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.

Learn about the range of practices comprising the continuum of youth engagement to youth empowerment.

Discover how to examine and drill down into state data to build understanding of what’s happening in your child welfare system.

Use this assessment tool to identify strengths and areas for growth to enhance your team’s psychological safety.
 

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

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

Explore information and strategies for advancing racial equity through problem exploration.

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

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.

Listen to child welfare agency leaders in the District of Columbia, service providers, partners in community collaboratives, and sister agencies talk about how they coordinate service planning and delivery, are culturally responsive to the community, and provide seamless services to families.

Build a common understanding of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) best practices and learn how your CQI team can apply those practices as your agency works to strengthen families, deliver equitable services, and build more resilient communities.

Listen to child welfare agency leaders in the District of Columbia talk about how they work with partners to use their different data lenses to understand the needs of families and to structure a set of services to best meet the full spectrum of needs. In Kentucky, child welfare agency leaders describe the process of finding the story behind the numbers to transform their system.

Explore concepts, terms, and foundational information about psychological safety on child welfare teams.

Explore and discuss state performance on CFSR statewide data indicators.

Explore the efforts agencies, community collaborative organizations, and others are making to bring families, youth, and communities to the table as they strive to improve the child welfare system in this podcast.