National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Child Welfare System

In a given year, perhaps one million American children come to the attention of the child welfare system. Many are victims of abuse or neglect, live with caregivers who are impaired, and deal with school and community violence as a fact of life. Increasing knowledge and building skills among caseworkers and other child welfare personnel is critical to identifying and providing early intervention for children traumatized by maltreatment and other stressors.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed tools and materials to help child welfare administrators, caseworkers, and frontline staff understand and respond to the needs of traumatized children.

Page Contents:

NCTSN Resources
Other Resources

NCTSN Resources

Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents (2010)
This workshop is designed to provide foster parents, adoptive parents, and kinship caregivers with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively care for children and teens in foster care who have experienced traumatic stress. Participants will learn how trauma-informed parenting can support children's safety, permanency, and well-being, and engage in skill-building exercises that will help them apply this knowledge to the children in their care.

The training is designed to be presented in seven sessions of about two hours each. The workshop package includes a Facilitator's Guide; a Participant Handbook; and a multi-part Slide Kit.

Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit (2008)
The Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit was developed to help teach child welfare workers the basic knowledge, skills, and values they should apply when working with traumatized children in the child welfare system.

Children's Advocacy Center Directors' Guide to Mental Health Services for Abused Children (2008)
The Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) Directors' Guide to Mental Health Services for Abused Children seeks to give CAC leaders increased awareness and understanding of best practice mental health interventions for traumatized children.

Helping Children in the Child Welfare System Heal from Trauma: A Systems Integration Approach (2005)
This publication reports on the results of a survey conducted among child-serving agencies in a number of states. The goal of the survey was to understand how various service systems communicate with each other about trauma among the children they serve. The survey also sought to determine how they may inadvertently retraumatize the child or, more positively, promote the child's healing following a traumatic event. The survey identified gaps in communication among agencies and systems. Knowledge gained from the survey can inform the development of training and educational materials to breach the gaps, and improve collaboration.

Other Resources

Addressing Secondary Traumatic Stress: Emerging Approaches in Child Welfare (PDF)
This article in the March/April issue of Children's Voice, a publication of the Child Welfare League of America, focuses on efforts of child welfare systems across the country to help their staff cope with the secondary traumatic stress they may experience in their jobs. The work of a number of NCTSN member centers is highlighted.

Trauma resources from the Child Welfare Information Gateway

The Child Welfare Information Gateway, a service of the Children's Bureau, provides links to resources on trauma in children in the child welfare system, secondary traumatic stress in child welfare workers, and mental health services in disasters and major traumas.