Child Welfare / Permanence
Every child needs and deserves to grow up in a safe, loving, and nurturing family – a family whose support is unconditional and will last a lifetime. Yet for the half million children in foster care on any given day, these necessary family connections are too often lost. We are committed to ensuring that every child has a safe and lifelong connection to a caring, nurturing family.
The Child Welfare/Permanence section of the Casey Foundation Knowledge Center offers resources that are either published or funded by the Casey Foundation. See also:
Featured Publications
When a Parent Is Incarcerated: A Primer for Social Workers
2011
The goal of this publication is to provide relevant and practical information for public child welfare agencies and social workers when working with incarcerated parents and their children, including a chapter on immigration. This primer also outlines the many compelling reasons why child welfare agencies should develop programs and policies specifically to address the needs of this subset of children in the child welfare system.
more >>
Advice to a New Child Services Leader
2011
This paper by the Honorable James Payne, a retired judge and currently director of the Indiana Department of Child Services, offers personal insights for top leaders new to posts in public child-serving systems.
more >>
The Adolescent Brain: New Research and its Implications for Young People Transitioning from Foster Care, Executive Summary
2011
This executive summary of a new study by the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative looks at mounting evidence that the human brain is still a work in progress and can be successfully “rewired” during and even beyond the teenage years, making the case for reforming the nation’s foster-care system stronger than ever.
more >>
Counting is Not Enough: Investing in Qualitative Case Reviews for Practice Improvement in Child Welfare
2011
Can qualitative case reviews improve child welfare practice? This publication finds that the answer is "Yes." It examines the practices of more than 20 jurisdictions, gathers insight from national experts, and presents recommendations for improving this approach to child welfare practice. The report details key factors in implementing case review systems, including federal Child and Family Service Reviews, Quality Service Reviews, and ChildStat reviews.
more >>
User’s Guide to Essential Kinship Data
2013
This brief guide identifies the types of data child welfare agencies should collect to track their progress in placing children who cannot return home to their families with kin.
more >>
Kinship Process Mapping: Improving Practice in Kinship Care
2013
Many child welfare agencies are seeking effective strategies to identify and engage extended family networks to care for and protect children who cannot safely live with their parents. This guide provides a step-by-step method public child welfare agencies can use to identify barriers to placing children with kin and to develop recommendations for removing those barriers.
more >>
The Kinship Diversion Debate: Policy and Practice Implications for Children, Families and Child Welfare Agencies
2013
This report explores different perspectives on the practice of diverting children from child welfare to live with kin when they cannot remain with their families, and identifies critical components of an effective kinship care system. This analysis is based on the insights of more than 50 child welfare and judicial personnel, advocates and researchers.
more >>
Youth and Credit: Resources for Young People
2013
These fliers are practical sources of information that caseworkers and others can provide to youth and young adults. Depicting different scenarios involving credit and identity theft, they speak directly to young people experiencing each situation.
more >>
![Publication thumbnail for A Foster Care Practice Model: Lifelong Families [Brochure]](~/media/Pubs/Topics/Child Welfare Permanence/Foster Care/LifelongFamiliesBrochure/LifelongFamiliesBrochureThumb.jpg)
A Foster Care Practice Model: Lifelong Families [Brochure]
2012
This brochure provides an overview of Lifelong Families, a practice model developed and tested by the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s direct service agency, Casey Family Services. The document highlights the values, principle components and benefits of the model, as well as its early successes at improving the outcomes of children and youth in foster care. This model is intended to serve as a method of improving foster care practice within private child welfare agencies and advancing permanency outcomes for those in care, especially older youth in treatment foster care.
more >>
View the Foster Care Practice Model: Lifelong Families Series >>