Resource Library

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.

If you are interested in our series and learning experiences, please use our search bar or explore our 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 16 - 30 of 71 resources
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Use this discussion guide with the Effectiveness in Child Welfare: Our Role in Improving the Lives of Children and Families videos to access a description of each topic, individual and group reflection questions to facilitate on-demand learning, considerations for use with partners, and an action-planning tool for teams to bring knowledge into action. 

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Becoming a Workforce of Everyday Scientists: Frontline Staff in Agencies and Tribes

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Becoming a Workforce of Everyday Scientists: Frontline Staff in the Legal Community Legal Presentation

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This session is designed to explore strategies for creating an organizational culture that values feedback and incentivizes learning from data and evidence. The session highlights the importance of including the perspectives of the workforce and children, youth, and families, all of whom have an important stake in evaluation and continuous quality improvement.

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Explore resources from clearinghouse programs that propose to rate programs and services as promising and well-supported.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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

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Use this discussion guide with the Child Welfare Virtual Expo (CWVE) 2020 videos to access a description of each topic; individual reflection questions to facilitate personal, on-demand learning; and conversation starters and team activities for child welfare staff and collaborative partners.

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Use this discussion guide with the CWVE 2021 videos to access a description of each topic, individual reflection questions to facilitate personal, on-demand learning, and conversation starters and team activities for child welfare staff and collaborative partners.  

Video

This video is a part of the Empowering Caregivers, Strengthening Families Video Series. It demonstrates key aspects of agency support to caregivers, including the importance of quality personal contact, training, and resources to empower caregivers through the process of moving from foster parenting to adoption.

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Get the latest research on decision science and safety decision-making practices in child welfare to help improved safety outcomes.

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Highlights the beneficial role of agency support and encouragement to caregivers in ensuring effective foster parenting and successful reunification measures. In this video, a foster parent discusses the importance of communication and trust between caregivers and biological family members, along with agency training and resources, for successful reunification.

Webinar

Available on CapLEARN; registration required.

Watch and discuss what you hear from firsthand accounts of resource parents sharing the impact of support and collaborative partnerships when working with children, youth, and their families. Agencies can use the videos and discussion guide to explore the impact of agency staff, peer, family, and community support structures on resource parents.