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.

Discover strategies to effectively integrate people with lived expertise into the child welfare workforce.

Discover ways to effectively integrate people with lived expertise into the child welfare workforce. 

Explore additional resources to help effectively integrate lived experts into the child welfare workforce. 

Explore additional resources for effectively integrating lived experts into the child welfare workforce. 

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.

Recorded webinar of youth with lived expertise and child and family serving agency leaders discussing strategies to support meaningful youth engagement and integrating family and youth voices at individual, practice, and system levels.

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

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

This video highlights the story of a school social worker in Rhode Island and her experience becoming a foster parent to a student who did not have a relative placement.

This video highlights the story of a family specialist in Ohio and her experience working with families to successfully place children with kin.

Consult this video series and companion discussion guide to get different perspectives on building trust and supporting family well-being.

This video highlights the story of a kinship specialist with the New York City Children’s Services and how she collaborates with fellow child welfare agencies in identifying kinship guardians to result in successful kin placement.

Use the guide and digital stories from this library with teams and individuals to advocate, inspire, support, recruit, train, and coach towards a better child welfare system. 

Addressed developmentally appropriate services for youth in foster care and identified best practices for Federal support of States and territories in implementing provisions of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183).