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Resource Collection: Child Welfare and Early Childhood: Cross-Systems Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Young Children and Their Families

Though they share common goals to support abused, neglected, and traumatized children and their families, the early childhood systems and child welfare systems often find it challenging to work collaboratively.

This collection of resources supports a 2022 BUILD Webinar Series devoted to exploring ways to strengthen the collaboration between early childhood and child welfare. The five-part series, Child Welfare and Early Childhood: Cross-Systems Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Young Children and Their Families, launched in January 2022 with a monthly webinar and roundtable discussion and continued through May 2022.

The objectives of the webinars were:

  • Raise awareness about young children and their families encountering or involved with the child welfare system.
  • Educate participants about the racial disparities in family separation from child welfare involvement.
  • Promote family and community opportunities and strategies for prevention.
  • Provide examples of cross-systems collaboration on behalf of our youngest children.

This resource collection, which will evolve and grow over time, provides foundational information to help state leaders working in early childhood and child welfare better understand each other’s perspectives, address their challenges, and examine opportunities and strategies for creating stronger partnerships to support young children and their families and improve outcomes.

Child Welfare and FFPSA

Report January 1, 2021

This page on the Alliance for Early Success website provides a number of resources about the landmark bipartisan Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA). The legislation represents sweeping reforms to federal child welfare policy, and it provides significant new opportunities for states to improve the health and well-being of children of all ages, including very young children as well as teen parents of young children.

How Can Child Protection Agencies Partner with Early Care and Education to Improve Outcomes for Children?

Website July 17, 2020

Participation in early care and education provides many benefits for children involved with the child protection system. Enrollment in ECE programs is linked to a lower likelihood of removal from the home and a decreased number of subsequent child maltreatment reports. Despite demonstrated benefits, ECE is underutilized by children involved in the child protection system. Developing strategic, collaborative relationships between ECE and child protection can increase the utilization of ECE among young children involved in (or at risk for involvement in) the child protection system, thereby providing benefits to more children and families

A Survey of State Child Welfare Policies and Initiatives

Report January 1, 2019

To understand the policies and services already in place for infants and toddlers in care and at risk of entering care, as well as where the child welfare field can leverage opportunities, Child Trends fielded the 2019 Survey of Child Welfare Agency Policies and Practices for Infants and Toddlers in, or who are Candidates for, Foster Care. The survey, supported by ZERO TO THREE and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), aimed to understand the current array of policies and practices intended to serve this population, and how this array may have shifted since the initial fielding of the survey in 2013.

Addressing the Needs of Young Children in Child Welfare: Part C-Early Intervention Services

Website October 1, 2018

Early intervention services can help young children with developmental delays or disabilities and their families overcome challenges and achieve improved well-being and outcomes. The Part C referral provisions in the 2003 reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) and in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) opened the door to an effective partnership between the child welfare and early intervention systems, which may benefit children birth to age 3 involved in substantiated cases of abuse or neglect. This partnership can expand the array of supports and resources for children and their caregivers in order to help children remain safely in their homes, stabilize placements, and improve well-being. It also can help child welfare staff in assessment and permanency planning.

Family First Prevention Services Act

Government Document February 9, 2018

Signed into law on February 9, 2018, as a part of the Bipartisan Budget Act (HR. 1892), Family First includes long-overdue historic reforms to help keep children safely with their families and avoid the traumatic experience of entering foster care. In passing the law, Congress recognized that too many children are unnecessarily separated from parents who could provide safe and loving care if given access to needed mental health services, substance abuse treatment or improved parenting skills.

Benefits of Early Care and Education for Children in the Child Welfare System

Report November 1, 2016

Young children birth through five years old in the United States are more likely to experience child maltreatment, subsequent child welfare system involvement, negative developmental outcomes, and serious maltreatment-related injuries and death than older children. This research-to-practice brief provides a model for how early care and education services can benefit this vulnerable age group by exploring emerging evidence from social science research on the effects of ECE on the child welfare system.

Child Welfare Toolkit

Planning Tool January 1, 2014

This toolkit for early childhood professionals provides materials and tools to support collaboration with the child welfare system. It was funded by a federal grant from the Children's Bureau of the Administration of Children and Families.

A Developmental Approach to Child Welfare Services for Infants and Toddlers

Website February 20, 2012

This resource is a companion piece to the report - A Call to Action on Behalf of Maltreated Infants and Toddlers. This comprehensive assessment tool helps states and counties examine ways to embed a quality, developmental approach to serving infants and toddlers in the child welfare system, as well as meet the new federal requirements for state child welfare plans.

A Call to Action on Behalf of Maltreated Infants and Toddlers

Policy Agenda January 1, 2011

A Call to Action represents the collective vision of leading child welfare and early childhood development organizations on the important steps that can and should be taken in policies, programs, and practices to address the needs of vulnerable infants and toddlers who come to the attention of the child welfare system. This policy agenda is intended to provide a starting point for policymakers at all levels of government in creating a response to the children’s special needs.