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.

Learn about a framework for applying safety science to promote a culture of safety in child welfare agencies.

Learn about the practice and systemic changes Hawaii, Indiana, and Westchester County, NY, made in partnership with their youth and young adult partners.

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.

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

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.

Hear about the youth-led projects of the Division X Technical Assistance project in fiscal year 2022.

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.

Shares Molene’s story about becoming the primary caregiver for her four nieces, raising them, adopting them, negotiating the child welfare system, and creating a family.

Bruce and Brenda have been married for 33 years and have four daughters. From 2006 to 2009, they provided a kinship placement for their four grandchildren. In 2010, the couple adopted Bruce (now 18 years old), Tre’Nae (now 15 years old), Mason (now 13 years old), and Kiaunna (now 10 years old).