Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
A Toolkit for Working With Children of Incarcerated Parents
Created jointly by the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) within the State of Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), Health and Recovery Services Administration and DSHS' Office of Planning, Performance and Accountability, and featured on the Children's Bureau website, this web-based training toolkit provides practitioners with the skills required to respond to the needs of children of parents who are in prison or have an incarceration history.
National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues
National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues provides consultation, training, and technical assistance on all legal and judicial aspects of the child welfare system, including federal law, court improvement, agency and court collaboration, permanency planning, legal representation, and other emerging child welfare issues. The Resource Center, funded by the Children’s Bureau, is comprised of the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, the National Center for State Courts, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
The National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections at the Hunter College School of Social Work is a training, technical assistance, and information services organization dedicated to help strengthen the capacity of State, local, Tribal and other publicly administered or supported child welfare agencies in order to: institutionalize a safety-focused, family-centered, and community-based approach to meet the needs of children, youth and families. NRCPFC is a service of the Children's Bureau at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The NRCPFC is committed to providing T/TA & Information Services that are:
- Proactive
- Integrated
- Culturally Competent
- Collaborative
- Individualized
- Strength-based
- Family-centered practice
- Community-based practice
- Evidence-Based & Evidence-informed
The Adoption and Safe Families Act: Barriers to Reunification between Children and Incarcerated Parents
This information packet, developed by the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections and featured on the Children's Bureau website, addresses how certain provisions of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) create barriers to reunification for incarcerated mothers. The packet also includes information about amendments that some states have made to ASFA to address these issues, best practice tips for working with children of incarcerated parents, and other related resources
When a Parent Is Incarcerated
Developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and featured on the Children's Bureau's website, this guide provides information to public child welfare agencies and caseworkers on working with incarcerated parents and their children. Goals of the primer include familiarizing child welfare professionals with the impact of incarceration and providing information to child welfare and correctional systems to help improve permanency outcomes for children.
Report: Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and Partnering: Program Impacts Technical Report
This report presents findings on the impact of family strengthening services in four prison-based programs from the Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and Partnering and discusses the implications for policy, programs, and future research.
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.
4 Ways to Help Homeless Students Overcome Barriers to Scholarship Funding
Having a GED instead of a high school diploma, difficulty getting parental permission, lack of a GPA, and incomplete transcripts can all be obstacles that homeless students can face when seeking scholarship funding. In this blog post, Cyekeia Lee, director of higher education initiatives at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, shares strategies for youth-serving professionals who are helping students navigate the scholarship application process.
All the Pointers You Need to Help Homeless Students Finish High School--And Go on to College
This article highlighs a series of tip sheets, developed by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, which is divided into five sections which each address a different aspect of attempting to help keep homeless youth in school, including information on McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program, easing homeless youths’ paths to college, and helping homeless youth access basic services
Ending Youth Homelessness
This website developed by FYSB illustrates how the programs operated through the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act help to meet the needs of homeless youth and young adults and contribute to the goal of ending youth homelessness by 2020. It also provides information on the issue of youth homelessness and ways users can contribute to the efforts to end homelessness among youth.
Everything You Need to Know About Helping Homeless Youth Apply for Medicaid
In this article, Graham Bowman, an Equal Justice Works fellow at The Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, offers advice on encouraging and helping runaway and homeless youth to apply for Medicaid.
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.
FYSB: New Video
Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) provides news and resources related to issues such as homelessness, adolescent pregnancy, and domestic violence. Watch FYSB's new video “The Family and Youth Services Bureau — Join Us” to learn more about FYSB work and 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.
Get Ready for HUD's Point in Time Count of Young People Experiencing Homlessness
This article aims to help youth-serving professionals prepare for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's annual point-in-time count, during which estimates are made about the number of homeless youth in the community.
Keep in Touch
Young people offer advice on staying connected and living independently
Looking Ahead: Five Years to End Youth Homelessness
Four youth workers share what they plan to do in their communities over the next five years in order to meet the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness’s goal of ending youth homelessness by 2020.
National Runaway Switchboard (NRS)
The National Runaway Switchboard is a national communications system that assists youth who have run away or are considering running away and their families. With its database of more than 17,000 resources, NRS links youth and families across the country to shelters, counseling, medical assistance, and other vital services. In addition, NRS works to prevent youth from running away. By helping youth and adults resolve problems constructively, staff and volunteers diffuse escalating tensions, promote dialogue and reduce youths' desire to run away.
NCFY Voices: From Homelessness to National Spokesman
After the death of his mother when he was a teenager, Syncere started living on the streets. He then got involved with the Night Ministry, a Chicago youth program, went back to school, and now works for the organization. In this podcast from the FYSB event "Ending Youth Homelessness: A Call to Action,” Syncere shares his experiences and discusses his dream to open a 24-hour youth resource center.
NCFY Voices: Bringing Street Outreach Experience to DC's Point-in-Time Count
In this podcast, a street outreach worker in Washington, DC, discusses his experience joining 350 volunteers for the city’s annual count of people experiencing homelessness. He shares what outreach professionals who work with young people bring to this important event.
NCFY Voices: Up From Trauma
As part of FYSB's event "Ending Youth Homelessness: A Call to Action" in October 2014, multiple young people shared their personal stories and recommendations for serving youth more effectively. One of the speakers, Anthony Ross, who witnessed violence in his home as a child and ended up homeless as a teenager, shared his story of perseverance.
Piecing It All Together During National Runaway Prevention Month
This resource from the National Runaway Safeline provides ideas and resources for individuals, organizations, and communities that are planning activities related to National Runaway Prevention Month.
Primary Sources: Learning How Service Providers and Policy Makers Can Help LGBTQ Homeless Youth
This article provides information about a research review that aimed to determine directions for research, public policy, and practice related to serving homeless youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning. The article also includes potential implications of the research for policies and practices of youth-serving organizations. Researchers at Harvard Medical School conducted the research review.
Q&A: Robin Petering on Homeless Youth and Gangs
In this interview with NCFY, Robin Petering a researcher at the University of Southern California School of Social work discusses the reasons some homeless youth become involved in gangs, addressing young people’s involvement in gangs, and the high rates of trauma among juggalos, tattooed and street-named young fans of the band, Insane Clown Posse.
Research Roundup: What Leads Homeless Youth to Have Run-ins With the Law?
This article from the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth highlights three studies that identify possible risk factors for criminal justice involvement among runaway and homeless youth, including substance use, length of time living on the streets, and childhood trauma history.