Child Welfare System
In any given year, approximately one million children come to the attention of the US child welfare system. Many are victims of abuse or neglect, live with caregivers who are impaired, and/or deal with school and community violence as a fact of life. Identifying these traumas and providing early intervention are crucial to assisting children traumatized by maltreatment and other stressors.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) has developed tools and materials for building skills and increasing knowledge about childhood trauma to help child welfare administrators, caseworkers, frontline staff, other mental health personnel, and caregivers understand and respond to the needs of traumatized children.
Page Contents
NCTSN Resources
Birth Parents with Trauma Histories and the Child Welfare System
This factsheet series from the Birth Parent Subcommittee of the Child Welfare Committee highlights the importance of understanding the serious consequences that trauma histories can have for birth parents and the subsequent potential impact on their parenting.
- For Parents (2012) (PDF)
- For Child Welfare Staff (2011) (PDF)
- For Judges and Attorneys (2011) (PDF)
- For Mental Health Professionals (2012) (PDF)
- For Resource Parents (2011) (PDF)
- For Court-Based Child Advocates and Guardians ad Litem (2013)
Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents (2010)
A workshop designed to provide foster parents, adoptive parents, and other caregivers with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively care for children and teens in foster care who have experienced traumatic stress. Participants learn how trauma-informed parenting can support children's safety, permanency, and well-being; and engage in skill-building exercises to help apply this knowledge to the children in their care. Designed to be taught by a mental health professional and a foster parent as cofacilitators, and presented in seven 2-hour sessions. Includes a facilitator's guide; a participant handbook; and a multipart slide kit.
Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit (2008)
Helps provide child welfare workers with the basic knowledge, skills, and values essential for working with traumatized children in the child welfare system.
Children's Advocacy Center Directors' Guide to Mental Health Services for Abused Children (2008) (PDF)
Provides Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) leaders with an 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) (PDF)
A report on the results of a survey conducted among child-serving agencies in a number of states. Primary goal of the survey was to understand how various service systems and agencies communicate with each other about trauma in the children they serve. Also identifies the ways agencies may inadvertently be retraumatizing some children, how they promote a child's healing following a traumatic event, and 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 to improve collaboration.
Other Resources
Addressing Secondary Traumatic Stress: Emerging Approaches in Child Welfare (2009)
—In Children's Voice (March/April 2009), a publication of the Child Welfare League of America.
- Article focuses on how child welfare systems across the country help their staff cope with secondary traumatic stress they experience in their jobs. The work of a number of NCTSN member centers is highlighted.
Child Welfare Information Gateway
—A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health Services.
- 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.
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