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.

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.

Learn about Catherine’s journey recovering from trauma and addiction to be successfully reunified with her daughter.

Reflect on past results to inform plans for future improvements.

Explore considerations for testing, piloting, and staging new programs and practices with attention to equity and inclusion. 

Explore considerations for monitoring and evaluating new interventions and applying findings to make adjustments aligned with equity and inclusion. 

Explore considerations for equitable, inclusive, and data-driven problem exploration.

Explore considerations for planning and building capacity for equitable implementation of new programs and practices. 

Explore considerations for convening a diverse team of partners, including people with lived expertise, to support equitable change and implementation efforts.

Explore considerations for collaboratively developing an equitable theory of change.

Explore considerations for selecting, designing, and adapting effective and equitable interventions. 

Explore considerations for assessing readiness as part of an equitable and inclusive change and implementation process. 

Presents factors that may impact plans to conduct an assessment, how teams can clearly communicate the need for the readiness assessment, and what teams need to consider before conducting an assessment.

Presents the third task of team building: developing the team’s charter to set a foundation for teamwork by clarifying how the team will operate, divide responsibilities, and share in decision-making.