The way that adults, such as lawyers, judges, CASA workers, etc., engage with foster youth in a court setting is a huge indicator of whether or not an environment feels friendly. But sometimes when we are trying to convey a welcoming atmosphere, a picture really can be worth a thousand words. An art project currently… Read more »

Blogs
News from the Field: February 2020

Welcome to our monthly feature, News from the Field! This is an extension of the bottom of our newsletter. We will be providing you with some of the latest news, resources, and local & national professional development opportunities. If you haven’t already, sign up to get our monthly e-newsletter in your inbox. This month, we are… Read more »
“Their Wellbeing is Important”: How Judge Carlos Villalon Jr. Honors Youth
A TYPS On The Road Feature Spotlight In the last six months, The Texas Youth Permanency Study (TYPS) has been revving up its youth engagement in exciting ways. As a refresher, TYPS is a five-year study that is examining the long-term outcomes for youth in the Texas Foster Care System. TYPS is the first study… Read more »
How we make space for diversity, inclusion, and belonging in social work research

#CWConf20 is at the end of this month (February 28th)! As we gear up for our annual conference, we sat down with several of our researchers to ask them a little bit more about how we can foster a sense of belonging by being more inclusive and valuing diversity in our research methods. Here’s what the… Read more »
Wažoki means family: Creating inclusive practices for the populations we serve

By Allie Long The QIC-AG Project In September 2019, our Institute wrapped up its work on a five year project called the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG). QIC-AG was a project in partnership with the Children’s Bureau and Spaulding for Children. This project worked with eight sites to… Read more »
February Research Spotlight: 3 Articles Examining Child Welfare + Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging

By Allie Long The strength of youth voice: Exploring the influence of youth strength perspectives on desired outcomes for youth enrolled in system-of-care services (2019) E. Sacre Trawick, M. Aber, N. Allen & J. Fitts In this study, researchers wanted to bring power back to youth. This was the first known study to ask youth being… Read more »
News from the Field: January 2020

Welcome to our monthly feature, News from the Field! This is an extension of the bottom of our newsletter. We will be providing you with some of the latest news, resources, and local & national professional development opportunities. If you haven’t already, sign up to get our monthly e-newsletter in your inbox. This month, we are… Read more »
QIC-AG Toolkit and Resources

In October 2019, we released our findings from the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG) project. QIC-AG was a five-year project working with eight sites that implemented evidence-based interventions or developed and tested promising practices to achieve long-term, stable permanence in adoptive and guardianship homes. Because November is National… Read more »
No More Secrecy: Adoptees Have a Right to Their Original Birth Certificates

A guest blog by Dawn Marie Williamson Scott November is National Adoption Month, which is a time to raise awareness for the incredible need for adoptive families for children and youth in the foster system. This November, we are highlighting a personal story from Dawn Marie Williamson Scott, Vice President of Support Texas Adoptee Rights… Read more »
October Research Spotlight: Three Research Studies Examining Child Welfare and Immigration

By Megan Morris This Land Is Our Land: Exploring the Impact of U S Immigration Policies on Social Work Practice (2019) D. Franco This article documents the historical context of immigration policy in the United States and examines the stressors that this has created on Latinx migrants. The author argues that social workers must… Read more »