Child Welfare Information Gateway

May is National Foster Care Month. The 2024 theme, Engaging Youth. Building Supports. Strengthening Opportunities, highlights the need to create a child welfare system that authentically engages and supports young people who are preparing to leave foster care. Learn more. 

This fact sheet (PDF, 16 pages) provides information to help adoptive families support their child in developing a healthy racial, cultural, and ethnic identity and live a vibrant multicultural life. The fact sheet discusses the need for parents and families to examine their thoughts and biases and explores the importance ...

This guide engages child welfare agency staff and partners with activities to start a dialogue and create a vision for a more prevention-focused child welfare system. Learn more. 

This webpage contains a collection of resources to help enhance agency culture and climate, identify areas that need attention, and implement improvements. The webpage features tips and strategies for improvement and examples from child welfare staff, agencies, stakeholders, and family leaders. Additional resources are provided. Learn more.  ...

This podcast episode features a discussion between a father and a child welfare agency administrator about how to make family engagement easier. The podcast explores how authentic engagement of people with lived experience can benefit parents, agencies, and improve outcomes for families, children, and youth. Learn more.  ...

This brief (PDF, 20 pages) reviews the eligibility pathways that enable children and youth in foster care to receive Medicaid or other health-care coverage. The brief provides resources to help young people understand their health-care options and to help child welfare agencies assist children, youth, and families in accessing health-care ...

This bulletin (PDF, 31 pages) provides a brief overview of racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system. The resource describes practices that child welfare caseworkers, administrators, program managers, and policymakers can implement to address these issues in general and at specific decision-making points along the child ...

This guide (PDF, 20 pages) explores how caseworkers can identify and support young people who have been victimized and those with risk factors for future victimization. The guide provides background information about trafficking, strategies to identify and support victims and potential victims, and links to tools and resources that can ...

These videos encourage child welfare teams to reflect on the connections between racial equity and child welfare practice, engage in discussions, and use Center resources to take action. Each video is paired with a related discussion guide. Learn more. 

This webpage includes cultural competence, cultural humility, and responsiveness resources to help agencies, their professionals, and families better understand and communicate effectively with individuals across various cultures. Learn more.