October 23, 2024 Upcoming Webinars Tackle Child Welfare, Early Care, and Health Pritzker Children’s Initiative has announced a number of upcoming webinars that focus on everything from child welfare and early care to children’s health. BUILD Initiative On Oct. 17, a six-part webinar series launched on the BUILD Initiative’s exploration of how the child welfare and all PN-5 child and family serving systems – such as early learning, health, housing, economic development, and transportation – can align and work together to achieve better outcomes for children. The series describes strategies that both systems can employ to support children already in foster care and examines the barriers to cross-system collaboration. It also highlights state and community efforts that prioritize preventative, upstream approaches to support young children and families at risk of child welfare involvement. Additional webinar dates for this series include: Nov. 20 Jan. 16 Feb. 13 March 13 April: TBD Registration is open online. More information will be available closer to the dates of the webinars. Other Webinars The Center for Early Learning Funding Equity will host a webinar titled “Early Learning Shortchanged” on Thursday, Oct. 24 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. CT. The webinar will include a discussion about how early care and education is funded in the United States and why it is challenging. It will also focus on how to track money raised across funding streams. Registration is now open. Also on Oct. 24, Child Care Aware of America (CCAA), Better Kid Care, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) will launch “Collaborating for Child Well-Being: A Toolkit for Local Health Departments and Early Care and Education Programs. This webinar, which begins at 2 p.m. CT, will discuss a toolkit that provides practical guidance, tools, and resources to support developing and sustaining partnerships between local health departments and early care and education organizations. Registration is now open.
September 10, 2024 Harvard University Center Releases New Science X Design Learning Toolkit Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child has released a new learning toolkit for Science X Design users. About Science X Design Science X Design is an open-access, self-paced learning module that is designed to help service providers improve outcomes for young children and their caregivers. Pronounced “science by design,” the toolkit aims to empower service providers in such fields as healthcare, education, and child welfare. It helps to identify new opportunities to improve services in these fields. The toolkit also offers curated information on three design principles informed by the science of early childhood development and guides users in gathering input from the people involved in services. Through an interactive learning, listening, and synthesis process, users can identify opportunities to adapt early childhood programs to support the healthy development of young children and their caregivers. The module takes about four to six weeks to complete and was designed to be completed as a team. A course overview and information on who should participate in the module can be found on Harvard’s website as well as information on how long it will take and what outcomes to expect.
June 3, 2024 Optimizing Your Engagement with LGBTQ+ Foster and Adoptive Parents The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s All Children – All Families (ACAF) will host a panel discussion in July featuring LGBTQ+ foster and adoptive parents. Participants will share their experiences engaging with child welfare. Learn More Attendees will learn tips on recruiting and supporting LGBTQ+ families and listen to stories of new family formations. The discussion will take place at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 19. It will last approximately 90 minutes.
April 9, 2024 State Releases Meaningful Family Engagement Tool Kit The state Department of Human Services Office of Children, Youth, and Families (OCYF) has released a collection of resources to strengthen engagement in child welfare. The Pennsylvania Meaningful Family Engagement Toolkit is a web-based resource that was developed through statewide quality improvement efforts. It was designed to improve safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes for children, youth, and families served by the state’s child welfare system. The toolkit includes resources for a variety of topics. Learn More Meaningful engagement in child welfare, as defined by OCYF, is an active, ongoing, and genuine curiosity about an individual’s history, perspectives, challenges, and accomplishments. It involves the proactive partnership between caseworkers and families to increase safety for children by using inquiry to identify service needs and available supports and to work together to define achievable goals. The objective is to develop family plans, address challenges, achieve goals, form new connections, and strengthen existing supports. This involves ensuring that families have an active role by empowering them to make joint decisions to ensure a child’s safety, permanency, and well-being. Topics covered in the toolkit include: Cultural awareness and responsiveness Engagement models and strategies Engagement of incarcerated parents Engagement of out-of-state parents Engaging youth Father engagement Leadership Legal Parenting resources Teaming with extended family and kin The toolkit’s development was guided by data and information gathered through the state’s Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) efforts. These were designed to evaluate and improve how the state’s Child Welfare Practice Model is demonstrated at the system level and through daily practice behaviors and skills of professionals. The OCYF said data provided evidence of the benefits of strong engagement behaviors and skills. However, it also drew attention to populations needing additional support for engagement, such as fathers and incarcerated or out-of-state parents. Explore the Pennsylvania Meaningful Family Engagement Toolkit online.
December 13, 2021 2021 State of Child Welfare Report Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children has released their 2021 State of Child Welfare Report, which raises concerns about the need to strengthen the child welfare system. Data was collected in 2020, highlighting only the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report shows a decrease in child protective services reporting and the number of children placed in foster care statewide. Report Findings In 2020 there were 32,919 CPS reports, which was a 22% decline in reports from 2019, but the substantiation of reports was the highest in the last five years, with 14% of reports being investigated and found to be true. Notably, stay-at-home orders, moving to virtual learning, and less contact with medical professionals created a significant decrease in mandated reporting trends during the year for which the most recent data is available. While substantiation rates did increase, data from 2021 will be significant to see how trends shift as schools resumed in-person instruction. There was subsequently more interaction between mandated reporters, such as teachers, with children and families. We anticipate the 2021 data will show an increase in referrals and a potential decrease in substantiation as the system struggles to respond to the needs of children experiencing abuse and neglect during an unprecedented time of crisis. In 2020, 21,689 children were served in the Pennsylvania foster care system, a 12% decrease in the total population from the prior year. Fewer referrals being made by mandated reporters means fewer occasions to identify abuse leading to placement. Additional Information The full 2021 State of Child Welfare report, as well as a snapshot for each county, can be viewed on the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children website.
