Complex Care Webinar August 2026: Partnering and Shared Decision-Making and Supporting Youth Voice

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Partnering with children and youth starts with seeing and valuing them as whole people, not just for their circumstances, behaviors or involvement in systems. Meaningful partnership requires more than simply involving youth in conversations. It requires trust, transparency, follow through, shared power and a genuine commitment to working alongside young people rather than making decisions for them, ensuring that children and youth are not only heard, but actively shaping the plans and decisions that impact their lives. 

This webinar explores strategies to strengthen child and youth-adult partnerships by addressing power dynamics, promoting shared ownership and supporting youth as active participants in planning, teaming and problem-solving. Participants will explore practical approaches to moving beyond participation toward meaningful partnership and youth-driven decision-making.

While the skills explored are broadly applicable across human-serving systems and with children and youth of all backgrounds and experiences, this session is intentionally tailored for professionals working with youth with complex care needs, where involvement across multiple systems can add layers of complexity to engagement, partnership, and keeping youth voice centered in conversations and decision-making. 

Participants will: 

• Understand the power imbalances inherent in the relationship between children and youth and their child welfare professional.
• Understand strategies to share decision-making so that creative solutions can incorporate child and youth voice.
• Identify key skills children and youth need to advocate for themselves.
• Learn how to ensure children and youth have a voice at the table and how to empower and engage children and youth in planning and decision-making.
• Facilitate child- and youth-driven, family-centered team decision-making where children and youth identify people they want in their circle of support.
• Recognize how empowering children and youth in making decisions increases their self-esteem and provides critical skills they will need in the future.

Whether you are brand new to this field, have years of experience or play a role in shaping our human-serving systems, you will get something out of this session.

This session draws from curriculum developed  by the Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth (QIC-EY), a federally funded initiative focused on strengthening youth engagement practices in child welfare systems. Content aligns with California practice frameworks including the Integrated Core Practice Model (ICPM), Safety Organized Practice (SOP) and Motivational Interviewing (MI). 

Presenters

Thomas Threlkeld brings both lived experience in foster care and 20 years of professional child welfare practice to his national training work. A social worker, public speaker, and APLD Fellow, he is a certified TIPS-MAPP trainer and creator of "Trauma 101." Thomas serves as a national trainer with the Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency (QIC-EY), where he elevates youth voice and advances trauma-informed, youth-centered practice.

Anna Brown, with over 20 years of experience training child-welfare professionals, Anna Brown specializes in implementing curricula that strengthen how workers authentically engage children and youth. She has led statewide and national training rollouts-including CORE Teen and NTDC- and has presented at numerous conferences. As a former foster parent, Anna brings practical insight into trauma, loss, and transitions, enriching her work with families and professionals. She continues to mentor teens and young adults, modeling meaningful, lasting youth engagement.