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Documented Practice Model Resources

National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
The NRCOI strengthens and supports State and Tribal agencies committed to the welfare of children, youth, and families through training, technical assistance, research, and evaluation. Its aim is to improve management and operations, bolster organizational capacity, promote service integration, and develop supervisory and management systems that result in improved outcomes for children and families.

  • Building a Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision
    This document is intended to serve as a road map for agency leaders as they think through ways to build and sustain effective child welfare supervision in their agencies.

  • A Framework for Implementing Continuous Quality Improvement
    This document is intended to serve as a road map for agency leaders as they think through ways to build and sustain effective child welfare supervision in their agencies.

  • A Framework for Quality Assurance in Child Welfare
    This guide presents a framework for child welfare QA systems. While specific QA activities often will vary across agencies, the framework includes the broad elements all agencies should consider in creating new or energizing existing QA systems. The framework also presents the main elements in the form of implementation steps and state examples to assist readers in conceptualizing application within their agencies.

Leading Efforts to Identify and Address Disparities: A Response to Disproportionality
        This teleconference highlights strategies agencies can use to respond to disproportionality – the overrepresentation of a particular race or cultural
        group within a system in relation to their percentage in the general population.

  • Teach Them to Fish: Working with Youth in Transition from Foster Care – Participant Manual
    This Adolescent Caseworker Competency Training focuses on how to work effectively with adolescents as they move into adulthood and independent living.
     
  • Managing for Outcomes in Child Welfare: Trainer's Manual
    This training curriculum provides child welfare managers and supervisors with an understanding of the concept of outcomes based management in child welfare.
     
  • Advocating for the Educational Needs of Children in Out-of-Home Care: Training Curriculum for Foster Parents
    These materials were designed to provide child welfare caseworkers and their supervisors with an understanding of the relevant educational policies, processes, assessments and plans; methods for monitoring outcomes and services; and tools to enable them to advocate for the educational needs of children in the child welfare system.
     
  • Advocating for the Educational Needs of Children in Out-of-Home Care: Training Curriculum for Caseworkers and Supervisors
    These materials were designed to provide child welfare caseworkers and their supervisors with an understanding of the relevant educational policies, processes, assessments and plans; methods for monitoring outcomes and services; and tools to enable them to advocate for the educational needs of children in the child welfare system.  The curriculum and manual were originally completed in 2006. Both were updated in January 2009 and April 2010 to reflect new state legislation in Colorado addressing the educational needs of this population, as well as changes brought about at the federal level by the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) and by passage of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (2008).
     
  • Advocating for the Educational Needs of Children in Out-of-Home Care
    These materials were designed to provide child welfare caseworkers and their supervisors with an understanding of the relevant educational policies, processes, assessments and plans; methods for monitoring outcomes and services; and tools to enable them to advocate for the educational needs of children in the child welfare system.
     
  • Advocating for the Educational Needs of Children in Out-of-Home Care: The Colorado Experience
    To improve educational outcomes for children in the child welfare system, greater coordination needs to occur between the child welfare and education systems. To identify and resolve barriers to coordination between these two systems, the Colorado Department of Human Services launched a variety of activities including: sponsoring two statewide forums involving folks from child welfare and education to share strategies for addressing the educational needs of children in the Colorado child welfare system, and developing and delivering training to child welfare supervisors and caseworkers on practical tools and resources that will encourage a focus on the educational issues of children as a part of regular casework practice.
     
  • Webinar: Getting to Outcomes: An Approach to Implementing Systemic Change
    This session will highlight the Getting to Outcomes (GTO) model, an approach to reaching desired outcomes that includes an array of specific steps, from forming an implementation team to ensuring sustainability.
     
  • Webinar: Assessing and Improving Organizational Culture and Climate
    Research has pointed to the link between organizational culture and climate and the ability of organizations to implement evidence based practices and improve outcomes.  During this webinar learn about why it is important to assess and improve organizational culture and climate and hear about two different tools that child welfare agencies are using to do these assessments – the Organizational Social Context (OSC) measures and the Comprehensive Organizational Health Assessment (COHA).
     
