Past Events
Refresh your knowledge from past events hosted by the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare. Contact [email protected] to request information or materials from past events.
2024 Spring Conference
The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare is pleased to announce our 24th Annual Spring Child Welfare Conference. On Tuesday, April 23, we will host a half-day conference on COVID-19’s impact on families, the workforce, and the delivery of child welfare services.
Participants will hear from a variety of speakers, as well as each other, as we explore lessons learned related to crisis response, child maltreatment, virtual engagement, family preservation, emerging promising practices and more. We hope to better understand how this collective experience over the past few years has both shaped and informed the current landscape of child welfare work. The conference will be in-person, with an opportunity for groups to stream live.
Conference Agenda
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 8:30-9 | Registration, Breakfast and Networking |
| 9-9:15 | Welcome |
| 9:15-9:30 | Morning Relfections |
| 9:30-10:30 | A Workforce in Transition: We're Better Together (Amelia Franck Meyer) |
| 10:30-10:45 | Break |
| 10:45-noon | Panel Presentation - Lessons Learned from Minnesota Service Providers |
| Noon-12:45 | Child Protection and the COVID Pandemic: The Forgotten Frontline Responders (Stacy Hennen) |
| 12:45-1 | Closing and Evaluation |
2023 Permanency and Child Welfare Fall Conference
The 2023 Permanency & Child Welfare Fall Conference took place November 14-16, 2023 at the Radisson Blu Mall of America in Bloomington.
This conference brings together professionals and advocates alike to expand perspectives on what permanency means, the “what” and “who”, as well as how modern advances in many areas impact the relationships children and youth have with their family – birth adopted, and/or chosen. In centering the advancement of child/youth wellbeing, we’ll talk through the layers of permanency from reunification, policy and legalities of permanency, and TPR or aspects of parental rights to workforce development, complex needs, and the impact of areas such as sexual health and technology in development of identity and relationships.
Reach out to [email protected] for more information and materials from the conference..
2023 Be@School Conference: Nothing About Us Without Us
2023 Be@School Conference: Nothing About Us Without Us participants will hear current and former student’s reflections on their experience with the education system and what they need from adults, particularly related to school attendance. We’ll also dig into the results from the 2022 Minnesota Student Survey. A current teacher will reflect on how he uses student input to engage middle school youth. There will be opportunities for discussion and networking with other professionals. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Conference Materials
Examining Haaland v. Brackeen
On November 9, 2023, SCOTUS heard the case of Haaland v. Brackeen regarding the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in the United States. While many, many child welfare professionals and advocates support upholding ICWA, the approach to legal arguments can be complex and difficult to understand. CASCW hosted a forum in which speakers helped attendees understand what is at stake in this case as well as broke down the arguments each side presented to the court both written and oral. Tribal perspective and judicial perspectives also played a vital role in this forum.
Audience Q&A Follow-up video
American Indian Wellbeing Unit - Minnesota ICWA Warriors Powerpoint (upload)
2022 CASCW Annual Spring Conference
The 2022 Spring virtual CASCW conference featured speakers and panelists as they explore how child welfare workers can best facilitate and support birth and foster parent relationships to improve outcomes for children and families. The audience learned current strategies and best practices from those with professional and personal experience.
Day 1
What is Your Why with Shrounda Selivanoff and Katie Biron
It's Possible: Cultivating Positive Relationships Between Birth and Foster Parents with Dr. Ericka Lewis
Relationships Matter: Building Lasting Birth and Foster Parent Partnerships with Robyn Robbins, Jody Rodgers, Paula Bibbs-Samuels and Marquetta King
Day 2
Quality Parenting Initiative Minnesota Panel Discussion
Respecting and Protecting Communities of Color Involved in the Family Regulation System with Maleeka Jihad
Family Connections: Linking Parents and Family to Support Children in Care with Renee Banas and Patrick Pisani
Indinawemaagan: You Are All My Relations (Closing remarks by Minnesota Associate Justice Anne K. McKeig)
Resources
Training, Videos, Podcasts
- Why Relationships Matter
a training course from Amara Family Connections that explains why investing time and energy into relationships is essential to protecting children who have entered the foster care system - A series of four videos from Amara Family Connections discussing how birth parents and caregivers developed support systems with and for each other to coparent for the well-being of system involved children:
Yuvia’s Story
A Network of Family
The Power of Relationships: Sarah, Josh, and Samantha
Grayson’s Story - Seen Out Loud Podcasts by Institute for Family ( Episodes 2 and 4)
- Voices from the Field Audio Series by Casey Family Programs “How can birth and foster parents partner to achieve reunification?”
- Video about Including Fathers produced by the University of Washington that addresses the barriers that fathers and male family members face when building and maintaining relationships with children.
- Caregivers, Families and Substance Use Disorder
Family Connections Program training course to help gain understanding about SUD, what the science tells us about recovery and tips for partnering with parents struggling with SUD. - Video Role of Resource Parents in Supporting Family Recovery and Reunification produced by Children and Family Futures that outlines how Family Treatment Courts are engaging resource parents to better support families affected by parental substance use.
- Supporting Family Relationships for Incarcerated Parents-Parenting Inside Out
Parenting Inside Out (PIO) Curriculum developed for criminal justice involved parents that focuses on rebuilding and improving family relationships and parenting skills. - Protecting Relationships During Transitions Training Video
QPI workshop that gives tips on the elements and implementation of effective transition plans for seamless transitions of a child from one caregiver to another. Examples of tips include how to maintain relationships between child, relatives, and caregivers. - Article from Rise Magazine
Structures of Oppression in the U.S. Child Welfare System: Reflections of Administrative Barriers to Equity
Authors illustrate how systems of oppression in regulating family life that take the form of practices, policies, and laws or regulations contribute to racial disparities, reinforce economic hardships and support policies of family separation.
