Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
You For Youth
This site helps youth professionals connect and share resources with colleagues, provide professional development and technical assistance opportunities, and offer tools for program improvement. The site provides information focused on afterschool programs.
Report: Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange
This report provides information on international students studying at higher education institutions in the U.S. and students from the U.S. studying abroad. Developed by the Institute of International Education, the report shows the number of international students at colleges and universities in the U.S. increased by 7% to a record high of 1,043,839 in the 2015-16 academic year, while U.S. students studying abroad increased by 3% to 313,415 students in the 2014-15 academic year.
Children's Bureau
The Children's Bureau (CB) is one of two bureaus within the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Children's Bureau seeks to improve the safety, permanency and well-being of children through leadership, support for necessary services, and productive partnerships with states, tribes, and communities. It has the primary responsibility for administering federal programs that support state child welfare services.
Upcoming Event: November is National Adoption Month
This observance aims to increase national awareness of the need for permanent families for children and youth in the foster care system. This year’s theme, “We Never Outgrow the Need for Family—Just Ask Us,” reflects a focus on the importance of identifying permanent families for the thousands of 15- to 18-year-olds in foster care who are currently less likely to be adopted or who may age out of the system without a stable home. A new tip sheet, Talking with Older Youth About Adoption (PDF, 2 pages) provides child welfare professionals with a framework for how to talk with older youth about permanency and includes suggestions for how to make these conversations more effective.
Report: Child Maltreatment 2015
This report from the Child Welfare Information Gateway provides state-level data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System on reports of abuse and neglect made to child protective services (CPS) agencies, the children involved, types of maltreatment, CPS responses, child and caregiver risk factors, services, and perpetrators.
Resource: Engaging Youth in Foster Care
This podcast shares the perspective of a youth formerly in foster care. It provides tips to caseworkers for engaging youth in developing their case plans and identifying supportive adults in their lives. This resource can help caseworkers as they work with youth who are in foster care or preparing to transition to adulthood.
Share with Youth: Being an Engaged and Involved Teen in Foster Care
This webpage provides information to teens in foster care about their permanency options, tools to help them transition to adulthood, and how to find support from other teens who have been in foster care.
Supporting Families Impacted by Incarceration — A Dialogue with Experts
This report, developed by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Technical Assistance and Strategic Dissemination Center, is the outcome of a meeting that convened national child welfare experts on families impacted by incarceration. It features key issues around this topic for practitioners and identifies needed resources and tools to support the workforce and families, along with a practical framework of intervention points from arrest to release.
John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood
The John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (the Chafee program) provides funding to support youth/ young adults in or formerly in foster care in their transition to adulthood. The program is funded through formula grants awarded to child welfare agencies in States (including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and participating Tribes. Chafee funds are used to assist youth/ young adults in a wide variety of areas designed to support a successful transition to adulthood. Activities and programs include, but are not limited to, help with education, employment, financial management, housing, emotional support and assured connections to caring adults. Specific services and supports are determined by the child welfare agency, vary by State, locality and agency, and are often based on the individual needs of the young person. Many State or local agencies contract with private organizations to deliver services to young people.
4-H Military Partnerships
The National 4-H Headquarters, at USDA has established formal partnerships with Army Child and Youth Services, Air Force Airmen and Family Services, Army Child and Youth Services and Navy Child and Youth Programs to support positive youth development education for youth whose parents are serving in the military.
Charting the Course: Supporting the Career Development of Youth with Learning Disabilities
This Guide was developed to help youth service professionals better understand issues related to learning disabilities so that they can help youth with learning disabilities develop individual strategies that will enable them to succeed in the workplace.
Enhancing Program Performance with Logic Models
This course, from the University of Wisconsin Extension, provides a holistic approach to planning and evaluating education and outreach programs. It helps program practitioners use and apply logic models - a framework and way of thinking to help us improve our work and be accountable for results. You will learn what a logic model is and how to use one for planning, implementation, evaluation or communicating about your program.
