Child Welfare

The “Using Social Media in Child Welfare” page offers tips and resources for social workers, youth, and foster parents on the safe and effective use of social media.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves.

This report released by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration illustrates that children and youth participating in community-based programs, who are involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, demonstrate improved outcomes after receiving trauma-informed services.

Developed as part of the Child Welfare Evaluation Virtual Summit Series, the Children's Bureau has released this video, "The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW): Implications for Child Welfare Evaluations," which illustrates ways that the NSCAW can provide a meaningful comparison group for those interested in assessing in their jurisdictions outcomes of child and adolescent well-being.

This report describes the characteristics and economic well-being of young people aging out of foster care who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB).

A new report, based on data from SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health, reveals that adolescents ages 12-17 in foster care are significantly less likely to talk to a parent or guardian about the dangers of substance use compared with their peers. 58.9% of adolescents living with biological parents have these discussions, and 57.6% of adolescents living with adoptive parents have these talks. But the percentage drops to 51.1 for adolescents in foster care. 

This training and employment notice informs states and local areas about how youth programs can help youth who are or were in foster care to complete postsecondary education and training. Intended for youth programs that receive formula funding through the Workforce Investment Act, the training highlights how youth programs can coordinate with state and local independent living coordinators to ensure that youth have knowledge of and access to state tuition waivers and education and training vouchers from the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program. 

This Department of Education webpage provides information about important laws, guidance, and technical assistance materials related to the educational experience of youth in foster care.

This blog post describes a Student Voices session held at The White House on December 8, 2014. Here, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell, and current and former foster care youth from American Indian and Alaska Native nations discussed the struggles of Native youth.

The Administration for Children & Families released three videos featuring young people discussing the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD), the first national data collection effort on youth aging out of foster care. These data track their outcomes during their transition and capture their feedback about their time in the foster care system. The videos describe the NYTD initiative, encourage state welfare agencies to administer the survey, and explain why youth should complete it.