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.

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 how data reported in AFCARS about youth who run away from state custody can be used to inform interventions.

Available on CapLEARN; registration required.
Provides a broad overview of the Child Welfare Response to Child and Youth Sex Trafficking learning curriculum and explores how the curriculum could be integrated into agency training programs.

See how coordination can improve identification, reporting, and services for youth who are victims or at risk of becoming victims of sex trafficking.

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.

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 information and get guidance about sex trafficking and identification of sex trafficking victims.

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.

Learn about resources to support child welfare agencies as they implement requirements of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113–183) that prevent sex trafficking and improve child welfare responses to trafficking victims. 

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

Underscores the importance of consistency and encouragement in trusting relationships. A Fostering Success peer mentor gave impactful advice to the youth she mentored: Stop listening to the people who don’t believe in you.

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.

Discover how the reasonable and prudent parent standard (RPPS) has been implemented in one state to promote normalcy for children and youth in foster care.