10 Key Resources for Child Welfare Professionals

Child wel­fare pro­fes­sion­als play a crit­i­cal role in help­ing chil­dren and fam­i­lies thrive. The resources list­ed below — select­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Fam­i­ly Well-Being Strat­e­gy Group — are focused on help­ing the experts excel in this impor­tant work.

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Ele­vat­ing Youth Engage­ment: A Train­ing Cur­ricu­lum for Mean­ing­ful Part­ner­ship With Young Peo­ple in Fos­ter Care:
This cur­ricu­lum, devel­oped with young peo­ple who have lived expe­ri­ence in fos­ter care, offers train­ing mod­ules, facil­i­ta­tor guides and exer­cis­es to help child wel­fare pro­fes­sion­als and youth move toward shared deci­sion-mak­ing and authen­tic part­ner­ship. The resource sup­ports agen­cies in embed­ding youth voice into sys­tems and ser­vices that impact their lives.

Insights on Pre­vent­ing Fam­i­ly Sep­a­ra­tion
A pod­cast describ­ing Thriv­ing Fam­i­lies, Safer Chil­dren, a grow­ing nation­al ini­tia­tive that empha­sizes strength­en­ing fam­i­ly well-being and keep­ing chil­dren safe­ly in their homes.

Equip­ping Kin­ship Care­givers for Suc­cess: A Q&A With Joseph Crum­b­ley
A sum­ma­ry for child wel­fare prac­ti­tion­ers on how to bet­ter sup­port kin­ship fam­i­lies, includ­ing valu­able resources, such as a cur­ricu­lum and five-part video train­ing series on effec­tive­ly engag­ing kin­ship fam­i­lies, as well as a video series on cop­ing with the unique chal­lenges of kin­ship care for both kin care­givers and child wel­fare workers.

Every Kid Needs a Fam­i­ly: Advice to Caseworkers
A short video cre­at­ed to inspire and ener­gize case­work­ers around the crit­i­cal task of con­nect­ing teens in fos­ter care with a family.

Sup­port­ing LGBTQ+ Youth in Fos­ter Care
A recent arti­cle in the Fam­i­ly Jus­tice Jour­nal describes expe­ri­ences of LGBTQ+ youth in care to help child wel­fare stake­hold­ers bet­ter under­stand and sup­port these young peo­ple. Also, learn about sup­port­ing LGBTQ+ fos­ter and adop­tive parents

Trau­ma-Informed Approach­es for Fos­ter Care
Two train­ing resources help child wel­fare sys­tems and care­givers bet­ter sup­port chil­dren who have expe­ri­enced trau­ma. ARC Reflec­tions is a nine-ses­sion cur­ricu­lum designed to help fos­ter par­ents under­stand and respond to children’s trau­ma-relat­ed behav­iors, while Trau­ma Sys­tems Ther­a­py for Fos­ter Care (TST-FC) pro­vides a struc­tured, four-mod­ule pro­gram for build­ing agency capac­i­ty to sup­port emo­tion­al reg­u­la­tion and healing.

“It Matters…A LOT”
A blog post, writ­ten by an adop­tion recruiter in Ohio, that under­scores the impor­tance of keep­ing sib­lings togeth­er in fos­ter care.

Fam­i­ly Care Is Prefer­able to Group Care
A 2025 con­sen­sus state­ment, pub­lished in the Chil­dren and Youth Ser­vices Review jour­nal and endorsed by more than a dozen schol­ars and youth devel­op­ment experts, rec­om­mends that young peo­ple live in fam­i­ly set­tings rather than group or insti­tu­tion­al settings.

Address­ing Sec­ondary Trau­ma Stress Among Child Wel­fare Staff
An issue brief focused on help­ing child wel­fare pro­fes­sion­als build resilien­cy and mit­i­gate the impact of sec­ondary trau­ma stress.

Strong Fam­i­lies
A review of strate­gies geared toward reunit­ing fam­i­lies after chil­dren have been removed from a home due to parental sub­stance abuse.

A Bonus Resource

Thrive: How the Sci­ence of the Ado­les­cent Brain Helps Us Imag­ine a Bet­ter Future for All Chil­dren
Lisa Law­son​’s Thrive explores how car­ing adults can help young peo­ple build resilience, pur­pose, and con­nec­tion to reach their full potential.