This guide is designed to support administrative leaders in states and other jurisdictions in using data to assess and identify ways to improve their service array.

Learn about the range of practices comprising the continuum of youth engagement to youth empowerment.

Learn the definition and find information about normalcy and the reasonable and prudent parent standard in the PL 113-183.

See statistics on increased risks for LGBTQ youth and learn how child welfare systems can use healthy approaches when working with LGBTQ children and youth.

Explore how independent verification and validation services for title IV-E agencies are used for child welfare information systems projects.

Explore how data reported in AFCARS about youth who run away from state custody can be used to inform interventions.

Get guidance, tips, and strategies for assessing agency culture and climate. 

Use this guide for tips, and strategies concerning the critical role leadership plays in creating and sustaining positive organizational culture.

Learn the importance of effective, ongoing collaboration between child welfare agencies and community-based partners.

Reflect on past results to inform plans for future improvements.

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 equitable, inclusive, and data-driven problem exploration.