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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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The Center for States provides research assistance and responds to information requests on building capacity in child welfare.

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Showing 1 - 11 of 11 resources
Video

Watch this recorded webinar to learn how other jurisdictions encourage kinship care placements and then discuss kinship support with your team.

Video

Addresses the importance of being open to agency supports and the necessity of self-care in working through family transitions. In this set of digital stories, Jammie, a kinship parent caring for her niece's children, reflects on family connections and supportive services.

Video

Underscores the importance of community connections and ongoing supports to child and family well-being. In this set of digital stories, a grandmother, Joan, promotes the idea of “surround-sound parenting” for her adopted grandson, Chad.

Video

Relays the highs and lows of Josh, a young adult with a passion to help children in foster care. While poised for success as he graduates college, Josh meets challenges later in life after the loss of critical supports. In this video, Josh points to trauma-informed strategies that build youth resilience and help create “reserves” for when crises hit.

Video

Describes strategies to change staff attitudes, engage families in developing their case plans, and keep children in foster care connected with their families and community. Rosa, the parent partner, shares how she joined the team, what she does in her role, and how the workgroup is helping the agency improve the support and services provided to families.

Video

Tells the story of Melissa and her two sons, David and Emilio, following their adoption. This set of digital stories underscores the need for connections, educational supports, and post-adoption services.

Video

Shows strategies for child welfare staff to work with the court system to support family involvement. Joe, the Court Improvement Program lead, talks about his experience in the workgroup and the corresponding changes made in the court system to improve the support and services provided to families.

Video

Describes practices that embed and sustain changes in organizational culture. Caseworkers Tyler, Angela, and Laurence and program manager Francie talk about all the changes in the past year that have shifted the culture to better support families.

Video

Reveals the complexity of family dynamics through the experiences of Shary, a kinship parent caring for her niece, Brianna, and grandson, Random. In the first digital story, Brianna seeks to reconnect the pieces in her family puzzle. The second digital story highlights Random's unflappable resilience despite medical challenges.

Video

Presents strategies to promote engagement and support of families and kin, and describes the importance of continuous feedback. Steven, the kinship navigator, shares how he joined the team, what he does in his role, and what the workgroup is doing to help the agency improve the support and services provided to families.

Video

Uncovers staff attitudes and beliefs that stand in the way of becoming family focused. Francie, the agency's foster care program manager, has a conversation with two new caseworkers and discovers a disconnect between what the agency promotes through its vision and mission and what is actually happening in practice.