Family Finding, Engagement and Support

The Center for Excellence recognizes the many efforts of programs to keep children, families and communities together. As part of the Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement and Support funding program, counties are encouraged to implement model programs, or programs that have been vetted by the Center for Excellence. The following programs have expertise in family finding, engagement and support.
 

Alia Innovations

In 2016, Alia was formed with sights set on transforming all organizations across the country who are entrusted with the welfare and wellbeing of children. Alia believes that you must begin with gathering and sharing knowledge and creating a sense of urgency for systemic change. Alia partners with agencies across the U.S in short and long-term engagements, partnering with early adopters and innovators in the field of child welfare to dramatically improve outcomes for youth and families and to create meaningful, sustainable change. Alia builds deep, lasting relationships and customized services, supporting partners through all phases of work to create sustainable, meaningful change. In addition, Alia provides Intensive Permanence Services (IPS), an innovation award-winning service designed to reestablish permanent familial connections to those youth who have been disconnected from family through placement(s) in out-of-home care. IPS works by having a single, highly trained specialist guide the youth through a proven process to heal from trauma they have experienced. The 4 stages of IPS include, Trusting, Healing, Connecting and Supporting. It takes between 18-24 months to complete all four stages.

• For additional information, please visit the Alia Innovations website.

Catholic Community Services of Western Washington-Family Behavioral Health (CCSWW): Family Search and Engagement

CSWW provides consultation and support for private organizations, non-profits and State and County jurisdictions implementing Family Search & Engagement (FSE) which is a set of practices designed to locate, engage, develop, and support family resources for youth. A major goal of this practice is to move youth from a place where they don’t hear “I love you” to a place where they can hear it and feel it every day. This comes from family, relatives, and others who love them. Frequently youth are involved in the child welfare system, have experienced multiple placements with non-relatives and have lost contact with their extended family members. FSE partners with child welfare services (CWS) expanding beyond family finding efforts focusing on engagement, with the intent to increase identity, belonging and permanency.

• For additional information, please visit Catholic Community Services of Western Washington

Cultural Brokers, Inc.

Cultural Brokers work with families involved with or at risk of being involved with the child welfare system. Cultural Brokers’ goal is to increase the overall well-being for at risk children and families by providing culturally congruent services that will enable them to successfully navigate the various government agencies and programs as part of their efforts to address their needs. Cultural Brokers aims to reduce disproportionality and disparities within the Child Welfare system and empower families by
recognizing, supporting, and developing their strengths and capacities. Cultural Brokers are embedded in the communities served and have relevant lived experience serving families from their community. Cultural Brokers leverage their knowledge and experience as a point of connection to better engage and empower parents and families. A Cultural Broker accompanies the responding social worker on the initial response and assists with culturally informed family finding. Cultural Brokers play a critical role in ensuring that children who do need to be removed from a home can be placed with family members rather than into traditional foster care.

• For additional information, please visit Cultural Brokers Inc.

Family Finding™

Family Finding™ is a framework developed by Kevin Campbell to engage the support of relatives and others who care about children, youth, and parents involved with Child Welfare, Children’s Mental Health, and Juvenile Justice systems. Family Finding ™ is currently listed as a Level 3 (Promising Research Evidence) by CEBC. Family Finding ™ Is manualized for practitioners and includes a separate manual for Supervisors and Managers. With significant impact, Family Finding ™ and Upfront Family Finding have been implemented in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties in California. Implementation of Family Finding is supported with online access to practice manuals, the development of internal staff and community partners who become licensed as Family Finding ™ Coaches, and Mentors authorized to provide local and internal training, support, and practice supervision within the organizations. Initial coaches, mentors, and staff training are provided in-person or virtually by Kevin Campbell and Elizabeth Wendel at Pale Blue. Family Finding ™ has been successfully implemented by governments, First Nations, and non-government agencies in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and Cambodia.

For more information on Family Finding: 

• Visit the Family Finding website.
• Access the Family Finding: Data & Practice Review of the Literature.

Kinnect to Family

Kinnect is a nonprofit dedicated to timely kinship connections and inclusive support networks for children, young people, and families. Kinnect to Family, a program of Kinnect, involves intense, specialized family search and engagement strategies and kinship supports. The program believes all children have caring and capable extended families that are willing to support their kin. Specialists work alongside traditional caseworkers to identify and engage kinship caregivers and connections for children and youth. With a goal of identifying at least 80 extended family members for each child, Kinnect to Family finds 150 people on average! Specialists develop family support plans with families to ensure stability, eliminate barriers, and create networks of support. The program’s enhanced model provides families with multiple access points to Kinnect to Family programming to prevent entry and reduce the time that children and youth spend in the child welfare system. The program specialist role is one part of a broader Kinnect to Family coaching and technical assistance model that increases success, ensures accountability, and provides better outcomes.

• For additional information, please visit the Kinnect to Family website.

Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a national nonprofit public charity that is committed to dramatically increasing the number of adoptions of children waiting in North America’s foster care system. Through its signature program, Wendy's Wonderful Kids, the Foundation supports the hiring of adoption professionals, also known as recruiters, to find permanent families for children and youth. Recruiters use an evidence-based, child-focused recruitment model and begin their search within a child’s familiar circles of family, friends and neighbors and then reach out to the communities in which they live. If family reunification is a safe option, a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter will explore it … always.

The child-focused recruitment model is focused on:

• Finding the right family for the child,
• Respecting a child’s voice, privacy and dignity, and
• Rooted in the belief that every child is adoptable.
   

For additional information, please visit Wendy’s Wonderful Kids.

All County Letters

• All County Letter 24-75: The purpose of this All County Letter (ACL) is to announce updates to the Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement, and Support (EFFES) Program. These changes enable counties that do not have a full-time family-finding worker due to insufficient caseloads to request authorization from the California Department of Social Services to participate by using a portion of a family-finding worker’s time. 
• All County Letter 23-12: The purpose of this All County Letter is to communicate the requirements for participation in the Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement, and Support (EFFES) Program and the provisions available to support implementation through the establishment of The Center for Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement, and Support. 

County Fiscal Letters

• County Fiscal Letter 22-23-49
• County Fiscal Letter 22-23-52
• County Fiscal Letter 22-23-52E

All Tribal Leaders Letter

• All Tribal Leaders Letter, 23-03: The purpose of this letter is to notify federally recognized Tribes in California or with lands that extend into California (hereafter, Tribes) of the $7.5 million noncompetitive Tribal Set-Aside Funds available for Tribes, consortia of Tribes, or Tribal Organizations that elect to participate in the Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement, and Support Program (EFFES Program) and the provisions available to support implementation through the establishment of the Center for Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement, and Support (Center).

These resources are designed to help your county plan to implement Family Finding, Engagement and support

• Family Finding Data & Practice Review of the Literature (View | Download)
• Family Finding & Engagement Promising Practice, Systems Change (View | Download)

Overview Webinars

• Watch these webinars to learn more

• • Watch the Center's Stakeholder Engagement Webinar

  • Watch the Fiscal Essentials of Family Finding and Engagement |   Presentation slides

  • ACL Overview Webinar | Presentation slides

• Building a Kin-first System: Tools for the Journey Series
• Access webinar recordings
  
  Our California kin partners, Think of Us, in collaboration with the Government Performance Lab, developed a kin-first webinar series highlighting six actionable strategies that child welfare agencies can use to move the needle on increasing placements with kin and strengthening caregiver supports within their jurisdictions — no matter where they are on their journey to build a kin-first system.