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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB)
FYSB supports the organizations and communities that work every day to reduce the risk of youth homelessness, adolescent pregnancy and domestic violence. Learn more about FYSB programs.
Getting Staff Buy-in for a “Low-Barrier” Approach at a Youth Shelter
The Department of Health and Human Services’ National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth is featuring information on its website for individuals who work in youth shelters who want to help other staff get used to a “low-barrier” approach, meaning young people are not turned away because they have been drinking or using drugs.
Measles: What Programs Serving Children and Families Should Know
In light of the recent outbreak of measles, this resource can help the staff of programs that serve children, youth, and families to prevent the spread of the disease and provide accurate information to families.
Mental Health: The First Step to Well Being
This collection of articles from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth analyzes some of the most prominent mental health issues facing at-risk youth in order to provide youth workers with insight into the prevention and treatment of mental health challenges. Post-traumatic stress disorder, the risks and uses of psychotropic medications, and postpartum depression in teen mothers are discussed.
National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth (NCFY)
NCFY is a free information service for Community, organizations, and individuals interested in developing new and effective strategies for supporting young people and their families. Their website includes youth development resources, funding announcements for FYSB's programs, free publications, and a calendar of conferences and trainings.
Quick Health Data Online
Quick Health Data Online provides reliable, easily accessible state- and county-level health data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories and possessions. Data are available by gender, race, and ethnicity and are organized into 11 main categories, including demographics, mortality, natality, reproductive health, and mental health.
Q&A: Helping Families Protect Themselves From Recurring Trauma
Produced by the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth, this interview with Laurel Kiser, of the University of Maryland’s Family-Informed Trauma Treatment Center, discusses the potential negative effects of anticipatory stress and highlights Strengthening Family Coping Resources, a multi-week program that Kiser and her colleagues facilitate that helps families deal with recurring stressors.
Resource Roundup: Helping Youth and Families Get Affordable Care Act Health Coverage
NCFY has compiled a list of resources from federal agencies and nonprofit organizations that can help professionals guide youth and families in obtaining affordable health care through Medicaid or the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Research Roundup: What Do We Know About Hispanic Youth and Teen Dating Violence?
This article highlights recent research that analyzes dating violence among Hispanic teens. It draws from the research to provide an overview of the prevalence of dating violence among Hispanic teens, the kinds of help-seeking behavior these teens exhibit, and what makes prevention programs successful in reducing teen dating violence among this group of young people.
Read the Key Lessons of the RPG Program
“The Final Synthesis and Summary Report: Grantee Interviews” (PDF, 35 pages) captures lessons learned and stories from the Regional Partnership Grant (RPG) Program. The RPG is the broadest federal program ever launched to assist states, tribes, and communities across the nation to improve the well-being, permanency, and safety outcomes of children who are in, or at-risk of, out-of-home placement as a result of a parent's or caregiver's methamphetamine or other substance abuse.
Runaway and Homeless Youth Training and Technical Assistance Centers
This resource provides technical assistance to runaway and homeless youth programs.
Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month Resources
This page provides information about Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM), TDVAM training and awareness events, and teen dating violence–related resources for young people, educators, and youth workers.
Train Juvenile Justice Staff to Educate Youth on Sexual Health
Without other trusted adults to guide them, young men in juvenile justice facilities may turn to employees for information about sexual health, a role that these individuals may not be trained to fulfill. To answer this need, the Washington State Department of Health, through the State Personal Responsibility Education Program, provided training to juvenile justice staff to deliver evidence-based sexual health curricula to youth.
Watch: Youth Describe Their Most Meaningful Relationships
In a new video series from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth, four youth talk about the adults who helped change their lives. The first video in the series features Marcus, a former foster youth, describing how his adoptive mom has helped and supported him.
Q&A: How Trauma Affects Physical Health
This article features a Q&A with Dr. Stacy Drury, of the Tulane University School of Medicine, who co-authored a study on the physical effects of trauma on the health of young survivors. The study looked at the length of young people’s telomeres, which appear at the end of every cell and act as a marker of aging. Drury and her colleagues found that youth with a history of violence in the home and other traumatic experiences had shorter telomeres than their peers.
Q&A: How to Help Homeless Youth Quit Smoking
This Q&A with Joan Tucker, the senior behavioral scientist and professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica, California, focuses on Dr. Tucker’s work on smoking among homeless youth and her recommendations for what tailored cessation programs might look like.
Improving Attachment Between Mothers and Children
This article describes a recent study on whether new mothers dealing with past trauma would be able to develop an attachment to their babies. If the mothers could develop an attachment, the study examined if addressing the mother’s issue would help with bonding. The results show that all the mothers in the study who were dealing with past trauma had trouble bonding with others and over 75% of the mothers with unresolved trauma had insecurely attached infants. The researchers found that being in the process of dealing with past trauma can help mothers form secure bonds with their children, despite the mothers themselves having difficulty attaching to others around them.
5 Tips for Providing Trauma-Informed Sex Education
This article highlights the work of two researchers who are pioneering changes in sex education that bridge the gap between sex education and trauma-informed care by better understanding how sex education could be more sensitive to students’ traumatic experiences. This article also offers tips, based on this research, for implementing a trauma informed approach to sex education.
Slideshow: 5 Collaborations to Ensure Trauma-Informed Care for Youth and Families
This slideshow highlights five types of professionals that runaway and homeless youth program managers can collaborate with to support youth who have experienced trauma.
Brief: Developing a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System
This issue brief provides an overview of trauma and its effects, and describes some of the primary areas of consideration for state or county child welfare systems as they design and implement approaches that are more responsive to trauma.
Resource: Family-Based Approaches to Preventing Teen Dating Violence Research
This article analyzes research describing and evaluating two family-based approaches to preventing teen dating violence, Families for Safe Dates and Moms and Teens for Safe Dates.
Resource: Narrative Writing Exercises for Promoting Health Among Adolescents: Promises and Pitfalls
This resource describes a literature review that explores the potential mental health benefits and concerns of using narrative writing with youth and young adults.
Resource: Apps Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Promote Youth Sexual Health
This slideshow highlights six free apps that can help youth avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Report: Family and Youth Services Bureau Highlights in 2014 & 2015
This report shares FYSB’s key accomplishments over the past two years specifically related to ending youth homelessness, domestic violence, and teen pregnancy.
Share with Youth: Apps Promote Youth Sexual Health
This slideshow features free apps that can help youth avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. It includes a brief description of each app and a link to where it can be downloaded.