Frankie is 14 years old and lives with his sister, brothers, and moms. He and his sister were adopted when they were 2 years old and 4 years old, respectively. He loves spending time with his aunts, uncles, and cousins and loves being part of a big family.

Browse the themes and key takeaways from the How We Partner With the Community to Improve Service Options podcast series.

Listen to a foster care advocate’s mental health journey.

Hear a foster and adoptive father of African American boys talk about fighting cultural biases to support his sons’ well-being.

Shares Stephen’s story about being a community-based provider and policymaker in Florida, the need for laws that empower caregiver decision-making, creating Florida’s reasonable and prudent parent standard (RPPS), and the effect RPPS and normalcy laws can have on foster care.

Meet the series cohosts as they talk about sharing lived expertise and power with child welfare agency leaders and staff.

Hear about the experiences of sharing power between a child welfare agency leader in Nevada and a young adult with lived expertise.

Hear how sharing power begins with building trusting relationships.

Hear a father and an agency administrator talk about what needs to be in place to make family engagement easier.

In this introduction to the podcast series How We Partner With the Community to Improve Service Options, agency leaders talk about the changing culture of their organizations. Leaders from Kentucky discuss their Child Welfare Transformation initiative, three transformational goals, and culture of safety.

Watch this recorded webinar to learn how other jurisdictions encourage kinship care placements and then discuss kinship support with your team.

Bruce and Brenda have been married for 33 years and have four daughters. From 2006 to 2009, they provided a kinship placement for their four grandchildren. In 2010, the couple adopted Bruce (now 18 years old), Tre’Nae (now 15 years old), Mason (now 13 years old), and Kiaunna (now 10 years old).

Learn how child welfare professionals and family leaders can use the Parent Partner Program Navigator, a web-based, interactive resource that offers guidance for designing and implementing parent partner programs at child welfare agencies.

Review the protective capacities and protective factors frameworks used to assess, intervene, and serve families.

In this episode leaders from the District of Columbia child welfare agency and a community collaborative organization discuss their longstanding partnership. The commissioner for Kentucky's child welfare agency describes the agency’s strategic communication plan and considers the role of the agency as part of the larger child welfare system.