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

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Showing 31 - 45 of 45 resources
Video

Emphasizes the necessity of strong community supports to create a secure and stable environment for a new kinship family. In this video, a grandparent discusses moving across the country to ensure her grandchildren could see their parents.

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

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.

PDF

Explore coaching steps and tips supervisors can use to help workers strengthen skills and meet goals.

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

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.

Video

Highlights the rewards and challenges of providing permanency and stability for relative children with differing needs. In this video, a single grandparent of five discusses her experience becoming a kinship caregiver, foster parent, and then legal guardian for her daughter's children, support the caseworker provided for her to become a certified foster parent, and the joy of watching her grandchildren thrive.

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.

Infographic

Illustrates the four thematic pillars necessary for organizational capacity supporting engagement with young people currently and formerly in foster care. Each of the four segments succinctly defines an element of organizational capacity building for youth engagement.

PDF

Explore the four thematic pillars necessary for organizational capacity that supports engagement with young people currently and formerly in foster care.

PDF

Learn about adolescent brain development, trauma-responsive care, and the importance of normalcy.

PDF

Learn the characteristics and results that describe the right people to engage youth and get guidance for recruiting, hiring, and retaining these employees.

PDF

Get practical guidance for building organizational capacity and for implementing flexible and innovate programs for youth engagement.

PDF

Learn how to build capacity in each of four component areas to promote a culture and climate that encourages youth engagement at all levels of an organization.

PDF

Explains the importance of sustained involvement of young people currently and formerly in foster care in meaningful organizational activity.