How do child welfare agency leaders view economic need and child welfare system involvement? How do they coordinate with other human service systems to offer economic and concrete supports such as food, stable #Housing, and #ChildCare? Chapin Hall teamed up with APHSA -- American Public Human Services Association to answer these questions. We conducted a national landscape survey of child welfare leaders to learn how they perceive support options, service coordination and tracking, funding, and barriers to meeting families’ needs. Explore findings for insights and recommendations for improving policy and coordination between child welfare and public benefits: https://lnkd.in/gy8wyEWQ #ConcreteSupports
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Current solutions for youth #Homelessness often fall short, leaving young adults without support and a safe, stable place to live. The Cash Plus model offers a new approach: unconditional cash transfers combined with optional services like housing navigation and financial coaching. Chapin Hall is evaluating this model in NYC and San Francisco to build an evidence base for effective solutions. Dive into our latest briefs to see how youth-driven support could make an impact for young people facing barriers to stable #Housing: https://lnkd.in/g7DrWwNn
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois' child care workforce dropped by 16%, with large employers losing up to 37% of their workers. While employer numbers have bounced back, the workforce hadn't fully recovered by 2022, leaving critical staffing gaps. Workers at the lower end of the pay scale were hit hardest. New research highlights these lingering effects and shows how minimum wage increases provided relief for child care workers. Learn more about ongoing challenges and how policy solutions can support a stronger workforce: https://lnkd.in/gJcETKEf #LivingWage #ChildWellbeing
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Happy #HispanicHeritageMonth! We need to work on more effective supports for Hispanic families, whose children are entering #FosterCare in greater numbers. Read about the kind of interventions we can leverage now and how we need to listen to families in Bryan Samuels' post. 👇
As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, it’s critical to reflect on a significant and troubling shift in child welfare: in 2020, more Hispanic children entered the foster care system than Black children for the first time in our nation’s history. Child welfare leaders and change agents must ask themselves: Do Hispanic families need a different approach to meeting their needs? Rather than approaches that work for one population, we must create and deploy customized approaches that consider and build upon nuance, culture and language as well as input from those with lived expertise. We know from a number of studies that Hispanic families receive fewer and less effective services. For instance, Hispanic children are more likely to be placed in out-of-home care and spend longer periods there, while their families face challenges accessing reunification services. Despite these risks, strong family ties and lower substance abuse rates act as protective factors for many Hispanic families. Hiring more bilingual and bicultural staff, creating family-centered interventions, and providing culturally competent services are all essential steps toward equitable care and have been supported by research. Listening to families’ needs in their native language ensures they will get the help they need based on their lived experience, not that of other groups. For example, a 2009 study showed that training caseworkers in cultural competency decreased the likelihood of out-of-home placements for Hispanic children. FGDM (family/team meetings, team decision making) has been shown to help Hispanic families reunify more quickly, aligning with their cultural values of family cohesion. Immigration status has been shown to affect access to state and federal programs. Experts at the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families have written about state policies that can affect access and use of Child Care and Development Fund Subsidies. Barriers to subsidies in some states include the requirement of formal documentation of work hours. Despite high rates of employment, this can be difficult for some Hispanic parents due to nonstandard hours or short-notice schedules. As the majority of foreign-born Hispanics in the U.S. and one in four U.S. born Hispanics struggle with English fluency, the authors recommend allowing ESL classes to count toward work requirements (some states already allow this). As the Hispanic population in the U.S. continues to grow, Chapin Hall is committed to working with our partners across the country to listen to Hispanic families to ensure policies and programs leverage their strengths and meet their needs. #ChildWelfare #SocialWork #HispanicFamilies #FamilySupport #HispanicHeritageMonth
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Happy #IndigenousPeoplesDay! Today is an opportunity to celebrate the rich cultures, resilience, and contributions of indigenous communities. We're also specifically highlighting the importance of culturally specific, evidence-based child welfare practices to support the well-being of native children and families. The Elevating Culturally Specific Evidence-Based Practices report gives an in-depth review of several programs designed by and for tribal communities, which aim to address longstanding inequities in the system and achieve better outcomes: https://lnkd.in/gvzy5xqk #Equity #ChildWellbeing
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The Cash Plus Model provides young adults with flexible support to choose housing that meets their needs. With regular direct #CashTransfers and youth-driven services, this approach empowers young people to address their needs and find long-term stability. Chapin Hall is producing a series of briefs on this innovative model, starting with the basics of the Cash Plus approach and our evaluation process. Read the first two briefs now: https://lnkd.in/g7DrWwNn #EndYouthHomelessness
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The "community pathway" approach through the #FamilyFirstAct leverages partnerships with private agencies, community organizations, and evidence-based prevention services providers to keep families strong and prevent the need for child welfare involvement. Strong relationships, a trained workforce, and robust data systems are key to success. It's crucial to involve #Community leaders and people with lived expertise to make sure this pathway truly meet family needs. Learn more in our new brief: https://lnkd.in/gcQdUXuM
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Chapin Hall is using #AI to make a real impact for children and families. Our teams are using predictive models to help child welfare agencies make better decisions, like predicting the risk of youth needing residential care or running away from foster care. We’re also applying AI to identify workforce challenges like burnout and address gender bias in large language models. Learn about our AI work and download our guidelines to see how we’re setting standards for responsible use: https://lnkd.in/gCqUuvtD #ArtificialIntelligence #ChildWellbeing
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#ChildCare workers play a crucial role in supporting families and the economy. Yet, they are still some of the lowest-paid U.S. workers with a median wage of $13.71 per hour in 2022 — less than many retail and customer service jobs. Our latest research briefs highlight this long-standing challenge and explore how recent #MinimumWage increases in Illinois are beginning to shift the landscape: https://lnkd.in/gGhaVanv Policy solutions like wage mandates have helped, but more work is needed to ensure child care workers are fairly compensated for their vital contributions.
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It’s #FosterYouthVoiceMonth! ✨ Check out these films and podcasts featuring people with #LivedExperience of foster care. Let’s learn from their stories. 🎥 Closure Documentary by Bryan Tucker: https://lnkd.in/ga4Pmasz 🎥 Unadopted | KQED Truly CA Film: https://lnkd.in/gNpPG8Y 🎥 Possible Selves: Overcoming the Odds in Foster Care (PBS Documentary): https://lnkd.in/g6xnCNvH 🎙️ Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast by Michael David-Thomas: https://lnkd.in/gkj-kxZ7 🎙️ Diaries of a Black Girl In Foster Care Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gnt34HDS
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Do you know the signs that a young person may be experiencing intimate partner violence or teen dating violence? How can you start a conversation with a young person about this and what supports are available? This #DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth, explore this research-based resource from the Activate Center to help you support young adults in this situation. It's important for young people to have supportive adults in their lives who can offer guidance when they're in trouble and help them prevent intimate partner/dating violence from happening in the first place.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Looking for research-based resources to support young people experiencing intimate partner and teen dating violence (IPV/TPV)? Follow the link to gain access to Activate's IPV/TPV Q&A conversation-starter guide for youth-supporting professionals. https://lnkd.in/eDQpfr6K #DVAM
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Leanne Heaton, Colin Cepuran, Yasmin Grewal-Kök, Clare Anderson, MSW, Jennifer Gaul-Stout, Ph.D., Matthew Lyons, and Meghann Dygert, congratulations on releasing these national survey results to the public! 👏