Current Initiatives & Issues

The Children's Bureau is involved in initiatives and events that provide for the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families. The following resources provide up-to-date information on a variety of issues related to child welfare:

Initiatives | Issues | Other Related Links

Initiatives

The Administration for Children and Families and the Children's Bureau are currently involved in the following initiatives.

• National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day - This website provides information about National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, which is a key component of the Caring for Every Child's Mental Health campaign of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
• Adoption Excellence Awards - The Adoption Excellence Awards are designed to recognize excellence in achieving the goals of safety, permanency, and well-being of children in out-of-home care.
• May Is National Foster Care Month - National Foster Care Month in May provides an opportunity for people all across the nation to get involved, whether as foster parents, volunteers, mentors, employers or in other ways. The Children's Bureau also supports a special website for child welfare professionals, http://www.childwelfare.gov/fostercaremonth, with the theme "Achieving Well-Being With Children and Youth in Care" and provides resources to support caseworkers, managers, administrators, and related professionals as they seek to build well-being for children, youth, and families involved with the child welfare system.
• Systems of Care Curriculum for Child Welfare: Primer Hands On-Child Welfare - This curriculum is the result of a collaboration between the Children's Bureau, the National Resource Center (NRC) on Organizational Improvement, and the other NRC's in the Bureau's Training and Technical Assistance Network, the National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health at Georgetown University, and the Human Service Collaborative. Primer Hands On-Child Welfare includes 10 modules, each with PowerPoint slides, handouts, exercises, and case scenarios, as well as additional related materials.
• National Court and Child Welfare Collaborative: Focus on System Reform - Announcement of three leading national organizations dealing with court issues relating to children and families on forming a Collaborative with a goal of improving outcomes for abused and neglected children.
• Children's Bureau Response to Tribal Comments - Comments from the Administration for Native Americans Consultation and Conference on December 5, 2005.
• Tribal-State Relations - This issue brief is intended to help States and Tribes find ways to work together more effectively to meet the goals of ICWA.
• November is National Adoption Month - The purpose of National Adoption Month is to raise awareness about children in foster care nationwide waiting for permanent families. Recruitment efforts are highlighted throughout the National Adoption Month website to encourage America's families to "answer the call" to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of our children.
• Public Service Announcements (PSAs)  - The Children's Bureau and AdoptUSKids have partnered with the Ad Council to produce a series of humorous and heartwarming PSAs designed to encourage the public to consider adoption from foster care. The theme "You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent" continues to serve as the touchstone for the campaign. Current PSAs target the recruitment of families to adopt African-American children.
• April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month - The Child Abuse Prevention website provides resources for communities to help parents understand and meet their children's needs and protect them from harm.

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Issues

The Children's Bureau provides resources that highlight current issues in the child welfare field.

• Early Identification of Developmental Disabilities: Practical Tools - This webinar, featuring Dr. Jacqueline Bertrand and Dr. Rebecca Wolf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), describes programs and materials available from the CDC that can assist child welfare directors and providers with the identification of and referrals for children with developmental disabilities. It focuses on children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders or autism spectrum disorders and highlights the CDC’s Learn the Signs Act Early program.
• Integrating Safety, Permanency, and Well-Being for Children and Families in Child Welfare - This document summarizes the projects funded by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families in fiscal year 2012.
• Findyouthinfo.gov - Provides interactive tools and other resources to help youth-serving organizations and community partnerships plan, implement, and participate in effective programs for youth.
• Targeted Grants to Increase the Well-Being of, and to Improve the Permanency Outcomes for, Children Affected by Methamphetamine or Other Substance Abuse: First Annual Report to Congress - This report summarizes the activities of the 53 regional partnerships grants for addressing the needs of families with methamphetamine or other substance abuse problems who come to the attention of the child welfare system.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) offer a monthly update to provide the public and other interested parties with up-to-date information on CMS's efforts to implement new legislation, including the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). In addition, the Medicare website also offers a number of publications regarding MMA that may help recipients make decisions regarding their coverage.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has identified various scenarios that certain groups of Medicare beneficiaries might encounter in trying to access the new prescription drug benefits, and has provided guidance on how to respond to inquiries regarding these circumstances. They have also provided contact information for Regional Assistance Centers that can help answer other questions that might arise. As these new scenarios are submitted and answered, they will be added to those that are currently in the chart.
• Comprehensive Family Assessment Guidelines for Child Welfare - These guidelines address the components of comprehensive family assessment, show the linkages to service planning and service provision, and illustrate how child welfare agencies can support their use. These guidelines are provided as an initial framework to facilitate efforts to move the child welfare community towards comprehensive assessment as a best practice.
• Disaster Preparedness & Response - The process of developing and implementing emergency response plans for States, governments, and agencies is complex. It is hoped that the resources on these pages will help States and jurisdictions with developing comprehensive disaster preparedness plans and in protecting children and families by responding to emergencies quickly and effectively. The resources are organized by preparedness (before a disaster), response (the immediate aftermath), and recovery (the long-term reconstruction and healing phase).
• Methamphetamine & Child Welfare - Find information and resources on the prevalence of methamphetamine use and its impact on children and families as well as strategies for treatment and response.
• The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children - This manual addresses both the opportunities and challenges that CPS caseworkers encounter while working with fathers.
• Methamphetamine: The Child Welfare Impact and Response — Conference Proceedings - Proceedings from the May 2006 Children's Bureau conference on Methamphetamines and the impact of the drug on children and families, held in partnership with SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Child Care Bureau.
• Report to Congress on Adoption and Other Permanency Outcomes for Children in Foster Care: Focus on Older Children - Report to Congress on the challenges for older children in foster care to achieve permanency and promising strategies being employed across the country to address these issues.
• A Report to Congress on Interjurisdictional Adoption of Children in Foster Care - Describes the nature, scope, and impact of interjurisdictional adoption placement efforts and the strategies that improve outcomes for children in foster care who are placed for adoption in other jurisdictions.

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Other Related Links

• CBX Video - View here to find out more about the Children's Bureau's online digest.
• 18th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect - Information on the 18th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect will be held April 16 to 20, 2012, in Washington, DC, at the Hilton Washington Hotel. The conference theme is "Celebrating the Past, Imagining the Future." The conference will be held in conjunction with the Children's Bureau's Centennial Celebration Year in 2012.
• Systems of Care - The Child Welfare Information Gateway provides resources for professionals to learn about systems of care, build systems of care in their communities, and communicate with other professionals engaged in the process.

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