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Child Welfare

Ensuring that children grow up in families and get the help they need to heal, build lasting family relationships and reach their full potential.

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Our Work in Child Welfare

We have been developing new solutions to support vulnerable children and families for more than 20 years. We help child welfare agencies, policymakers and advocates do their jobs better by improving their approaches to:

Developing child welfare practices that work

Supporting innovation

Several new tools allow agencies to measure child well-being. Caseworkers, administrators and IT staff can track and share information using Casebook, a powerful web-based tool developed to modernize agency procedures. What’s the best way to match kids to providers who can help? A tool being tested by the Institute for Child Outcomes is designed to do just that.

Improving opportunities for young people leaving foster care

Each year, more than 23,000 teens age out of foster care, often with no connection to their families. The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative helps young people in 15 states build family connections and access job, health care, housing and other resources.

Partnering to improve child welfare policies at the local, state and federal levels

Current Strategies

Related Past Initiatives

Casey Family Services

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Casey Family Services, a Foundation-sponsored private agency, provided child welfare services in New England and Baltimore. During its 36-year history, the agency developed the Lifelong Families practice model to connect children in foster care to enduring families. The Foundation continues to make available its research, videos, publications and other information related to foster care.

Family to Family

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Family to Family was an 18-year, nationwide effort to improve child welfare systems. The initiative sought to expand family and community involvement in child protection. Today, many agencies continue to use and build evidence about the effectiveness of Team Decision Making, an outgrowth of Family to Family.

School-to-Career Partnership

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UPS and Casey spearheaded this program in Baltimore, and it has since spread to cities and communities across the nation. The program links UPS and other large employers with community organizations and human services agencies to help prepare young people for independence as they age out of foster care.

Human Services Workforce Initiative

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This initiative was the first national effort to address the urgent need to recruit, train and retain human services workers qualified to make decisions that affect disadvantaged kids and families. In 2005, the Cornerstone Consulting Group assumed leadership of the initiative, developing Cornerstones for Kids.

Urban Children's Mental Health

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Launched in 1992 and in operation for seven years, this initiative sought to create more effective, family-centered mental health services in four disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. The sites established family centers, intensive case management projects, enhanced school supports and violence prevention.

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