Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Human Services
The Office of Human Services in the Bureau of Indian Affairs promotes the safety, financial security and social health of Indian communities and individual Indian people.
Native American Traditional Justice Practices
“Expert Working Group Report: Native American Traditional Justice Practices” (PDF, 35 pages) summarizes discussions and recommendations from a meeting about federal efforts to support the use of traditional Native American justice interventions to respond to criminal and delinquent behavior. The meeting was held in April 2013 and included 14 experts from multidisciplinary communities.
Resource: Native One Stop Website
This website provides a one-stop shop for American Indians and Alaska Natives to access resources available from the federal government. Users can complete a prescreening questionnaire to determine their eligibility criteria for resources and programs and learn how to apply. Resource categories include youth, education, food, employment, loans, and environment.
Resource: Updated Model Indian Juvenile Code
This resource (PDF, 3 pages) serves as a framework to help tribes interested in creating or enhancing their own codes that focus on juvenile justice. This model code encourages the use of alternatives to detention and confinement while focusing on community-based, multi-disciplinary responses to juvenile delinquency, truancy, and child-in-need services.
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.
National Center for Safe Routes to School
The National Center for Safe Routes to School assists states and communities in enabling and encouraging children to safely walk and bicycle to school. The National Center serves as the information clearinghouse for the federal Safe Routes to School program. The organization also provides technical support and resources and coordinates online registration efforts for U.S. Walk to School Day and facilitates worldwide promotion and participation.
Videos: Reminding Kids About Street Safety Ages 5-18
Pedestrian Safer Journey has created videos for multiple age groups that can help teach young people about pedestrian and bike safety. Each video is accompanied by a quiz or discussion and resources for educators. Access materials on pedestrian safety for ages 10-14 and 15-18 and resources on bike safety for ages 10-14 and 15-18.
Internet Safety: 2014 Resource Guide
This guide features short descriptions and links to multiple organizations, programs, publications, tools, and other resources related to internet safety, as well as subtopics like cyberbullying, sexting, self-harm, and suicide.
Military Homefront
MilitaryHOMEFRONT is the Department of Defense website for official Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP) program information, policy and guidance designed to help troops and their families, leaders, and service providers. Whether you live the military lifestyle or support those who do, you'll find what you need!
Curriculum: Updated Runaway Prevention Intervention
The National Runaway Safeline updated the Let’s Talk: Runaway Prevention Curriculum with new topics, resources, and activities. This free, evidence-based curriculum includes 14 modules on topics ranging from communication and listening to the realities of running away to strategies youth can use to reduce stress.
Report: New Partners in the Fight Against Trafficking
This report examines multiple youth programs that are working to prevent human trafficking and support survivors. It also provides guidance for providers who are working with young human trafficking survivors who have recently exited abuse.
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.
Guidance: Education Department Reiterates — Title I Funding Can Be Used to Serve Homeless Students
This article explains the guidance provided in a recent “Dear Colleague” letter (PDF, 4 pages) issued by the Department of Education which explains how school districts can use Title I funds to help children and youth experiencing homelessness. Some examples of ways districts can use the funds are to transport homeless students to and from school, pay the salaries of staff who work with homeless youth, and to generally meet the needs of these students.
Research: Does Sexual Orientation Affect Teen Pregnancy Risk?
This article describes a study that used data from the 2005, 2007, and 2009 New York City Youth Risk Behavior Surveys to understand how sexual orientation affects high-school students' risk of getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant. Results show that a young person’s sexual orientation and the gender of their sexual partners was strongly linked with risk of getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant, suggesting that adolescent pregnancy prevention efforts focused exclusively on heterosexual young people may be too narrow.
Resource: 5 Resources to Support and Empower Teen Parent Slideshow
This slideshow highlights five campaigns and organizations that focus on the strengths and needs of young parents and provides links to additional resources on supporting parenting teens.
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: 5 Ways to Serve Traveling Street Youth
This blog post provides five tips for youth-serving professionals on working with traveling youth, also known as transient youth, which are homeless youth who choose to travel around the country.
Resource: Help Me Succeed: A Guide for Supporting Youth in Foster Care to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
This blog post describes a guide that provides ideas to professionals who work with foster youth on how to tailor teen pregnancy prevention programs to this population. The guide was developed with input from foster youth and alumni.
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.