Child Welfare / Permanence
Every child needs and deserves to grow up in a safe, loving, and nurturing family – a family whose support is unconditional and will last a lifetime. Yet for the half million children in foster care on any given day, these necessary family connections are too often lost. We are committed to ensuring that every child has a safe and lifelong connection to a caring, nurturing family.
The Child Welfare/Permanence section of the Casey Foundation Knowledge Center offers resources that are either published or funded by the Casey Foundation. See also:
Featured Publications

When a Parent Is Incarcerated: A Primer for Social Workers
2011
The goal of this publication is to provide relevant and practical information for public child welfare agencies and social workers when working with incarcerated parents and their children, including a chapter on immigration. This primer also outlines the many compelling reasons why child welfare agencies should develop programs and policies specifically to address the needs of this subset of children in the child welfare system.
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Advice to a New Child Services Leader
2011
This paper by the Honorable James Payne, a retired judge and currently director of the Indiana Department of Child Services, offers personal insights for top leaders new to posts in public child-serving systems.
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The Adolescent Brain: New Research and its Implications for Young People Transitioning from Foster Care, Executive Summary
2011
This executive summary of a new study by the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative looks at mounting evidence that the human brain is still a work in progress and can be successfully “rewired” during and even beyond the teenage years, making the case for reforming the nation’s foster-care system stronger than ever.
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Counting is Not Enough: Investing in Qualitative Case Reviews for Practice Improvement in Child Welfare
2011
Can qualitative case reviews improve child welfare practice? This publication finds that the answer is "Yes." It examines the practices of more than 20 jurisdictions, gathers insight from national experts, and presents recommendations for improving this approach to child welfare practice. The report details key factors in implementing case review systems, including federal Child and Family Service Reviews, Quality Service Reviews, and ChildStat reviews.
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