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 about various instruments used to measure well-being for program, case planning, and evaluation purposes.

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

See how coordination can improve identification, reporting, and services for youth who are victims or at risk of becoming victims of sex trafficking.

Shares Stephen’s story about being a community-based provider and policymaker in Florida, the need for laws that empower caregiver decision-making, creating Florida’s reasonable and prudent parent standard (RPPS), and the effect RPPS and normalcy laws can have on foster care.

Find information about using collaborative practices and models across human service systems to better serve families dealing with co-occurring issues.

Get the latest research on decision science and safety decision-making practices in child welfare to help improved safety outcomes.

​​Increase awareness and understanding of the healthcare needs of children and youth in foster care, the medical services available to them, and the healthcare services available for children who return home and youth who age out of care.​ 

Learn strategies to address the mental health needs of children, young people, and families.

Defines prepermanancy services for prospective adoptive and guardianship families and raises awareness about the need for more prepermanency services supports alongside postpermanency supports.

Find out where evidence-based programs and services are being implemented to prevent children from entering foster care.

Explore promising practices in pregnancy, parenting, and prevention services and view practice examples, including evidence-based programs, in-home services, and specialized units.

Review the protective capacities and protective factors frameworks used to assess, intervene, and serve families.

Read this resource to learn about direct financial assistance and emergency financial assistance available to young people.