Strengthening Families is a research-based framework developed by the Center for the Study of Social Policy over the last decade to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce child abuse and neglect. This approach helps child welfare systems, early education, prevention organizations, and other programs work with parents to build five protective factors that, when present, increase the overall well-being of children and families. They are:

• Enhancing parental resilience
• Providing an array of social connections
• Providing parents concrete support in times of need
• Facilitating knowledge of parenting and child development
• Supporting healthy social and emotional development in young children

This set of resources includes a state profile of Strengthening Families efforts in Missouri.

During the holiday season, families are dealing with stress from multiple sources, including navigating how to safely gather given the COVID-19 safety protocols. This National Child Traumatic Stress Network fact sheet offers parents and caregivers a set of strategies and ideas to make the holiday season special. These strategies include starting a family conversation on what has changed and how family members are feeling, finding ways to make connections, making small moments matter, keeping a routine, and noticing good things. The fact sheet also suggests ideas for self-care and notes on how to find available help and support.

The National Association of Social Workers will host a webinar on November 30, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET with a focus on the emotional wellness of students during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other trauma experiences. The discussion will include the presentation of analogies to help students learn to cope with issues of loss and grief, as well as school-wide activities that promote traumatic growth and resiliency. Participation in the webinar counts for one continuing education credit within the Social Work Online Continuing Education Institute. A participation fee is required.

This bulletin briefly overviews racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system and the factors that contribute to the problem. It then describes practices that child welfare caseworkers, administrators, program managers, and policymakers can implement to address these issues in general and at specific decision-making points along the child welfare continuum (such as prevention, reporting, screening and assessment, service delivery for children and affected families, and permanency for children in out-of-home care in a child welfare case). Further, the bulletin also stresses the importance for State and local child welfare agencies to understand Tribal sovereignty within the relationship between the two agencies. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) allows for the formation of Tribal-State agreements which often serve to improve ICWA compliance and outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native children, and to increase Tribal access to Federal child welfare funding.

The Urban Institute will host a free webinar on September 20, 2021 from 12:45 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET as part of its Strategies for Supporting Young People Transitioning Out of Foster Care Series. The webinar will review how parents in foster care need services and supports as they navigate to parenthood and adulthood. A panel of child welfare professionals and young parents with lived experience will discuss ways that child welfare systems could meet the needs of this population. Panelists include representatives from Chapin Hall, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Children’s Village, and the Urban Institute.

The Child Welfare League of America is offering a four-week training session, beginning on September 21, 2021 from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. ET to support foster, adoptive, and kinship caregivers and social workers as they help improve the school performance of children who have experienced trauma. Training objectives include development of an understanding of common barriers to educational access and engagement, guidance on practical strategies for cultivating resilience at home, knowledge of the education system and supports available to children with special needs and circumstances, and expansion of collaboration and advocacy toolkits for youth affected by trauma. There is a fee for participation in this training.

This research-to-practice brief highlights the Louisiana-based My Community Cares (MCC) initiative. The initiative brings together parents experienced with the child welfare system, foster parents, and residents of neighborhoods with high concentrations of children in foster care. MCC asked these individuals to lead and co-design initiatives to prevent other neighborhood families from involvement in the child welfare system. The brief identifies the initiative’s origins, its core components, and implementation considerations.

This brief reviews historical policy context and provides an overview of policy, programmatic, and engagement strategies for utilizing economic supports to promote family well-being and prevent child maltreatment. It recommends economic and concrete supports as an alternative to address child maltreatment.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act includes $150 million in funding support for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV). This blogpost outlines how MIECHV ARP funds will be distributed and allowable uses. Under the MIECHV ARP provisions, expanded services offered to enrolled families include home visiting services, technology for virtual visits, emergency supplies (including personal protective equipment, hand sanitizers, and diapers), and prepaid grocery cards. This additional funding can also be used to support the training and expansion of the home visiting workforce.

This Annie E. Casey Foundation annual publication provides data on child well-being among states and in multiyear comparisons from 2010 to 2019. Data in this review covers economic well-being, education, health, and family and community, including state rankings for these categories. There is also a separate section on how families fared during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.