Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Resource: 2015 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) Data
This resource includes 2015 BRFSS data and related information. The BRFSS is a state-based surveillance system that uses survey phone calls to collect information on risk behaviors, clinical preventive health practices, and health care access for adults 18 and older.
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.
New State Fact Sheets on Drunk Driving and Restraint Use
The CDC’s Injury Center has released two new fact sheets that provide state-specific data on seat belt use and drunk driving. “Buckle Up: Restraint Use Fact Sheets” provides snapshots of motor vehicle occupant deaths and seat belt use and describes proven strategies to increase the use of appropriate restraints. “Sobering Facts: Drunk Driving State Fact Sheets” provides information on alcohol-involved traffic deaths as well as strategies that can reduce drunk driving. Access state-level data on a variety of topics related to driver safety on the Injury Center’s website.
Preventing Youth Violence: Opportunities for Action
This report describes the critical problem of youth violence and provides information and action steps that public health and community leaders, young people, families, caregivers, and other adults that work with youth can take to prevent it.
The Economic Burden of Child Maltreatment in the United States and Implications for Prevention
This report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the total lifetime estimated financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment is approximately $124 billion.
The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know and What It Means for Schools
This resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, provides school administrators, teachers and school staff with the most current research findings about the relationship between bullying and suicide among school-aged youth and action-oriented, evidence-based suggestions to prevent and control bullying and suicide-related behavior in schools.
Brief: the Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Youth in Child Welfare Settings
A recent brief from the Permanency Innovations Initiative highlights how research is contributing to a better understanding of the needs of LGBTQ youth in child welfare settings. The brief presents findings from qualitative interviews conducted with youth participating in the Recognize, Intervene, Support, and Empower (RISE) project, funded through a grant from the Children’s Bureau to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Resource: Essentials for Childhood Framework: Steps to Create Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments for All Children
This framework proposes strategies communities can use to promote children and families’ positive development and to prevent child abuse and neglect. It includes four goal areas and suggested steps based on best available evidence to achieve each goal.
Resource: Injury and Violence in the U.S. by the Numbers
This infographic highlights key data on injury and violence in the United States in morbidity, mortality, and the cost to society. It also provides information on proven prevention strategies for issues such as motor vehicle injury, prescription drug overdose, child abuse and neglect, sexual violence, and youth sports concussions.
Resource: Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE)
This web app provides information and space for practitioners and teams to develop and edit customized youth violence prevention plans and measure progress.
Resource: Best Practices Guide for Tribal Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention
This resource (PDF, 132 pages) for organizations and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities features a summary of the burden of motor vehicle crash injury and death among the AI/AN community. It also provides recommended strategies, with examples from Indian Country, to increase seat belt use, increase child safety seat use, and reduce alcohol-impaired driving.
Resource: Roadway to Safer Tribal Communities Toolkit
This toolkit features fact sheets, posters, and videos that tribal governments and health professionals can use to promote road safety in American Indian/Alaska Native communities, a population with the highest motor vehicle-related death rates of all racial and ethnic groups.