Children's Bureau Express

Linking Prevention Programs and Child Welfare Services

Over the last several years, the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect at the Children's Bureau has emphasized the need for more joint planning efforts between the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) programs and child welfare agencies in order to more effectively respond to the needs of children and families. Such partnerships might also provide an additional funding stream for certain child welfare needs. To determine the extent of these types of joint efforts, the FRIENDS National Resource Center for CBCAP reviewed reports from the first round of Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) and Program Improvement Plans (PIPs).

The FRIENDS report, An Analysis of Primary and Secondary Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention in the 2001-2004 Child and Family Service Reviews and Program Improvement Plans, indicates that State child welfare agencies were significantly challenged in providing support and assistance to children and families. The CFSR reports showed that State collaboration with CBCAP State Lead Agencies (SLAs) occurred primarily in the area of the CFSR systemic factor System Array. However, there are a number of other areas where collaboration between CBCAP and child welfare agencies could be beneficial:

Prevention
Service gaps
Family engagement and involvement
Collaboration and coordination

Many States already have begun using collaboration to accommodate stakeholder input as part of the Statewide Assessment that occurs with the CFSR process. Better coordination between prevention and child welfare programs could potentially have a positive impact on States' performance on the CFSRs and subsequent PIPs.

The full report is available on the FRIENDS website:

www.friendsnrc.org/download/cfsranalysis.pdf (1,004 - KB)

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