How Do We Know What Works? Challenges and Opportunities for Building Evidence for Leaders and Decision Makers examines evidence-based practice from the point of view of leaders and managers, who must process information about what works or not, decide if it is credible and is having the intended effect, and assess the implications of their decision at every level of the organization. 

How Do We Know What Works? Challenges and Opportunities for Building Evidence for Practitioners focuses on the role of frontline staff as important (and discerning) consumers of evidence, critical data, and information from children, youth, and families to inform their practice. This session also addresses the role of frontline staff in continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes and as contributors to building evidence in child welfare.

This session explores how research, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement (CQI) efforts can help you strengthen practice to achieve a common goal of all child welfare professionals: becoming more effective in your work and being better able to ensure that children are safe, in healthy and intact families, and thriving.

The Power of Feedback: Being a Vocal Participant in the Process, Elevating the Voices of the Workforce, Children, Youth, Families, and Communities Presentation

Use this resource to prompt discussion and adopt a change management approach  during the development of child welfare information systems.

​​Increase awareness and understanding of the healthcare needs of children and youth in foster care, the medical services available to them, and the healthcare services available for children who return home and youth who age out of care.​ 

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

Read this resource to learn about direct financial assistance and emergency financial assistance available to young people.

Explore strategies for redesigning the child welfare service array to meet the needs of youth and young adults currently and formerly in foster care.

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

Explore sex trafficking prevention best practices for implementing provisions of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183).

Learn a research-informed framework for agencies to explore implementation of CQI systems across seven areas, including leadership support and modeling, staff and stakeholder engagement, communication, administrative structure, use of quality data, case record review process, and application of CQI findings.

Explore tips to help promote youth mental health and wellness services, jurisdictional highlights, and links to relevant resources and tools.

Listen to Indiana’s child welfare partners talk about making the shift to an upstream approach to prevention services possible in this short podcast. 

Learn about the Indiana Department of Child Services’ upstream prevention approach to training and development, expanding the service array, and collaborating with system partners and providers in this recorded webinar.