Guideposts for Success for Youth with Mental Health Needs
The Guideposts for Success are a framework to assist the multiple organizations that need to be involved to meet the needs and improve the transition outcomes of all youth, including youth with disabilities. The guideposts discuss school-based services, career preparation, leadership opportunities, community services, and family involvement supports for youth with mental health needs. These documents were developed by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability, which is supported by funds from the Department of Labor.
Tunnels and Cliffs: A Guide for Workforce Development Practitioners and Policymakers Serving Youth with Mental Health Needs
This guide provides practical information and resources for youth service professionals. In addition, it provides policymakers, from the program to the state level, with information to help them address system and policy obstacles in order to improve service delivery systems for youth with mental health needs.
Share with Youth: Hitting the Open Road After High School
Co-written by teens for teens, this resource can help youth with disabilities (PDF, 16 pages) think about their options for life after high school. It provides information on post-graduation options and guides students in making choices that are right for them, finding activities that can help them get ready now, and accessing supportive services.
Resource: Personal Competencies for College & Career Success
This guide describes strategies postsecondary professionals can use to assist all students, including those with disabilities, to develop personal competencies that will increase their chances of success.
Resource: National Dialogue with Youth People with Disabilities
This resource (PDF, 36 pages) provides a summary of the recent online event “YouthACT Transition Truths,” which provided an opportunity for youth with disabilities, as well as allies of the disability community, to virtually share ideas about the strategies and supports that can help young people with disabilities successfully transition to adulthood.
Share with Youth: Advice to Young Adults from Young Adults: Helpful Hints for Policy Change in the Mental Health System
This resource (PDF, 8 pages) can guide youth- and young adult-led organizations that want to make policy changes in the mental health system. Developed bythe Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures and Portland State University, it contains recommendations and quotes from a series of interviews with young adult leaders from advocacy groups that focus on mental health challenges or living in foster care.
Share with Youth: Changing the Rules: A Guide for Youth and Young Adults with Mental Health Conditions Who Want to Change Policy
This policy guide, developed by Pathways RTC (Research and Training Center), is written for youth- and young adult-led groups and organizations that want to make changes in policies related to mental health and other human services that affect them and other transition-age youth. The guide is intended for use by youth and young adults working together within a group or organization to make specific change, usually in partnership with other agencies, groups, or organizations.
Cultivating Evaluation Capacity: A Guide for Programs Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence
Cultivating Evaluation Capacity: A Guide for Programs Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence (PDF, 58 pages) helps programs that serve survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence assess their evaluation capacity and identify areas of strength, as well as areas for improvement.
National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)
NVDRS collects data on violent deaths from a variety of sources, including death certificates, police reports, medical examiner and coroner reports, and crime laboratories.
National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline
The National Dating Abuse Helpline is the direct service provider behind loveisrespect.org, operating the 24/7 text, phone, and live chat services. The texting function of the Helpline allows for users to text the Helpline advocates 24 hours a day, seven days a week about anything ranging from questions about healthy dating to raising red flags about relationships. The Helpline’s peer advocates serve thousands of teens and young adults through the 24/7 phone service. Users call 1-866-331-9474 to be connected with an advocate who is trained to offer education, support and advocacy to those involved in dating abuse relationships as well as concerned friends, siblings, parents, teachers, law enforcement members and service providers. The live chat (IM-style) of the Helpline is another way for users to contact a peer advocate. They receive the same one-on-one, real-time, confidential information from a trained peer advocate as they do if they contact loveisrespect.org by text and phone.
Office of Violence Against Women
The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, provides national leadership in developing the nation's capacity to reduce violence against women through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
Teen Dating Violence
This site provides information about teen dating violence
The Halls: Web Series
Created by the Building Healthy Teen Relationships Initiative and the Defending Childhood Initiative at the Boston Public Health Commission, Division of Violence Prevention, The Halls is a web series featuring the stories of three young men living in Boston who are struggling with issues related to relationships, trauma, violence, and identity. The goal of the series is to prevent gender-based violence, promote healthy relationships among adolescents, and encourage young people to challenges the messages they have received about how to act in relationships. A discussion guide (PDF, 34 pages) is available on The Halls website which can help facilitators foster discussions around the themes of the series.