  • Webinar: Coaching Change
    Agencies are increasingly realizing that staff who have been trained in a new practice struggle to implement that practice in their day to day work without support from the organization around them.  This webinar will take an in-depth look at one site to explore the critical role of coaches, supervisors, and managers in supporting practice change.
     

National Resource Center for Child Protective Services
The NRCCPS provides expert consultation, technical assistance, and training in all areas of child protective services, including intake, safety assessment, case planning, ongoing safety management, removal and reunification decision making, ongoing services, and case closure.

Indian Tribal CPS Safety Intervention Curriculum
        A professional staff development resource for tribal child welfare agencies.  The curriculum can be useful to CPS workers who are involved with
        Native American families off of the reservation. However, it is intended for delivery to tribal CPS staff members that are responsible for working with
        Native American children and families on the reservation.

State and Tribes Training & Technical Assistance Logic Models, Reports & Work Plans
         The NRCCPS provides an enormous amount of information on Logic Models, Reports, and Work Plans.  Downloadable information are from the
         2005 through 2012 program years.        

  • Child Safety: A Guide for Judges and Attorneys
    Child Safety: A Guide for Judges and Attorneys, is available in a hardcopy version and an online version which contains additional appendices with expanded definitions and examples of some key concepts
  • Webinar: Domestic Violence and Child Protective Services Safety Plans Webinar
    The Webinar will include discussion with Shellie Taggart, a consultant for the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services and national expert concerning domestic violence, and Theresa Costello, the Director of the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services, concerning safety planning when there is a co-occurrence of domestic violence and child abuse or neglect.  September 14, 2012.
  • Webinar: Are we Counting Everything that Counts?
    Listen to experts discuss how data can help us know if we are doing quality work, if we are meeting our fundamental purposes, and help us examine how to do better. Hear NRC staff share their advice, and learn from the successes and challenges experienced by a State.
  • NRCCPS Publications
    NRCPS has numerous publications addressing a wide-range of CPS topics such as Decision Making Children’s Protective Services: Advancing The State of the Art, Designing a Comprehensive Approach to Child Safety.

 

National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues
The NRCLJI provides expertise to courts, attorneys, Court Improvement Projects, and State and Tribal agencies on legal and judicial aspects of child welfare.

  • Standards of Practice for Lawyers Representing Child Welfare Agencies
    The standards were written with the help of a committee of practicing agency attorneys and child welfare professionals from different jurisdictions with the goal of raising the quality of agency representation. The standards include fundamental principles, action steps, and commentary.
  • NRCLJI Overview of the Child and Family Service Reviews
    The NRCLJI provides an overview of information on the Child and Family Service Reviews (CFSRs) which includes: What is a Child and Family Service Review? How can the resource center help with CFSRs? Top ten ways legal professionals can help with CFSRs.

 

National Resource Center for In-Home Services
The NRC in-Home serves is a national center of expertise regarding child welfare practice related to ensuring the safety of children and youth in their homes and making reasonable efforts to preserve families in which maltreatment has occurred.

Tribal In-Home Practice Model Template
         A tribal in-home practice model template developed by the Alaska Child Welfare Initiative, a Western and Pacific Implementation Center partner
         tribe.

 

National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
The NRCPFC customizes an array of services for each request to support States, territories, and Tribes in sustainable, systemic change efforts producing greater safety, permanency, and well-being for children, youth, and families.

  • Projects, Primers and Toolkits
    The NRC for Permanency and Family Connections has an assortment of web-based primers, projects and toolkits providing information relating to guardianship, kinship care, placement stability, concurrent planning, family engagement, and preparation for adulthood.  In addition self-study guides are available for download which include educational stability, child and sibling visits, and a guide to family search and engagement.

 

National Resource Center for Child Welfare Data and Technology
The NRC-CWDT provides a range of T&TA for data and information systems issues to improve the quality of collected data build the capacity to use the information for decision-making in daily practice, and develop or improve case management and data collection systems.

