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The Center for States designs products, services, and learning experiences to increase understanding and awareness, and build knowledge and skills. The Center focuses its attention on developing products and resources on several core organizational and practice topics.

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The Center for States provides research assistance and responds to information requests on building capacity in child welfare.

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Showing 76 - 90 of 108 resources
Video

Emphasizes the necessity of strong community supports to create a secure and stable environment for a new kinship family. In this video, a grandparent discusses moving across the country to ensure her grandchildren could see their parents.

Publication Year 2018
Video

The video highlights the story of a kinship caregiver and how becoming a licensed foster parent working with social services and her local child welfare agency resulted in better support and resources.

Publication Year 2022
Video

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

Publication Year 2021
Video

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.

Publication Year 2021
PDF

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.

Publication Year 2019
Video

Reveals the complexity of family dynamics through the experiences of Shary, a kinship parent caring for her niece, Brianna, and grandson, Random. In the first digital story, Brianna seeks to reconnect the pieces in her family puzzle. The second digital story highlights Random's unflappable resilience despite medical challenges.

Publication Year 2020
Video

Highlights the importance of recognizing the foster family as an extension of a child’s biological family and the role of effective communication between caregivers and biological family members. This video shares the experience of one caregiver who found that successful collaboration with biological family members, along with agency assistance to promote family engagement, proved effective for family reunification.

Publication Year 2021
Video

Hear from a family about the challenges of dealing with an autism diagnosis and other issues while navigating the child welfare system.

Publication Year 2017
Video

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.

Publication Year 2021
PDF

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

Publication Year 2019
PDF

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

Publication Year 2021
Video

Addresses motivations for becoming a kinship parent and the importance of having agency guidance and support to navigate shifting family roles and dynamics. This video presents one family's transition from kinship care to adoption, and highlights resources that contributed to their success and their ability to provide permanency for their adoptive daughter.

Publication Year 2018
Video

Highlights motivating factors for caregivers serving children with therapeutic needs, including the value of caregiver support networks, continuous training, and a commitment to strengthen families within the caregiver’s community. This video shares a foster mother’s experiences collaborating with biological families toward positive outcomes for the children in her care.

Publication Year 2021
Video

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.

Publication Year 2022
Video

Illustrates the changes parents face when they decide to provide full-time care for their relative children and the benefits of different types of agency support. In this video, a kinship and adoptive parent discusses strategies she used to successfully provide stability for the children in her growing family and the importance of having agency resources to accommodate changing family needs.

Publication Year 2018