Executive Summary This Needs Assessment report is part of a three-year contract between the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing (TXICFW) and the Texas Department of State Health Services for TXICFW to develop a best practices case management model specific to serving families with children with special health care needs (CSHCN). To better understand… Read more »
School social workers have a unique multi-level perspective and are equipped with skills to address individual student mental health, family support and crisis intervention, while also keeping their eyes open to the systemic barriers that students face. While many social workers are practicing in Texas schools, their roles and responsibilities vary widely by position and… Read more »
Spark, which provides support to college students who were in the foster care system, has been selected to fundraise through UT Austin’s 40 for Forty blitz fundraising campaign. This is a big deal for Spark and for foster youth across the state of Texas. Spark’s 40 for Forty campaign goal is to raise $20,000 for… Read more »
We recently caught up with Cassandra Mendoza, one of our newest TXICFW team members, to learn a bit more about her! Cassandra is the new Curriculum & Training Specialist, and is currently developing the “The TX Social Work Child Welfare Academy,” the capacity building arm of the Texas Permanency Outcomes Project (TXPOP). We are so… Read more »
We recently chatted with Corey Granstrand, one of our newest TXICFW team members, to learn a bit more about him! Corey is the Research Operations Coordinator for the institute, and we couldn’t be more excited to have him on board. Hi Corey! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I received my culinary… Read more »
Welcome to our March 2021 News from the Field monthly feature! 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,… Read more »
Check out these short research summaries from other experts in the field + learn their implications for practice! “We are kind of their parents”: Child welfare workers’ perspective on sexuality education for foster youth (2020) Harmon-Darrow, C., Burruss, K., & Finigan-Carr, N. Youth in foster care face many barriers when it comes to communicating effectively… Read more »
By Barbara Ball Ph.D., LPC-AT About 50% of females who experience foster care in the United States are pregnant by age 19 compared to 33% of females across the nation (Eastman, Palmer and Ahn, 2019). Despite disproportionately high pregnancy rates, there are limited interventions and community strategies to help reduce teen pregnancy among youth who… Read more »
By Allie Long & Barbara Ball Ph.D., LPC-AT Last May, we got the chance to talk with Dr. Barbara Ball about a new exploratory study called Learning About Healthy Relationships. In our last conversation (which you can read here), we chatted about the importance of understanding how and what youth in foster care learn about… Read more »
March 4th, 2021 We are excited to share the 6-month progress report for the Texas Foster Youth Health Initiative (TFYHI)! As the first statewide learning community of its kind in Texas, this Initiative is meant to build relationships across child welfare and adolescent health systems to promote optimal health for child welfare-involved youth. Our goal… Read more »