The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This tip sheet accompanies a video on Focusing Efforts: Using Shared Data to Define and Advance Prevention Goals, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. These resources feature TANF and CW representatives from Oregon and Michigan who discuss how they use shared data to identify families’ needs and enhance their programs to help keep families together.

The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This video accompanies a reflection guide and tip sheet on Securing Support: Getting Input to Sustain Buy-in for Prevention Partnerships, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. The video features TANF and CW representatives from Arizona and Iowa who discuss how they secured buy-in from program staff, agency leadership, community partners, and families to enhance services that help keep families together.

The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This video accompanies a reflection guide and tip sheet on Focusing Efforts: Using Shared Data to Define and Advance Prevention Goals, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. The video features TANF and CW representatives from Oregon and Michigan who discuss how they use shared data to identify families’ needs and enhance their programs to help keep families together.

The Institute for Family has released this free course, where participants will uncover the profound impact fathers have on families and challenge outdated myths about their roles. Throughout the course, participants will review statistics and research on fatherhood, acknowledge fathers’ participation, and receive strategies for increasing father involvement in the community. This approach aims to positively enhance family well-being.

Ascend will host the free virtual event, Aspen Forum on Children and Families, on January 28, 2026 from 9:00 a.m. ET to 4:00 p.m. ET. This event is designed to lift up what is working in states throughout the country, spark new collaborations, and chart a course forward for families nationwide. This event will offer exclusive digital content, including on-demand recordings of each session to enable attendees to revisit insights and share the resources with their team.

Research documents that kinship families want and need support, and effectively engaging them is key. This begins with trust and mutual respect, which does not fit in with transactional checkboxes, but with a relational approach. By centering lived experience, creating welcoming environments, and listening to what caregivers say they need, one can successfully build authentic relationships that will connect families to both formal systems and community-based support. 

The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network will host a free webinar on January 21, 2026 from 2:00 p.m. ET to 3:30 p.m. ET, offering some key elements of building trust for lasting partnerships with kin. Presenters will focus on: 

• Building trust through lived experience, empathy, listening, and holding space for personal stories;
• Ensuring caregiver representation as key stakeholders in all aspects of the organization;
• Designing safe and welcoming physical and virtual spaces that reflect caregiver needs;
  • Considerations for accessibility (i.e., transportation, childcare, internet/device access, flexible times, etc.);
  • Matching service options to caregivers’ individual strengths and needs;
• Emphasizing hospitality and customer service;
• Using a bottom-up approach to programming that responds to what caregivers ask for;
• Practicing trauma-informed outreach to reduce barriers and foster connection; and
• Serving as a bridge to both formal services and informal community supports once trust is built.

While some studies have shown the effectiveness of Family Resource Centers (FRCs) – which provide critical services to families to increase their access to supports for basic needs, support accessing public benefits, and skill-building classes – in individual communities or states, less research has examined services provided by FRCs across states.

To help fill the gap, this Child Trends study aims to gain a better understanding of the services FRCs provide across the country—and particularly of how FRCs work with young parents (under age 25), how they help young parent-led families access public benefits, and whether/how they provide services to young parent-led families involved with the child welfare system.

Families thrive when their communities are strong and connected. Yet too often, families face barriers to resources that support well-being, like lack of affordable childcare, safe housing, mental health supports, or job opportunities—barriers that can spiral into crises and even child welfare involvement. To address these challenges, Lutheran Services in America launched the Family Stabilization Initiative (FSI) in 2021. In its first four years, the FSI engaged nearly 1,000 families across six communities in four states, demonstrating how locally driven, wraparound supports can prevent crises before they occur. As part of this effort, Lutheran Services in America partnered with Chapin Hall to develop the Community Building and Mobilization Framework, which provides practical strategies rooted in principles that shift the focus from short-term fixes to long-term, transformational relationships.

This Chapin Hall webpage connects readers with the framework (for download) and a recording that highlights how organizations are translating this vision into action.

This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet provides information about kinship families and the challenges they face and presents ideas to help faith communities better serve these families.

The Institute for Research on Poverty and the Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board co-hosted a webinar in November 2025 to highlight the unique challenges and distinct barriers young fathers experience when participating in child and family services. This webinar explored their needs, including those parenting with a partner and those parenting as single fathers, and featured evidence-informed practices, policy approaches, and program models that support fathers in helping their families thrive.