This video is a part of the Empowering Caregivers, Strengthening Families Video Series. It demonstrates key aspects of agency support to caregivers, including the importance of quality personal contact, training, and resources to empower caregivers through the process of moving from foster parenting to adoption.

Learn about quality contacts, why they are important, and how an agency can successfully implement them.

Examines how teams can determine an approach and develop a plan for pilot testing.

Highlights the beneficial role of agency support and encouragement to caregivers in ensuring effective foster parenting and successful reunification measures. In this video, a foster parent discusses the importance of communication and trust between caregivers and biological family members, along with agency training and resources, for successful reunification.

Learn about the Youth Welfare approach, which outlines how agencies can shift from a child-focused system to a youth-focused system.

Consider ways to be intentional about advancing race equity while implementing new child welfare programs and practices. This publication includes questions for teams to consider throughout change and implementation processes—from the earliest stages of exploring a problem to identifying solutions to ensuring sustainable implementation.

Suggests examples of service provision for youth in foster care in the area of financial literacy and describes how those services can be improved using a “Good-Better-Best” continuum approach.

Assists agencies to evaluate how well the services in an area of their choice follow the Youth Welfare approach.

Describes how teams plan and develop strategies to identify and recruit pilot testing sites.

Describes the tasks of identifying sites and sequencing to have a plan for where to implement the intervention and how expansion of it should occur.

Provides an overview of essential functions for conducting usability testing where needed, determining the need for piloting a new program or intervention, and planning to stage and scale up implementation of a new program or intervention.

Explore tools, resources, and strategies to build a continuum of behavioral health care for children and youth involved with child welfare. 

Exhibits the effect of committed caregivers throughout the process of foster parenting to adoption and demonstrates the power of strong families in promoting positive outcomes and permanency for children. In this video, an adoptive parent shares her reflections on her relationship with her daughter on the day of her adoption.

Highlights some of the factors that motivate caregivers to work through challenges and to provide permanency to children in foster care. In this video, a foster parent discusses lessons learned from fostering over 50 children in her home.

This video raises key motivating factors for caregivers, including the need for strong family and community support networks.