Child Welfare Practice Tools

NASW is developing a task force for the revision of the 2013 Guidelines for Social Work Safety in the Workplace. The guidelines were created to establish safety measures and protocols for social workers within the workplace. Social workers utilize these guidelines as a resource to help create, develop, and assist communities, private and public agencies, local, state, and federal policymakers to create a safe working environment in areas where social workers are employed.

Children in America are in the midst of a mental health crisis, struggling with anxiety and depression at unprecedented levels, according to the 2022 KIDS COUNT® Data Book. The report focuses on youth mental health, concurring with an assessment by the U.S. surgeon general that current conditions amount to a youth mental health pandemic.

This message guide and toolkit equips youth-serving providers and organizations with the tools and resources necessary to support meaningful prevention messaging. The toolkit includes messaging on youth substance use prevention, tip sheets, social media graphics and shareables, videos, webinars, interactive worksheets, and an educational course.

On March 11, 2021, the President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Among its provisions, the law includes supplemental fiscal year (FY) 2021 funding for two of the grant programs authorized by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA).

Learn how the adolescent brain continues to develop, and how that knowledge can provide guidance on how social workers and other practitioners work with older youth, especially those who experience the child welfare system. This initiative was supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and draws from several resources developed through the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative.

NASW, with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, has developed training resources that will give child welfare workers, social workers,foster parents and others who work with older youth critical information about how the adolescent brain develops.