Training & Technical Assistance

The purpose of the T&TA Network is to build the capacity of State, local, Tribal, and other publicly administered or publicly supported child welfare agencies and family and juvenile courts through the provision of training, technical assistance, research, and consultation on the full array of Federal requirements administered by the Children's Bureau. T&TA Network members provide assistance to States and Tribes in improving child welfare systems and conformity with the outcomes and systemic factors defined in the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) and the results of other monitoring reviews conducted by the Children's Bureau to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families.

Many State and Tribal requests for training and technical assistance (T&TA) are made to Regional ACF offices. For a listing of Regional ACF offices and the States they serve, visit the ACF Website: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/oro

• Children's Bureau Training and Technical Assistance Network Directory (2012) (PDF - 734 KB) - This directory is designed to communicate to States and Tribes the specific focus of each T&TA Network member.

National Resource Centers

The following are National Child Welfare Resource Centers funded by the Children's Bureau.

• National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement - Offers technical assistance, training, teleconferences, and publications to assist States with CFSRs, including strategic planning, quality improvement, evaluating outcomes, facilitating stakeholder involvement, and improving training and workforce development.
• National Resource Center for Child Protective Services - Focuses on building State, local, and Tribal capacity through T&TA in CPS, including meeting Federal requirements, strengthening programs, eligibility for the CAPTA grant, support to State Liaison Officers, and collaboration with other NRCs.
• National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues - Provides expertise to courts, attorneys, Court Improvement Projects, and State and Tribal agencies on legal and judicial aspects of child welfare.
• National Resource Center for In-Home Services - Serves as a national center of expertise in child welfare practice for ensuring the safety of children and youth in their homes and making reasonable efforts to preserve families in which maltreatment has occurred.
• National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections - Provides T&TA and information services to help States through all stages of the CFSRs, emphasizing family-centered principles and practices and helping States build knowledge of foster care issues.
• National Resource Center for Child Welfare Data and Technology - Addresses a broad range of program and technical issues (including Tribal and court child welfare issues) in assisting with the CFSR process, including training on data use and management, AFCARS assistance, coordinating peer consultation, and preparation and use of State Data Profiles.
• National Resource Center for Adoption - Partners with States, Tribes, and other NRCs to offer support in all phases of the CFSR process, including analyzing adoption and permanency options, exploring systemic factors, increasing cultural competence, and promoting stakeholder involvement.
• National Resource Center for Youth Development - Provides States with CFSR assistance, including promoting stakeholder involvement, T&TA, and information services. Also offers States, Tribes, and other youth-serving organizations assistance in effectively implementing the Chafee Foster Care Independence and Education and Training Voucher programs, and supporting youth engagement in child welfare policy, planning, and program development.
• National Resource Center for Tribes - Engages Tribes to increase their access to and use of the T&TA Network, brokers T&TA, helps provide T&TA, facilitates peer-to-peer consultation among Tribes on child welfare issues, and increases cultural competence and sensitivity to Tribal voices in the T&TA Network and in State child welfare systems.
• National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at AdoptUSKids - Provides T&TA to States and Tribes on issues that pertain to the development and implementation of quality recruitment and retention services for foster, adoptive, concurrent, and kinship families.
• AdoptUSKids - Raises public awareness about the need for foster and adoptive families and to assist States, Tribes, territories, and courts in their efforts to recruit and retain foster, adoptive and kinship families and connect them with waiting children throughout the United States.

Information, Training, and Technical Assistance

The following provide information, training, and technical assistance and are funded by the Children's Bureau.

• National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect - Facilitates secondary analysis of research data relevant to the study of child abuse and neglect. The Archive maintains numerous databases including the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).
• Child Welfare Information Gateway - Provides access to print and electronic publications, websites, and online databases covering a wide range of child welfare topics, including child abuse prevention, family preservation, foster care, domestic and intercountry adoption, search and reunion, and much more.
• Training and Technical Assistance to State Legislators on the Child and Family Services Reviews - Educates and engages State legislators in CFSRs and other child welfare reform efforts. This initiative also is designed to assist State child welfare agencies in developing strategies for communicating with legislators about CFSRs.
• National Child Welfare Workforce Institute - Provides leadership development training, mentoring, and technical assistance to mid-level managers in public and Tribal child welfare agencies throughout the country. Participation is intended to increase the effectiveness of mid-level managers and to build human capital needed in child welfare agencies in order to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families in those systems.
• Training and Technical Assistance Coordination Center - Coordinates T&TA requests for States, Tribes, territories, and courts when multiple providers are involved; facilitates better understanding of the identified needs related to the T&TA requests; and improves assessment of the readiness of the requesting jurisdiction to engage in the work.

