Explore a family-focused program that embodies many of the changes that Kentucky wants to see throughout its child welfare system in this podcast. The START, program demonstrates a shift in organizational culture to focus on family and serves as an example of a truly collaborative team that uses early intervention and a shared decision-making model to work with families.

Learn about State Liaison Officers, who they are, their roles, responsibilities, and the Center for States resources available to them.

Identify data sources to explore functioning of staff and provider training.

In this episode leaders from the District of Columbia child welfare agency and a community collaborative organization discuss their longstanding partnership. The commissioner for Kentucky's child welfare agency describes the agency’s strategic communication plan and considers the role of the agency as part of the larger child welfare system.

Identify data sources to explore how well your state’s statewide information system is functioning.

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).

Use this brief to explore actionable strategies for meaningful partner engagement in child welfare agency strategic planning, monitoring, and review processes.

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

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.

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

Explore how child welfare leaders and decision makers can communicate data effectively. 

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

Explore how having access to the right information at the right time can improve assessment and decision-making at the child/family level, and how aggregate data can be used to support system improvements. 

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

Learn how continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes can improve implementation fidelity and enhance program outcomes at a child welfare agency.