Resources on Organizational Engagement and Partnership
The Capacity Building Center for States (the Center) has identified the following resources as particularly helpful to child welfare agency decision-makers in understanding and addressing organizational engagement and partnership.
Stakeholder Engagement: Tools for Action
Western and Pacific Child Welfare Implementation Center & Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (2013)
Supports the development of a strategic plan for the engagement of internal and external stakeholders at varying levels and stakeholder inclusion in data-driven decision-making and agency planning. Developed for Los Angeles County, this guide provides an adaptable framework, examples of structures that support ongoing engagement, and self-assessment and planning tools for a comprehensive engagement strategy.
Positioning Public Child Welfare Guidance: Strategic Partnerships
American Public Human Services Association (2012)
Describes the importance of strategic partnerships in achieving outcomes, dimensions and markers of successful partnerships, and key processes for their development. Part of a larger Positioning Public Child Welfare Guidance online tool, which includes a Strategic Partnerships Reflective Thinking Guide and related resources.
Strengthening University/Agency Research Partnerships to Enhance Child Welfare Outcomes
Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (2008)
Focuses on developing, assessing, and strengthening collaboration between child welfare agencies and university partners. This toolkit covers attributes of successful partnerships, funding considerations, and examples of State strategies and tools.
Strategies to Engage Birth Parent Engagement, Partnership, and Leadership in the Child Welfare System: A Review
Corwin (2012)
Casey Family Programs
Reviews strategies to engage birth parents in service delivery, develop connections between birth and foster parents, partner with birth parents to mentor other birth parents, and serve in an advisory capacity to the agency.
Parent Partner Navigator
Capacity Building Center for States (2016)
Presents strategies and resources for agencies to design and implement parent partner programs or improve existing ones. This web-based tool includes four learning domains: Assessing Needs, Readiness, and Capacity; Program Design; Program Management; and Engagement and Partnerships.
Youth Engagement Blueprint Series
Capacity Building Center for States (2017)
Describes a framework for developing organizational capacity to engage youth at the system level, including specific strategies and activities in which to include youth voice.
Family Empowerment Leadership Academy E-Learning
Capacity Building Center for States (2016)
(Available through CapLEARN; registration required)
Features e-learning modules for agency leaders and family leaders on encouraging change through family empowerment and building meaningful partnerships. This online learning package also includes a training curriculum on partnering with families at the system, agency, and practice levels and an implementation manual, which supports a structured approach to plan family engagement strategies.
Supporting Client Involvement in Implementation Teams
California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (2016)
Provides specific guidance for involving children, youth, and parents in the selection and implementation of an evidence-based practice in a child welfare setting. This 2-page brief discusses considerations for involvement before, during, and after the project.
Building and Sustaining Collaborative Community Relationships
Capacity Building Center for States (2017)
Learn the importance of effective, ongoing collaboration between child welfare agencies and community-based partners.
Culture Card: A Guide to Build Cultural Awareness: American Indian and Alaska Native
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2009)
Offers a basic orientation to American Indian and Alaska Native culture in the form of a publication the size of a playing card that folds out like a map. Intended to serve as a starting place for information, the guide provides foundational understanding of Native culture for non-Native agency staff.
Strategies to Reduce Racially Disparate Outcomes in Child Welfare
Center for the Study of Social Policy (2015)
Describes the results of a national scan of strategies used to promote racial equity among children and families involved with the child welfare system, including strategies to structure new partnerships, engage with Tribal governments, and engage community-based institutions and families within racial and ethnic communities. This guide provides specific State examples of these strategies.
The Center chose these resources based on relevance, utility, and accessibility. This collection does not address all organizational resources subdimensions. Reference to any specific product, process, service, or company does not constitute its endorsement by the Children’s Bureau.