This tool is a role-playing activity, designed to help child welfare workers and supervisors become more familiar with the process of recognizing and translating buzzwords into descriptive language.

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

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

Read about the services available under two federal programs and how to use them to improve outcomes for pregnant or parenting youth in out-of-home care.

This publication looks at buzzwords in the context of words or phrases commonly used in child welfare reporting and documentation that can be subjective or carry negative connotations, and offers strategies to minimize their negative impact.

Buzzwords: Moving to Behavioral Descriptors doodle video is a short, animated video that follows a child involved in a child welfare investigation. The video describes what buzzwords are and illustrates the impact they can have on children and families. It also demonstrates how to recognize buzzwords and offers strategies for transforming buzzwords into objective, behavior-based descriptors.

Watch as Amnoni relates her experience in the foster car system, including her struggles and quest for stability and normalcy.

Desiree is an alumna of the foster care system. She lived with the same foster care family for 14 years. She entered foster care with three of her siblings, and wants to use her experiences growing up in foster care to make a difference for those still in the system.

Hear Raven's foster care story, the challenges of being separated from her brother, and the value of support.

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

Learn how to build capacity in each of four component areas to promote a culture and climate that encourages youth engagement at all levels of an organization.

Examine a five-step framework that helps organizations promote youth engagement in normalcy conversations about the youth’s own care.

Explore the four thematic pillars necessary for organizational capacity that supports engagement with young people currently and formerly in foster care.

Get practical guidance for building organizational capacity and for implementing flexible and innovate programs for youth engagement.

Learn the characteristics and results that describe the right people to engage youth and get guidance for recruiting, hiring, and retaining these employees.