Child Welfare Practice Tools

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.

One of the most frequently asked questions from NASW members is, “What is NASW doing to advocate for social workers?” In response to this popular question, the clinical team developed this advocacy booklet for members.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) are teaming up to incorporate the latest research from AECF’s report, Building the Capacity of the Child Welfare Workforce: Supporting the Healthy Adolescent Brain Development, into training curriculum for Child Welfare workers.

This report uses the most comprehensive data set ever collected across all 50 states, fills in key details about the lives of young people who have experienced foster care. The data describe how youth in foster care are falling behind their general population peers and are on track to face higher levels of joblessness and homelessness as adults.

A substantial and growing number of children in the United States have at least one chronic health condition. Many of these conditions are associated with disabilities and interfere regularly with children’s usual activities. In their most severe forms, such disorders are serious lifelong threats to children’s social, emotional well-being and quality of life, and anticipated adult outcomes such as for employment or independent living.