Administration for Children and Families

This article discusses the benefits of kinship care on young people’s mental and behavioral health, when compared to foster care system involvement. It discusses the role that child welfare agencies can play in strengthening kinship caregivers’ understanding of the resources and practices available to support them. Learn more.  ...

This article discusses what practitioners and agency staff can do to support young people who are experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness upon their transition out of foster care at age 18. Examples include:   build authentic relationships with young people  engage in realistic transition planning for the “gap” (the period of ...

This webpage contains resources to support state agencies in preparing for Round 4 of the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs). Resources explore how to use data, evidence, and engagement practices to examine performance and make system improvements to achieve better outcomes for children, youth, and families who receive child ...

This toolkit (PDF, 13 pages) provides resources and information to help increase recognition of adoption issues and bring attention to the need for adoptive families for teens in the foster care system. The toolkit contains graphics, sample social media posts, email signatures, and additional messaging. Learn more.  ...

This toolkit aims to help professionals working with runaway and homeless youth and domestic and sexual assault victims. The toolkit includes information and resources on the following:  Key terms and definitions  Finding common ground between services for runaway and homeless youth and victims of intimate partner violence  Sex trafficking of minors  The runaway and ...

This webpage contains videos and discussion guides to explain how and why kinship caregivers foster and adopt relative children and how to better support them.   The discussion guides include reflective activities and questions for individual coaching or to promote collaborative discussions. They also feature templates for goal setting and action planning ...

This webpage includes kinship care contacts and website links to kinship care programs and services offered by State child welfare departments, subcontracted private nonprofit agencies, and some Tribes in applicable States and the District of Columbia. Learn more.  

The redesigned National Adoption Month website is now live. The website features a sleek new look along with updated tools and resources to help partners put innovative youth engagement strategies into practice. Learn more.  

This episode is the third in the Advances in Supporting Kinship Caregivers podcast series. The episode focuses on the unique successes experienced within the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, located inside Washington State. Their success (a nearly 70-percent reduction in the number of children in foster care) is built upon strong, ...

This brief explores actionable strategies for meaningful partner engagement in child welfare agency strategic planning, monitoring, and review processes. It explores potential barriers to partner engagement, offers strategies for overcoming them, and suggests actionable steps for achieving meaningful partner engagement in these processes. Learn more.  ...