Resource Library

The Center for States designs products, services, and learning experiences to increase understanding and awareness, and build knowledge and skills. The Center focuses its attention on developing products and resources on several core organizational and practice topics.

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The Center for States provides research assistance and responds to information requests on building capacity in child welfare.

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Showing 1 - 15 of 34 resources
PDF

Find meaningful and actionable connections among your agency’s strategic planning, review, and CQI efforts using this toolkit.

Publication Year 2024
PDF

Use this brief to explore actionable strategies for meaningful partner engagement in child welfare agency strategic planning, monitoring, and review processes.

Publication Year 2022
PDF

Use this brief to help your agency coordinate strategic and long-term planning, monitoring, and reporting processes—such as the Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP) and Child and Family Services Review (CFSR)—with agency continuous quality improvement (CQI).

Publication Year 2022
Webinar

Learn how to support state planning and implementation of the reasonable and prudent parent standard (RPPS), which is required by the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113–183), to help children and youth in foster care experience normal childhood and adolescent activities. 

Publication Year 2022
Video

Explore ways that jurisdictions can integrate strategies to promote equity in continuous quality improvement (CQI) and evaluation efforts. 

Publication Year 2021
PDF

This “Service Array Data Inventory Sample Worksheet” (Worksheet) is a companion tool to A Data-Driven Approach to Service Array Guide developed by the Capacity Building Center for States. To use the Worksheet, you can print it out and fill in the blank squares, or use the questions as a guide.

Publication Year 2019
PDF

This guide is designed to support administrative leaders in states and other jurisdictions in using data to assess and identify ways to improve their service array.

Publication Year 2019
PDF

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

Publication Year 2019
Video

Listen in as parents and workers share their perspectives on the value of and approaches to improving comprehensive assessment of parents. 

Publication Year 2017
Video

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.

Publication Year 2017
PDF

Explore this tip sheet to learn about child welfare agency and court responsibilities related to APPLA provisions and strategies to achieve permanency.

Publication Year 2017
PDF

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

Publication Year 2017
PDF

Explore models and approaches for targeting safety outcomes.

Publication Year 2017
PDF

Examine a five-step framework that helps organizations promote youth engagement in normalcy conversations about the youth’s own care.

Publication Year 2017
Video

Brandon is a 21-year-old alumnus of the foster care system. He was in the foster care system for about 10 years and serves as a foster care advocate, working in State government for the last 3 years. He feels that normal activities for all youth in foster care should include getting a driver’s license, going on out-of-State and overnight trips, and participating in sports.

Publication Year 2016