Quality Improvement Centers

The following Quality Improvement Centers are funded by the Children's Bureau.

• National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services - The purpose of this 5-year project is to generate knowledge on effective practice models of differential response in child protective systems and support the infrastructure at State and local levels to improve outcomes for children and families referred for suspected maltreatment.
• National Quality Improvement Center on Early Childhood - The purpose of this 5-year project is to generate and disseminate robust evidence and new knowledge about program and systems strategies that contribute to child maltreatment prevention and optimal child development.
• National Quality Improvement Center on the Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System - The purpose of this 5-year project is to gather, develop, and communicate knowledge on child representation that presents the strengths and weaknesses of methods of representing children, promotes consensus on the role of the child's legal representative, and provides an analysis of how legal representation for the child might best be delivered.

Statutorily Mandated Programs/Services to Grantees

The following were established to support statutorily mandated programs and provide services to grantees and are funded by the Children's Bureau.

• National Abandoned Infants Assistance Resource Center - Works to enhance the quality of social and health services delivered to children who are abandoned or at risk of abandonment due to the presence of drugs and/or HIV/AIDS in the family.
• National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention - Offers knowledge and expertise in the implementation of family support strategies in a variety of settings and for many purposes. Provides CFSR assistance, including building networks, collecting data, and promoting stakeholder involvement.

Implementation Centers

The Children's Bureau funds five regionally based Implementation Centers, which focus on implementation of strategies to achieve sustainable, systemic change that results in greater safety, permanency, and well-being for children, youth, and families.

• Atlantic Coast Child Welfare Implementation Center - Serves Regions 3 and 4
• Midwest Child Welfare Implementation Center - Serves Regions 5 and 7
• Mountains and Plains Child Welfare Implementation Center - Serves Regions 6 and 8
• Northeast and Caribbean Child Welfare Implementation Center - Serves Regions 1 and 2
• Western and Pacific Child Welfare Implementation Center - Serves Regions 9 and 10

Co-Sponsored National Resource Center

The National Resource Center listed below is co-sponsored by the Children's Bureau and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

• National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare - Works to develop knowledge and provide technical assistance to Federal, State, and local agencies and Tribes to improve outcomes for families with substance use disorders in the child welfare and family court systems.

Funded by Intra-Agency Agreement

The Intra-Agency Agreement between the Administration for Children and Families and the Center for Mental Health Services sponsors the following programs.

• National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health - Dedicated to helping States, Tribes, territories, and communities build systems that improve access to quality care and improve outcomes for children with, or at-risk of, emotional disorders, and their families.
• Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health - Provides technical assistance to systems of care communities funded by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families program to meet the mental health needs of children and youth with serious emotional challenges effectively.

Other Related Links

• National Child Welfare Workforce Institute's Leadership Academy - Offers evidence-based leadership training and development to supervisors and middle managers. The training can enhance managerial ability to initiate and support organizational changes that lead to improved outcomes for children, families, and communities. The Leadership Academy for Supervisors provides free online training for supervisors, and the Leadership Academy for Middle Managers consists of 5 days of residential classroom training. Both courses are followed by peer networking events. Certificates and CEUs are available.
• CBX Video - Find out more about the Children's Bureau's online digest, Children's Bureau Express.
• Understanding and Complying With Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, as amended by the Interethnic Adoption Provisions (IEP) - (PDF - 411 KB).
• Understanding Substance Use Disorders, Treatment and Family Recovery: A Guide for Child Welfare Professionals - This tutorial is a primer on alcohol and drug addiction, and substance abuse treatment and recovery. Topics covered include treatment readiness and treatment effectiveness, cross-system communication and collaboration, and contact information for other national resources.
• CFSP/APSR Toolkit - This toolkit is a central location for technical assistance documents and materials, as well as references to specific laws, policies, and checklists, that relate to the development of the State and Tribal Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP) and Annual Progress and Services Report (APSR).