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Moving Away from Family Separation: Cross-Systems Strategies to Support Young Children at Risk of Child Welfare Involvement

Part of the Resource Collection: Child Welfare and Early Childhood: Cross-Systems Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Young Children and Their Families Report
By: Cynthia Tate, PhD; Deborah Stahl March 12, 2026
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Between October 2024 and April 2025, the BUILD Initiative hosted a six-part webinar series, offered through BUILD’s Prenatal-to-Three Capacity Building Hub. This report provides key learnings and highlights from the webinar series.

Promising programs, policies, and strategies that can inspire states to act.

Children who are involved in the child welfare system, especially those under the age of five, are among the most vulnerable. Research has shown that access to high-quality early childhood programs and services, along with coordination between families and staff in both the child welfare and early childhood systems, is crucial for the future success of these young children.

Since 2020, BUILD has explored how the child welfare system and other early childhood systems (i.e., health, mental health, housing, early intervention, transportation, economic support, early care, and education and all the child-and-family serving systems) can align and work together to achieve better outcomes and families. In the process, BUILD has identified several states that have developed promising programs, policies, and strategies that can inspire other states to act.

 

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