youth and her attorney.

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

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

Illustrates the four thematic pillars necessary for organizational capacity supporting engagement with young people currently and formerly in foster care. Each of the four segments succinctly defines an element of organizational capacity building for youth engagement.

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

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.

Read about the services available under two federal programs and how to use them to improve outcomes for pregnant or parenting youth in out-of-home care.

Explore tips and strategies to effectively engage and sustain the involvement of families and youth at the agency level. 

Explore the efforts agencies, community collaborative organizations, and others are making to bring families, youth, and communities to the table as they strive to improve the child welfare system in this podcast. 

Desiree is an alumna of the foster care system. She lived with the same foster care family for 14 years. She entered foster care with three of her siblings, and wants to use her experiences growing up in foster care to make a difference for those still in the system.

Learn how supervisors and program managers can assist child welfare caseworkers in conducting quality visits with parents.

Learn to facilitate a normalcy conversation and to promote normal and developmentally appropriate experiences for youth in foster care.