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.

Learn about negotiating boundaries, communication, support, and normalcy from a young person formally in foster care and her adoptive parents.

Explore additional resources for engaging individuals with lived experience as advisors for groups, committees, boards, and more.

Explore strategies to engage individuals with lived experience as advisors for groups, committees, boards, and more. 

Explore additional resources to learn how to accurately and safely collecting data on LGBTQIA2S+ youth and young adults.

Learn strategies for accurately and safely collecting data on LGBTQIA2S+ youth and young adults.

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.

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.

Use this discussion guide with the CWVE 2022 videos to view a description of each topic, access individual reflection questions to facilitate personal, on-demand learning, and explore conversation starters and team activities with child welfare staff and collaborative partners.   

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.

Find family engagement strategies for survivors, children, and perpetrators of domestic violence.

Learn to facilitate a normalcy conversation and to promote normal and developmentally appropriate experiences for youth in foster care.

Learn about how Jamall reunified with family members and enjoyed family cookouts and holidays with the help of Jennifer and the Family Finder program through Kinnect Ohio.

Hear a first-hand account of a kinship and adoptive mother raising her nephew, fulfilling roles as both aunt and primary caregiver.

Hear about the challenges and successes and how Donaniece is teaching her grandson the meaning of family.