Technical assistance and training to Tribes operating child welfare programs.       
         The NRC-CWDT provides assistance and consultation in an individualized manner based on the needs of the Tribe. In certain cases, a collaboration
         with other T/TA network members may be recommended because IT systems are not stand-alone entities

  • New Tips, Tools, and Trends on Court Improvement Program Updates
    Court Improvement Program (CIP) grants awarded by the Children’s Bureau to state courts were reauthorized for 2012-2016.  The new Program Instruction for the CIP grants emphasizes Continuous Quality Improvement and the data collection and performance measurements that are required to achieve CQI.
  • The Social Media for Child Welfare Resource Guide“Social media” are powerful communication tools that use the Internet to establish interactive dialogue and to share materials with others.  Social media technologies such as podcasts, RSS feeds, social networking sites, text messaging, and blogs allow anyone to create, modify, and share content easily and inexpensively.
  • Webinar: Striding Towards Stable Educational Placements for Children in Foster Care
    The Fostering Connections Act (P.L. 110-351) is a comprehensive law aimed at improving life for youth in care and promoting permanent family connections. Among other important provisions, the Act requires child welfare agencies to create “a plan for ensuring the educational stability of the child while in foster care.” This webinar will provide a discussion about educational stability for foster children.

 

National Resource Center for Adoption
The NRCA works with States, Tribes, territories, courts, and agencies to increase capacity in adoption. The Center works to improve the effectiveness and quality of adoption and post adoption services provided to children and their families.

  • Adoption Information and Stats
    The National Resource Center for Adoption provides a massive amount of information on topics relating to adoption and child welfare statistics and research sites.
  • Adoption Competency Curriculum
    The ACC updates the popular Special Needs Adoption Curriculum developed in 1990.  It includes the latest research on adoption practice and is designed to be a comprehensive curriculum that speaks to all the issues in the adoption of children/youth from the child welfare system.
  • NRCA Practice Tools
    The NRCA provides access to two practice tools, Adoption Support & Preservation Services and Adoption Competence: A Guide to Developing an Adoption Certificate Program for Mental Health Practitioners Toolkit.
  • Youth Permanency Convening (YPC)
    Provides information on the accomplishments of nine grantees and highlights some of the products they developed. The grantees addressed the issues of youth permanency in creative ways, including development of curriculum and attitude scales about options for youth permanency, including open adoption.

 

National Resource Center for Youth Development
The NRCYD helps States, Tribes, and territories incorporate youth into all areas of programs and services, implement services that address legislative requirements, and prepare for Child and Family Services Review and Program Improvement Plan development and implementation.  NRCYD’s overall goal is to build the capacity of States and Tribes to provide high quality services to their youth in out of home placements, former foster youth and other youth in at-risk situations.

Tribal Resources       
         The National Resource Center for Youth Services provides several tribally focused resources on transition, education, older youth, and curriculum. 

  • Tribal Pages
    NRCYD’s “Tribal Pages” webpage provides additional information and resources to assist Tribes in providing quality services to youth.

 

National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at AdoptUSKids
The NRCRRFAP at AdoptUSKids provides T/TA to States, Tribes, territories, and courts (STTCs) to increase their capacity to recruit and retain foster, adoptive, and kinship families.  Their goal is to provide States, Tribes, territories, and courts in building capacity to recruit and retain foster, adoptive, and kinship families and creating sustainable, systemic changes that support effective recruitment and retention efforts.

  • Recruitment and Retention Resources
    NRCRRFAP provides a wide-range of resources to assist your child welfare agency in developing a diverse pool of foster and adoptive families, facilitating interstate and interjurisdictional placements, and in enhancing your retention efforts through good customer service principles and tools.

 

Other

  • Action for Child Protection
    The Action for Child Protection website contains a collection of articles covering CPS Safety Intervention case practice.

Child and Family Services Reviews Fact Sheet for Tribal Child Welfare Officers       
         This fact sheet provides information about the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) for tribal child welfare officials.

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