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Federal Resources
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.
Grants.gov
Grants.gov is a secure, reliable entry way to discretionary federal grants from multiple agencies. Applicants can use a single comprehensive site to discover and apply for opportunities from all 26 federal grant-making agencies.
Museums and Libraries: Engaging America's Youth
This initiative shines a spotlight on the role libraries and museums play in bringing about positive change in the lives of young people. This report discusses the effectiveness of library programs for children and youth ages 9-19, from a year-long study of IMLS (Insitute of Museum and Library Services) grants.
Archived Webinar: Performance Partnership Pilots (P3) Round 2 Bidders Conference
This archived webinar presents details of the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the second round (FY 2015) of Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3), including application requirements and selection criteria for potential applicants.
The National Center of Safe Supportive Learning Environments
The National Center of Safe Supportive Learning Environments' (NCSSLE) website contains information for an expanded audience, and includes new Center product lines, updated information, and resources from and for the field.
CDC Grand Rounds: Addressing Preparedness Challenges for Children in Public Health Emergencies
This article highlights the unique needs of children that must be addressed during public health emergencies and the roles that community-level pediatricians, state and local public health departments, regional coalitions, and the federal government play in addressing these needs.
Safe Place: Trauma-Sensitive Practice for Health Centers Serving Students
As one of the tools commissioned by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, Safe Place is a resource kit that introduces and endorses trauma-sensitive practice with an emphasis on sexual assault trauma. The kit is designed to help health center staff who work with students in higher education to better understand trauma, infuse trauma-sensitive approaches into their work, and create a care environment that supports students affected by trauma.
Guide: Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline
This guide provides schools and school districts with the tools to assess and systematically address disparities in school discipline. It describes how to carry out a descriptive analysis of disparities in school discipline and how to conduct a root cause analysis to systematically address school-based factors that contribute to disparities.
Brief: School-Based Physical Fitness and the Link to Student Academic Outcomes and Improved School Climate
This brief (PDF, 10 pages) outlines the growing body of evidence that suggests physical activity and physical education offered during the school day are linked to children’s healthy development and academic achievement, and have the potential to positively impact school climate and conditions for learning in schools.
Resource: Academic Performance, Retention, and Alcohol Use
This article (PDF, 3 pages) discusses the effect of alcohol on academic performance, retention, and college graduation. It also describes evidence-based strategies college and universities can use to address high-risk drinking and shares what some institutions are doing to prevent risky alcohol use and promote healthy decision making.
Report: Rates of Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use and Opioid Use Disorder Double in 10 Years
This report illustrates the urgent public health problem of prescription opioid misuse. As described in the report, a recent study by the NIAAA shows the use of prescription opioids more than doubled among adults in the United States from 2001-2002 to 2012-2013.
A Comparison of Four Restorative Conferencing Models
This Bulletin focuses on four restorative conferencing models: victim-offender mediation, community reparative boards, family group conferencing, and circle sentencing. It first describes each of the four restorative conferencing models, then compares and contrasts.
A Guide to Assessing Your Community’s Youth Gang Problem
An important facet to implementing OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model in a community is to first assess the youth gang problem. This assessment includes collecting quantitative and qualitative data from community representatives such as law enforcement, school faculty, youth, parents, community leaders, probation officers, gang members, grass roots organizations, and local government. Data collected includes the perception of the gang problem as well as what the community considers as priority needs such as tutoring, jobs training, increased police presence, and mentoring for youth.
Addressing the Problem of Juvenile Bullying
This brief provides child caretakers and educators with a definition of bullying and strategies for how to address and prevent it.
Behavioral Health Problems, Treatment, and Outcomes in Serious Youthful Offenders
This bulletin from OJJDP summarizes findings from analyses of data from the Pathways to Desistance study, which followed more than 1,300 serious youthful offenders for seven years after their court involvement. These analyses addressed the overlap of behavioral health problems and offending behavior (PDF, 16 pages), the care young people with disorders received while in juvenile justice settings, and the care received in the community upon their release. Implications for juvenile justice practice and policy and potential opportunities for system improvement are discussed.
Amber Alert: Best Practices
“AMBER Alert Best Practices,” published by the Department of Justice, discusses the most effective strategies that AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) partners have provided for recovering missing children. It explains the history of the system, the role each partner plays in child recovery and how to use the resources provided as best as possible.
Balanced and Restorative Justice for Juveniles: A Framework for Juvenile Justice in the 21st Century
This document makes the case for a new mission for juvenile justice known as the "Balanced Approach," and advocates consideration of a new philosophical framework, "Restorative Justice," to guide broader policy development and reform in juvenile justice.
Alaska Native Tribal Courts Gain Right to Protect Women in Domestic Violence Cases
With the repeal of the “Alaska Exemption” from the 2013 Violence Against Women Act, Alaska Native communities will now be able to use their sovereign authority to protect women from domestic violence. This repeal was one of the recommendations in the recently released report, Ending Violence So Children Can Thrive (PDF, 258 pages) developed by the Advisory Committee of the Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence.
Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence: Ending Violence so Children Can Thrive
Commissioned as part of Attorney General Eric Holder’s Defending Childhood initiative, this report from the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence provides recommendations to address the impact of violence on tribal youth (PDF, 258 pages) through trauma-informed and culturally appropriate programs and services.