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.

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Library and Information Services

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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 196 - 210 of 231 resources
Video

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

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.

PDF

Use this brief to help your agency coordinate strategic and long-term planning, monitoring, and reporting processes—such as the Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP) and Child and Family Services Review (CFSR)—with agency continuous quality improvement (CQI).

PDF

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

PDF

Explore sex trafficking prevention best practices for implementing provisions of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183).

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.

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.

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.

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.

PDF

Get an overview of the issues related to the physical and emotional safety of child welfare workers.

PDF

Read about the value of collaboration as the key to prevention, safety, and long-term stability for children and families.

Video

Demonstrates the power of positive caregiver perspective alongside child welfare agency encouragement and support. In this video, caregivers share the concerns they had about becoming foster parents and discuss the resources that helped them become committed and effective foster parents.

PDF

Explore additional resources to learn about key considerations to sustain research and evaluation partnerships with people with lived expertise and minimize harm. 

PDF

Explore tips to help promote youth mental health and wellness services, jurisdictional highlights, and links to relevant resources and tools.

Video

This video highlights the story of a family specialist in Ohio and her experience working with families to successfully place children with kin.