The National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) Healthy Native Babies Project produced a workbook packet to assist in the communication of safe sleep messages through programs working in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The packet is one outreach piece the pro...

A new guide from the Annie E. Casey Foundation provides information for public child welfare agencies and caseworkers on working with incarcerated parents and their children. This primer aims to familiarize child welfare professionals with the impact of incarceration on children and provide child...

The fall 2011 issue of Child Trends' The Child Indicator newsletter summarizes findings from the latest editions of several national reports. * The 2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book reports on economic damage and how it has affected child well-being. <...

Psychopharmacology is one way to manage mental health disorders in children and youth. Yet for children in foster care, medication combined with a lack of understanding about their mental health backgrounds and trauma histories has the potential to cause more harm than good. A new policy brief pr...

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act was enacted in 2008 to connect and support relative caregivers, improve the lives of children in foster care, support Tribal foster care and adoptions, and improve incentives for adoption. Since then, the National Conference of Sta...

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) California Chapter announced two online training courses. Both courses are free and approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). * The Intersection of Immigration Law, Its Enforcement and Social Work Pra...

Upcoming national conferences on child welfare and adoption through June 2012 include: April 2012 * National Citizen Review Panel Conference April 15-17, Washington, DC <a href="http://www.uky.edu/S...

A recent study found that children and youth witnessing or experiencing one type of victimization are at much greater risk for experiencing other types of victimization&mdash;a problem known as polyvictimization. The study, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJD...

The Washington, DC, Citizens Review Panel published the findings of its examination of the Child and Family Services Agency's (CFSA's) child removal and decision-making policies. The report highlights 17 findings and seven recommendations for improvement. Between 2006 and 2010, appr...

Teens in foster care face varying challenges throughout their lives, many of which may put them at a higher risk for becoming a teen parent. Child Trends recently published a research brief, Teen Parents in Foster Care: Risk Factors and Outcomes for Teens and Their Children, which examin...

Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) is a child-centered family intervention approach that brings together family members and other significant persons to make decisions about the care and case plans for their children. While FGDM is a practical method used in child welfare to increase family enga...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) jointly fund a number of Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) programs around the country. The programs are...

As a conceptual model for improving child welfare outcomes, evidence-based practice (EBP) has created new opportunities as well as a number of challenges related to the implementation process. To address these challenges, the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC) websit...

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and Fostering Media Connections released Rescuing Forgotten Futures: An Action Guide to the Improvements Everyone Can Make to Help Foster Youth Succeed in School. The guide focuses on the correlation between child welfare experience and e...

The John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) provides States with funding to assist youth in the transition from foster care to self-sufficiency. As a part of this program, the Children's Bureau was required to establish a system to track the services States provide to foster youth...

Teen pregnancy and parenting are pressing issues within the general youth population but especially among youth in the foster care system. Nearly half of the girls in foster care have been pregnant by age 19, which is more than two-and-a-half times higher than the rate of nonfoster youth.1</...

Youth aging out of foster care are more optimistic about entering college, are less prepared to engage in college, and earn lower grades in their first semester when compared to all incoming freshmen, according to a new study published in Children and Youth Services Review. The authors o...

The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 26 (Midwest Study) presents the fifth wave of data in the longitudinal study examining how 17- or 18-year-old foster youth fared as they transitioned to adulthood. Their outcomes are compared to those...

The National Resource Center for Youth Development (NRCYD) provides training and technical assistance (T&TA) to help States and Tribes meet the needs of youth (ages 14&ndash;26) in foster care. Funded by the Children's Bureau as part of its T&TA Network, the NRCYD collects and disseminate...

The negative outcomes that are often experienced by foster youth transitioning to adulthood are documented in a new report, Young Adult Outcomes of Youth Exiting Dependent or Delinquent Care in Los Angeles County. The study focused on youth who exited care between the ages of 16 ...