Until recently, there has not been a great deal of overlap in the child welfare and trauma literatures. This text promises to cross that divide by integrating perspectives from both fields to help practitioners understand and address the special needs of maltreated children and adolescents and their families. Current knowledge on attachment, trauma, and risk and resilience is clearly explained, including the impact of abuse on the brain. Readers learn how to conduct assessments and implement a range of effective helping strategies with youth in foster care and other settings. Featuring extensive case illustrations, the book gives particular attention to diversity issues and the importance of supporting child and family strengths.

This comprehensive reference offers a robust framework for introducing and sustaining trauma-responsive services and culture in child welfare systems. Organized around concepts of safety, permanency, and well-being, chapters describe innovations in child protection, violence prevention, foster care, and adoption services to reduce immediate effects of trauma on children and improve long-term development and maturation. Foundations and interventions for practice include collaborations with families and community entities, cultural competency, trauma-responsive assessment and treatment, promoting trauma-informed parenting, and, when appropriate, working toward reunification of families. The book’s chapters on agency culture also address staffing, supervisory, and training issues, planning and implementation, and developing a competent, committed, and sturdy workforce. Among the topics covered: Trauma-informed family engagement with resistant clients. Introducing evidence-based trauma treatment in preventive services. Working with resource parents for trauma-informed foster care. Use of implementation science principles in program development for sustainability. Trauma informed and secondary traumatic stress informed organizational readiness assessments. Caseworker training for trauma practice and building worker resiliency. Trauma Responsive Child Welfare Systems ably assists psychology professionals of varied disciplines, social workers, and mental health professionals applying trauma theory and trauma-informed family engagement to clinical practice and/or research seeking to gain strategies for creating trauma-informed agency practice and agency culture. It also makes a worthwhile text for a child welfare training curriculum.

This book presents a theoretically based and empirically supported framework for work with traumatized children, youth, and young adults who have spent time in foster care. It offers vivid examples of cases from the work of clinicians of A Home Within, a national non-profit focused on meeting the emotional needs of current and former foster youth.

From Trauma to Resiliency integrates research and practice of trauma-informed care, reviewing the neuroscience of trauma and highlighting relationship-based interventions for diverse populations that have faced multiple traumas. Chapters explore the experiences of oppressed groups that include survivors of abuse, war, poverty, Indigenous youth, Middle Eastern refugee mothers, individuals who identify as sexual and/or gender minorities (SGM), and children and youth involved in child welfare, foster care, and juvenile justice systems. In each chapter, contributors provide strengths-based, trauma-informed strategies that can be used in clinical settings, school-based programs, and in urban communities where food insecurity, limited access to health services, and community violence are prevalent. Professionals and students in counseling, social work, psychology, child welfare, education, and other programs will come away from the book with culturally affirming, trauma-informed interventions and models of care that promote well-being and resilience.

A book of 16 interventions designed to teach new and imaginative ways for working with traumatized children in foster care and adoption and their families. Groundbreaking Interventions provides a wide variety of play-based methodologies that have been successful in working with children over the age of five in foster care and adoption.

Blends practitioner-focused and culturally responsive interventions to provide an innovative approach to learning With the aim of transforming flawed child welfare practices and policies into a more equitable system, this comprehensive, practice-based text delves into contemporary child welfare practice from antiracist, social justice, and decolonial perspectives. Incorporating first-hand knowledge of day-to-day practice, the book examines the many roles of professional child welfare workers, foundational skills they need to work in the field, the challenges and promises of trauma-informed practice, how to maintain a dedicated workforce, and strategies for reshaping the system. This book covers child welfare practice thoroughly, from reporting to investigating and everything in between. It also explores relevant policies, signs of abuse/neglect, building relationships, anti-racist approaches, and the importance of cultural sensitivity. Throughout, it emphasizes the trauma experienced by children and families involved in the system and the impact on child welfare professionals. Learning objectives, reflection boxes, discussion questions, and additional resources are included in every chapter to provide opportunities for students to apply concepts. Additionally, case studies in most chapters offer practical applications to real-world situations. To accompany the book, qualified instructors have access to an Instructor Manual, Sample Syllabus, Test Bank, chapter PowerPoints, and supplemental videos covering topics such as careers, engagement, and foster care. Key Features: Informed by real-world experience demonstrated through case studies, reflection boxes, and discussion questions Weaves antiracist, social justice, and decolonial perspectives throughout and includes the viewpoints of diverse voices from the field Provides extensive coverage of trauma-informed practice Devotes a separate chapter to the unique issues of foster children in school settings Connects content to the 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards from the Council on Social Work Education Covers a broad range of career opportunities for child welfare workers in myriad settings