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Capacity Building

CENTER FOR STATES

Prevention-Focused Systems

The Center for States helps child welfare agencies strengthen the ability of communities to support children and families so that children can thrive at home. Explore the Center’s resources to learn more about preventing maltreatment, preventing foster care entry, and increasing child and family well-being by strengthening families in their communities before problems occur or escalate.

To assist agencies with their prevention efforts, the Center offers publications, digital resources, peer networking, and technical assistance. The Center’s resources can help states establish a vision for prevention, strengthen the prevention continuum (primary, secondary, tertiary) through collaborative partnerships, increase knowledge related to effective prevention services, and partner with youth and families to plan for a more racially equitable, prevention-oriented approach to child welfare.

Looking for resources to support your agency’s response to the FFPSA? Check out the Center’s Family First Prevention Services (FFPSA) page.

Spotlight

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Working Across the Prevention Continuum to Strengthen Families

See what an integrated, comprehensive, prevention-focused approach looks like along a three-tiered prevention continuum.

Building Capacity to Address Common Challenges
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Building Capacity to Address Common Challenges

Use this tool with your prevention planning team to prepare for and tackle the adaptive challenges that many states face as they develop and implement prevention plans. 

Becoming a Family-Focused System

Use this collection of resources to help enhance agency culture and climate, identify areas that need attention, and implement improvements.

Visioning for Prevention: Protecting Children Through Strengthening Families

Browse a collection of publications and digital resources for the information and tools you need to move toward a more prevention-focused system.

Prevention Planning Into Action

Use this collection of resources to support your agency’s prevention planning efforts.

A Look Inside Sharing Power in Child Welfare: A Podcast

Listen to this podcast series by and about people with lived experience in child welfare and about their partnerships with leaders within child welfare agencies.

Strengthening Families Through Prevention and Collaboration: Child Welfare Virtual Expo (CWVE) 2020

Explore collaborative approaches to advance prevention presented by people with lived and professional child welfare expertise. 

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#ThrivingFamilies

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

When we invest in children, we are investing in our communities. This April, help us bring attention to all the different ways we can help children and families thrive.

Learn more

Library and Information Services

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

Request Library Services

Connect With Us

Learn how we can help your agency build the capacity to thrive.

Email: capacityinfo@icfi.com 
Phone: 1.844.222.0272

Visit the Center for States' Contact Us webpage for more information.

Webinar

Developing Trusting Partnerships and Collaborating to Strengthen Families

Watch this video to learn how community-based partnerships strengthen families and see what jurisdictions are doing to build lines of collaboration and trust.

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Visioning for Prevention: Conversation Starters

Engage staff and partners with activities in this guide to start a dialogue and create a vision for a more prevention-focused child welfare system.

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Visioning for Prevention: Protecting Children Through Strengthening Families Infographic

The infographic provides a visual reference for the cultural shift needed to protect children through strengthening families.

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Working Across the Prevention Continuum to Strengthen Families

See what an integrated, comprehensive, prevention-focused approach looks like along a three-tiered prevention continuum.

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The Evidence for Strengthening Families

Read about the value of collaboration as the key to prevention, safety, and long-term stability for children and families.

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Visioning for Prevention: Vision Tracking Matrix

Helps child welfare leaders identify what they can do to advance their prevention vision and shows what they will see as that vision takes root.

Webinar

State Team Planning National Meeting Archived Webinar

Explore how child welfare agencies, legal and judicial stakeholders, prevention partners, and communities can work together to build prevention-focused systems, starting with jurisdictions' 2020–24 Child and Family Services Plans (CFSPs). 

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Service Array Data Inventory Sample Worksheet

This “Service Array Data Inventory Sample Worksheet” (Worksheet) is a companion tool to A Data-Driven Approach to Service Array Guide developed by the Capacity Building Center for States. To use the Worksheet, you can print it out and fill in the blank squares, or use the questions as a guide.

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Protective Factors and Protective Capacities: Common Ground for Protecting Children and Strengthening Families [Infographic]

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

Family Leaders in Child Welfare Community of Practice

Family Leaders in Child Welfare Community of Practice promotes collaboration among family leaders involved in the child welfare system to achieve improvement in family empowerment and positive outcomes for children, parents, and families. Members of this group include family empowerment and parent partner program leaders, other family or parent leaders engaged by state child welfare agencies, family consultants and advocates, and state and county leaders with an interest in and responsibility for increased family and fatherhood engagement and empowerment. Membership is open to interested members and must be approved by group leads.

FFPSA Prevention Plan Leads

FFPSA Prevention Plan Leads supports collaboration and learning between state leads who are responsible for supporting prevention plan development and/or implementation in their jurisdictions to meet the requirements of the Family First Prevention Services Act. Membership is currently by Children’s Bureau invitation only.

Spotlight On

April 2022 Spotlight on Helping Families Thrive

Explore resources that can help agencies respond to the FFPSA and build capacity for prevention.

CBX Article

Narrow the Front Door: Community Partnerships and Primary Prevention

Proactively trying to prevent harm to children from occurring is the focus of primary prevention, a set of strategies or programs to stop maltreatment before it happens that can be accessed by and benefit all members of the community

CBX Article

Partnering for Prevention: Centering Lived Expertise

Explore the importance of centering lived expertise in prevention. This article offers discussion prompts and resources for teams to use as they brainstorm about how to amplify lived expertise in their prevention efforts.

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Protective Factors Approaches in Child Welfare

Learn about national protective factors approaches to prevent child abuse and neglect. This issue brief is designed to help child welfare professionals, administrators, service providers, policymakers, and other interested individuals understand the concepts of protective and risk factors in families and communities and learn ways in which building protective factors can help lower the risk of child abuse and neglect now and in the future. 

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In-Home Services to Strengthen Children and Families

Most children involved with the child welfare system are not separated from their families but instead receive services while living at home. This issue brief explores effective in-home services that are being used to promote safety and help keep children and families together, as well as practical considerations for their implementation.

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National Child Abuse Prevention Month

National Child Abuse Prevention Month recognizes the importance of families and communities working together to strengthen families to prevent child abuse and neglect. Learn about this initiative month and spread the word about child abuse prevention.

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Family Preservation Programs: State and Local Examples

Find examples of state and local efforts to develop and implement family preservation services in this collection of resources collected by the Child Welfare Information Gateway.