Organizations and Programs
- Quality Parenting Initiative
A strategy of the Youth Law Center that focuses on strengthening foster care and refocusing on excellent parenting for all children in the child welfare system. - More on QPI from Casey Family Programs
- CHERISH Kindering
Program offering services to promote the social and emotional well being of children involved in the child welfare system that are in out-of-home placements. Services are for birth parents, relative caregivers and resource parents. - Children and Family Futures
Provides consulting, technical assistance, strategic planning, evaluation and training for child welfare, courts and substance use disorder treatment. - Children’s Trust Fund Alliance
National membership organization for state children’s trust funds. The Children’s Trust Fund Alliance provides support to state children’s trust and prevention funds. - Family Connections Program
A collaboration among parents, caregivers, and child welfare organizations designed to build and support relationships between the people in a child’s life experiencing out-of-home-placement. - Foster Kinship
Nevada based organization that provides evidence informed programs that strengthen kinship caregivers capacity to provide safe, permanent and nurturing homes. Foster Kinship provides kinship caregivers with information, advocacy, case management, and training to help caregivers access legal, financial and support services.
Tools
- Birth and Foster Parent Partnership: A Relationship Building Guide
Guide created in collaboration with parents and the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, Youth Law Center’s Quality Parenting Initiative, and Casey Family Programs that gives tips to help create and sustain positive relationships between birth families, foster families and kinship caregivers to best support the children and youth in their care. - CHAMPS (Children Need Amazing Parents) Policy Playbook
Research and policy examples and best practices aimed to inform and inspire state and tribal policy efforts to improve the lives of children and youth in foster care. The Policy Playbook explores the benefits of shared parenting and how implementing a shared parenting framework into agency policy can help reduce conflicts between birth and foster parents and can help facilitate reunification. - Equipping Foster Parents to Actively Support Reunification
AdoptUSKids resource for child welfare professionals to help address the importance of the foster parents’ role in reunification. The resource includes tips on building practices and implementing policies that reinforce partnerships between birth and foster families. - Foster & Kinship Parent Recruitment and Support Best Practice Inventory
Redlich Horwitz Foundation & ChildFocus developed a “best practice” inventory on key steps to finding and keeping kin and non-kin foster parents. - Shared Family Care and Shared Parenting
Child Welfare Information Gateway’s comprehensive list of programs, research and services that support partnerships between birth families and caregivers. - Shared Parenting: Training Participant Workbook
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services in-depth training for child welfare practitioners. The workbook emphasizes foster parents’ role in supporting birth parents, implications for practice and principles of the foster family/birth family partnership and more. - Starting a Visit Journal between parents and caregivers
Katie Biron of Fostering Connections shares tips on how to take steps in building a relationship between parents and caregivers by using a communication journal.
Research and Evaluation
- Children and Families Affected by Parental Substance Use Disorders
National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare’s highlighted resource to help reduce the stigma of Substance Use Disorders. - CoParenting and Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education for Dads (CHaRMED)
ChildTrends Federal evaluation effort designed to better understand how Responsible Fatherhood Programs support healthy marriages/relationships and coparenting. This study helped to identify gaps in services, and outline recommendations for addressing gaps. - Structures of Oppression in the U.S. Child Welfare System: Reflections of Administrative Barriers to Equity
Authors illustrate how systems of oppression in regulating family life that take the form of practices, policies, and laws or regulations contribute to racial disparities, reinforce economic hardships and support policies of family separation. - Supporting Successful Reunifications
Child Welfare Information Gateway’s bulletin for professionals providing examples of frameworks and practices that support family reunification. The bulletin also provides resources for casework frameworks and practices, parent support systems, and legal system involvement.
2020 Be@School Three-part Webinar Series
Part One: Inequitable School Absenteeism Policies: Causes, Consequences, and Strategies for Reform
In many school districts, White students get their tardies and absences excused more often than do students of color. In this webinar we document the scope of the inequity in five large Minnesota school districts, describe how it is caused by normal, day-to-day implementation of colorblind attendance policies, and suggest some initial remedies. The presentation will be followed by breakout sessions to develop and share additional ideas for immediate and long-term strategies to eliminate the structural racism embedded in attendance policies.
Clea McNeely, DrPH, has been studying truancy policies and interventions in Ramsey County, Minnesota since 2015. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Spencer Foundation.
Part Two: Making it Work: Serving Students with Disabilities During COVID-19
Join us for a closer look at special education for students with disabilities during COVID-19. This presentation will include a brief overview of the legal framework schools operate within, including an update on the most recent COVID-19 guidance from the Minnesota Department of Education. With our colleague, Christina Gonzalez, we take a pragmatic look at how schools and service providers are getting it right based on real-world examples. We will also discuss the challenges schools are facing. Please bring your questions and big ideas for making it work!
Laura Tubbs Booth, Attorney, Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A.
Elizabeth M. Meske, Associate Attorney, Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A.
Christina Gonzalez, LCSW, Director of Student Support Services, Richfield Public Schools
Part Three: Education Partnerships for County-Involved Youth During COVID-19
Join us for a closer look at special education for students with disabilities during COVID-19. This presentation will include a brief overview of the legal framework schools operate within, including an update on the most recent COVID-19 guidance from the Minnesota Department of Education. With our colleague, Christina Gonzalez, we take a pragmatic look at how schools and service providers are getting it right based on real-world examples. We will also discuss the challenges schools are facing. Please bring your questions and big ideas for making it work!
Lynne Penke, Youth Education, Hennepin County Health and Human Services