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Child Welfare Innovations
Child Welfare systems are beginning to reimagine the role that they can play in the lives of children and families. This innovation stream focuses on new approaches around kinship care, birth parent foster parent partnerships, and well-being for children and families involved with child welfare.
Featured Resources
Birth Parent & Foster Caregiver Partnerships: A Family Systems Perspective
Grounded in family systems theory, this module explores the important relationships among birth parents, foster caregivers, and child welfare staff, along with family systems concepts that can help to make these partnerships successful. (ILM)
Caring for Kinship Caregivers
In 2018, 2.7 million children were being raised in a kinship care family without a parent present—either with grandparents, aunts/uncles, siblings, or close family friends. While kinship caregivers provide essential support to children, many frequently need support to carry out this added responsibility effectively. (47:07)
Promoting Healthy Behaviors for Kinship Caregivers
Kinship caregivers often prioritize their children’s needs before caring for their own. Learn more about kinship caregiver health and an approach to working with kinship caregivers that emphasizes self-compassion and self-care. (47:51)
Complete List of Resources
Tools and Tipsheets
- Birth Parent & Foster Caregiver Partnerships: A Family Systems Perspective
Grounded in family systems theory, this module explores the important relationships among birth parents, foster caregivers, and child welfare staff, along with family systems concepts that can help to make these partnerships successful. (ILM)
Digital Dialogue Recordings
- Birth Parent Foster Caregiver Partnerships: Taking a Family Systems Perspective
Family systems theory gives us a framework for understanding, supporting, or engaging in birth parent foster parent partnerships while acknowledging the complexity and the relational work they require. - Promoting Healthy Behaviors for Kinship Caregivers
Kinship caregivers often prioritize their children's needs before caring for their own, often delaying their own medical appointments and medication to purchase shoes for children, transportation, and food. Learn more about kinship caregiver health and an approach to working with kinship caregivers that emphasizes self-compassion and self-care. Created by a multi-disciplinary team of doctors and social workers, the Time for Me Toolkit helps peer navigators to support and provide psychoeducation to caregivers around six pillars of health management (Healthy Eating, Being Active, Healthy Sleep, Healthy Coping, Medical Adherence, and Self-Monitoring). - Caring for Kinship Caregivers
In 2018, 2.7 million children were being raised in a kinship care family without a parent present—either with grandparents, aunts/uncles, siblings, or close family friends. While kinship caregivers provide essential support to children, many frequently need support to carry out this added responsibility effectively.
