for Organizational Improvement
A service of the Children's Bureau, US Department of Health and Human Services
- New on this site
2008 Summer/Fall Teleconferences
Upcoming teleconference information for the summer/fall season has been posted! Register today! (08-01-08)
An Introduction to the Practice Model Framework: A Working Document Series
The National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement (NRCOI) has partnered with the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning (NRCFCPPP) to develop the Practice Model Framework series. The purpose of these materials is to help agencies think about and prepare for the creation or modification of child welfare practice models. Each brief contains examples from various child welfare agencies based on interviews with agency staff members and reviews of existing practice models. The first brief contains a thorough explanation and definition of what we mean by the term “practice model”. This conceptual piece will be the foundation for the additional briefs due to be released in August 2008. Those briefs will highlight issues to consider in developing, implementing, and ensuring the effectiveness of a child welfare practice model. We encourage your feedback on this complex subject. We believe there is no one model that will work for all child welfare agencies. Therefore, we hope these materials will provide the child welfare community with some helpful suggestions and resources in tailoring a practice model that will work best for each agency—and the families it serves. If you have suggestions, questions, or comments on our practice model materials, please contact Angie Herrick Bordeaux at 207-780-5822 or abordeaux@usm.maine.edu. (07-22-08)
Building Effective Training Systems for Child Welfare Agencies
The guide provides an analytic framework for child welfare agencies or Tribal leadership teams to build a shared understanding of and commitment to the value, role, capacity, and development of their training systems. (06-13-08)
Child Welfare Matters (Spring/Summer 2008)
This issue of Child Welfare Matters explores the system of care approach and its value in promoting systemic reform in child welfare. The issue provides some basic information on systems of care—what they are, why agencies should consider this approach, and steps to build these systems. (06-12-08)
Service Array Tools and Materials
The National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement (NRCOI) and the National Resource Center for Child Welfare Data and Technology (NRCCWDT) together offer a process and a set of tools child welfare agencies can use in conjunction with community stakeholders to assess and enhance their child and family service array. (04/28/08)
Report of the ACF Region V Roundtable on Child Welfare Training Systems
In late October 2007, the ACF Region V office hosted a Roundtable on Child Welfare Training Systems for Region V states. The goal of this roundtable was to bring together leaders in child welfare training from ACF Region V states and provide opportunities for them to discuss with their peers training issues, challenges and successes. (03/04/08)
2008 Spring Teleconferences
Upcoming teleconference information for the spring season has been posted! Register today!
We are pleased to make available a new comprehensive systems of care curriculum for child welfare: Primer Hands On-Child Welfare!. (11/19/07)
Strengthening Child Welfare Supervision is the focus of the Fall 2007 edition of our newsletter Child Welfare Matters. This issue provides information and
resources to help agencies strengthen and support the critical role child welfare supervisors play in organizational improvement. Supervision is a complex topic on which expert opinion varies, but we have identified some key steps agencies
need to take to support supervisors.
2007 Fall Teleconferences
Upcoming teleconference information for the fall season has been posted! Register today!
T/TA Network - Find
out which Resource Centers are working in the states - with just a click
on our new map feature!
Coping
with Disasters: A Framework for Child Welfare Agencies
Across the country, natural
disasters, man-made crises, or medical events can affect the routine ways
child welfare agencies operate and serve children, youth and families.
It is especially important for agencies caring for vulnerable populations—such
as abused and neglected children—to do what they can to prepare
for these disasters. Fortunately, many of the steps agencies might take
to prepare for disasters can also strengthen systems critical to ongoing
agency management. This publication has a dual purpose—to help managers
think through what they might put in place to cope with disasters, and
to highlight how taking these steps can improve systems for serving children
and families. Disaster
Planning Checklists contain an overview of the document.
Advocating
for the Educational Needs of Children in Out-of-Home Care
Materials 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. Derived
primarily from what youth in care say about their educational experiences
and what the research tells us makes a difference in educational outcomes
for this population, the curriculum and manual cover educational needs
from birth through age 21 and is currently being adapted for use by educators
and foster parents. The curriculum includes the showing of a DVD of youth
in care talking about their experiences in school. Copies of “Speaking
Out” are available from Mary Joseph 207-780-5854.
