Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
USDA 1890 National Scholars Program
The USDA 1890 National Scholars Program is aimed at bolstering educational and career opportunities for students from rural or underserved communities around the country. The scholarship provides recipients with full tuition, fees, books, and room and board to attend one of the 1890 land-grant universities and pursue degrees in agriculture, food, natural resource sciences, or related academic disciplines. The scholarship may also include work experience at USDA.
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.
Parents’ Influence on the Health of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Teens: What Parents and Families Should Know
CDC’s DASH developed the factsheet, “Parents’ Influence on the Health of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Teens: What Parents and Families Should Know," which provides information for parents on how they can support and promote healthy outcomes for their LGTBQ teens.
The Association Between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance
The report indicates that school-based physical activity may help improve students' grades and test scores and positively affect other factors that influence academic achievement. The report also concludes that adding time during the school day for physical activity does not appear to take away from academic performance.
Ways to Influence Your Teen's Sexual Risk Behavior: What Fathers Can Do
CDC’s DASH has developed the factsheet, "Ways to Influence Your Teen's Sexual Risk Behavior: What Fathers Can Do," which offers resources and tips for dads on helping their children avoid risky sexual behaviors.
Resource: 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) Results
This survey monitors six types of health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and adults. The 2015 release includes data from the 2015 National YRBS and YRBS data from 37 state and 19 large urban school district.
Resource: Youth Online
This data access application allows users to analyze national, state, and local Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) data from 1991 to 2015. Researchers and other professionals can use this resource to filter and sort YRBSS data on the basis of race/ethnicity, sex, grade, sexual orientation, sex of sexual contacts, or site; and create customized tables, maps, and graphs, and perform statistical tests by site and health topic.
Resource: Parent Engagement
This webpage provides an overview of parent engagement in schools, a promising protective factor that has been linked to better student behavior, higher academic achievement, and enhanced social skills. It also features fact sheets and other resources on parent engagement for school districts, school administrators, teachers, other school staff, parents, and families.
Youth Advisory Councils
Youth Advisory Councils (YACs) provide ongoing advice and support to school districts on policies and practices that affect students. This webpage provides a detailed overview of Youth Advisory Councils (YACs). It describes the role YACs play in improving the schools and communities they serve, discusses how they can use data to make decisions and create action plans, and outlines the structure of a YAC.
Report: National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care Department/Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health
This report (PDF) describes National CLAS Standards implementation activities supported and undertaken by state government agencies.
A Circle of Healing for Native Children Endangered by Drugs
“A Circle of Healing for Native Children Endangered by Drugs” is a seven-part video series that highlights best practices for meeting the needs of drug-endangered youth in tribal communities. Produced in collaboration with tribal and federal partners, the videos feature testimonials and examples of cultural practices that tribal communities can use to help traumatized children who are healing from drug endangerment.
Multicultural Implications of Restorative Justice: Potential Pitfalls and Dangers
This document examines concerns practitioners of restorative justice must keep in mind when working with people from different cultures.
Office of Victims of Crime
The Office of Victims of Crime is committed to enhancing the nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and providing leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime.
Office of Victims of Crime Initiatives
The Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, provides legal assistance for victims of human trafficking and funds the Wrap-Around Victims Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project and the Services for Trafficking Victims Grant Program to sustain services in communities.
Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault
This online guide from DOJ's Office for Victims of Crime offers victim service providers, first responders, and health care providers tools to promote the understanding of, support for, and responses to transgender victims of sexual assault.
Training and Technical Assistance Center - Victims of Crime
This resource provides technical assistance to victim service providers and allied professionals.
Victims, Judges, and Juvenile Court Reform Through Restorative Justice
This Bulletin discusses the expansion of the role of victims in juvenile courts through the increased use of Restorative Justice.
SART Toolkit: Resources for Sexual Assault Response Teams
SARTs, or sexual assault response teams, can help victims of sexual assault through the maze of governmental and community agencies they interact with to receive assistance. The SART Toolkit can help communities considering developing a SART program or communities that have an established coordinated response but want to improve it.
Online Training: Building Resiliency in Child Abuse Organizations
This one-day online training identifies the five core elements of resiliency and explores how the organizational resiliency model can be implemented in victim service agencies through policies, supervisory techniques, and trainings. Continuing education unit (CEU) is offered for this training.