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.

Discover how to examine and drill down into state data to build understanding of what’s happening in your child welfare system.

Use this assessment tool to identify strengths and areas for growth to enhance your team’s psychological safety.
 

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.

Browse the themes and key takeaways from the How We Partner With the Community to Improve Service Options podcast series.

Explores the first task of how to gather information on the problem statement, root cause(s), and target population and provides examples of how to apply strategies.

Learn to select, design, or adapt an intervention to address an identified problem.

Presents the second task, identifying a long-term outcome, and provides examples of how to apply strategies. Identifying a long-term outcome that is specific, achievable, and understandable helps teams establish a goal that is focused, feasible, and clear.

Watch the Change and Implementation in Practice: Overview video to learn how key steps, tasks, and concepts fit together to support your agency’s change initiatives. 

Examines the third task, developing the pathway or pathways of change to reach the long-term outcome, and provides examples of how to apply strategies. Casual links connect the root cause(s) of the problem to the long-term outcome, and “tell the story of how success will be recognized” at each level in the pathway.

Presents the fifth task, documenting assumptions and rationale, and provides examples of how to apply strategies. A clear, concise narrative can help to engage stakeholders, decision makers and potential funders in future steps to address the root cause and problems identified.

Learn about theory of change and why it is critical to implementing effective changes to improve outcomes.