Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
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.
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.
Program Evaluation: A Variety of Rigorous Methods Can Help Identify Effective Interventions
This GAO report describes how program evaluations can help identify effective interventions.
Report: Access to Federal Financial Assistance for Homeless and Foster Youth
This report highlights obstacles faced by homeless youth and youth who have been in foster care in securing financial aid for college. The report includes six recommendations to improve access to financial assistance for these youth, including centralizing college information and considering legislative proposals to simplify federal requirements.
Resource: Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) Guidance for Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS)-Accredited Schools
This resource informs colleges and universities that SEVP can no longer accept ACICS accreditation for certification purposes. Schools accredited by ACICS can use this information to take the appropriate steps to find a new accreditor or provide SEVP with additional evidence in lieu of accreditation.
Report: SEVIS by the Numbers
This biannual report (PDF, 17 pages) highlights key Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) data to illustrate trends, values, and information on international students studying in the U.S. The report provides information on students who come to the U.S. to study, SEVP-certified schools that enroll these students, and international student demographics within individual U.S. states.
Share with Youth: Advice to Young Adults from Young Adults: Helpful Hints for Policy Change in the Mental Health System
This resource (PDF, 8 pages) can guide youth- and young adult-led organizations that want to make policy changes in the mental health system. Developed bythe Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures and Portland State University, it contains recommendations and quotes from a series of interviews with young adult leaders from advocacy groups that focus on mental health challenges or living in foster care.
Share with Youth: Changing the Rules: A Guide for Youth and Young Adults with Mental Health Conditions Who Want to Change Policy
This policy guide, developed by Pathways RTC (Research and Training Center), is written for youth- and young adult-led groups and organizations that want to make changes in policies related to mental health and other human services that affect them and other transition-age youth. The guide is intended for use by youth and young adults working together within a group or organization to make specific change, usually in partnership with other agencies, groups, or organizations.
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.
Fiscal Years 2013-2014 Status Report for the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States
OVC released “Fiscal Years 2013-2014 Status Report for the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States” (PDF, 64 pages), a report that documents the progress that federal agencies made during 2013-2014 on each of the 250 action items in the plan related to human trafficking victim service improvements.
Online Training: Five New Modules for Victim Assistance Training (VAT)
VAT Online now offers five new online modules on the following topics: assault, campus/university victims of sexual assault, child abuse, ethics, and human trafficking.
Archived Webinar Series: Human Trafficking
Two webinar series can help professionals better serve survivors of human trafficking:
- Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault: Strategies to Strengthen Community Collaboration to Respond to Survivors' Needs: This five-part webinar series offers strategies, practical tips, case studies, and resources to help domestic violence and sexual assault service providers improve outcomes for human trafficking survivors.
- Capacity Building Webinars for Human Trafficking Service Providers: This series provides information on key strategies for working with survivors of human trafficking. It covers legal issues, confidentiality, communicating with survivors, and helping survivors access employment and housing.
Toolkit: Helping Victims of Mass Violence & Terrorism
This toolkit aims to help communities prepare for and respond to victims of mass violence and terrorism in the most timely, effective, and compassionate manner possible. Professionals who are responsible for planning and responding to incidents of mass violence and terrorism can use this toolkit to develop a victim assistance plan, bring key partners together to develop or continue the use of a plan, and establish and implement victim assistance protocols.
Resource: Children, Violence, and Trauma
This video provides an overview of how violence and trauma impact students, gives coping techniques for educators to share with their students, and provides information on trauma-informed teaching.
SART Toolkit: Resources for Sexual Assault Response Teams
This updated toolkit outlines the steps involved in creating a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), describes how to retain focus on survivors, highlights SART programs throughout the country, and includes sample resources to use when developing and evaluating a SART.
Faces of Human Trafficking Video Series
This video series provides information about sex and labor trafficking, multidisciplinary approaches to serving survivors of human trafficking, effective services, legal needs, and voices of survivors. The sixth video in the series specifically highlights the vulnerabilities, risk factors, and needs of youth, with a focus on the diverse range of professionals who are in a position to identify exploited youth and connect them with appropriate services. Service providers, law enforcement professionals, prosecutors, and others in the community can use this series to learn more about this important issue and their role in preventing and addressing it.