Protecting children and healing families, one Native auntie at a time

Hennepin County implemented a comprehensive overhaul of its child protection system, implementing a multi-pronged approach including increasing the staff and budget, splitting caseloads more evenly among workers, and instituting a two-month training program for new hires with ongoing education throughout their careers. The overhaul ensures families receive more comprehensive support, including therapy and addiction treatment services, reducing repeat cases and improving family outcomes.

Sacramento County's Cultural Broker Program places trained community advocates between Child Protective Services and Black families to prevent children from entering foster care. They work directly with families from the moment CPS gets involved until the case closes. They attend meetings with social workers, translate complex bureaucratic processes and advocate for parents. Of 552 families referred to cultural brokers between 2018-2023, 90% had successful outcomes, meaning children were reunited with parents, adopted, or placed in permanent living arrangements.

Lumen High School enrolls pregnant and parenting teens, providing a “learn-as-you-go” approach to learning that makes it possible for them to parent and stay in school. The school provides full-day child care, free baby supplies, mental health counseling and other supports to help get students to graduation day. All the Lumen High School students who graduate have been accepted into college, with 95% enrolling or choosing to start working within the six months after graduation.

Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club mentors local youth to nurture their social and emotional well-being, making them better equipped to handle the world around them. The Club also provides mentorships for fathers, helping them learn how to be more present in their children’s lives as research indicates the presence of positive role models can make youth more resilient when exposed to violent or negative environments. There are currently over 150 fathers who volunteer for events with the Club.

The Child Health-Law Partnership (Child HeLP) is a collaboration between health and legal professionals to treat a patient’s “health-harming legal needs” together. The original medical-legal partnership began 30 years ago in Boston, but has since expanded to other cities to look at all aspects of a patient's health. To administer the best care, patients are asked questions about housing quality and stability, delays or denials of public benefits, unmet educational needs and mental health.

The Elevate program is a free, eight-week course that helps guides couples to reconnect with each other and develop their parenting skills. The program helps between 30 and 40 couples each year, in-person and virtually. Since its start in 2021, the program has reached more than 470 couples, 96% of which have said they leave the program feeling happier with their partners.

The Uganda Child Helpline is a 24/7 toll-free line, whose goal is to encourage children and adults to report cases of child abuse. The Helpline then links at-risk children to support and protection through case management services. Currently, there are call centers in 68 districts and the line receives an average of 9,509 calls a day.

Summit County, Ohio's juvenile court's Multidisciplinary Team Representation assigns a parent advocate and social worker to child-custody cases to help parents reunite with their children much more quickly than the system typically processes cases. The program has just begun in the county, helping a handful of families reunite, but a study in New York City showed the same approach reunited families 43% more often than if just an attorney were helping the family. Parents whose troubles lead to the temporary loss of their children need supports that help them get on firmer ground.

Youth Villages, a nonprofit started in Tennessee over 30 years ago has helped improve the lives of children who face difficulties in their homes while saving money on the child welfare system. Instead of immediately removing children from their problematic homes, Youth Villages works on building relationships with the parents and providing in-home support services to both the parents and the children to ensure that they have a successful future. Additionally, the organization supports foster kids who age out of the system, and has managed to place many children back with their families securely.

The foster care system in Tennessee drastically reduced the number of children removed from their homes by implementing a preventive strategy that seeks to help parents remedy problems leading to child neglect. The strategy includes parenting classes, behavioral therapy, housing vouchers, and rehab, among other services. Fewer children in Tennessee face the trauma of entering the foster care system, easing the burden on case workers and allowing them to focus on victims of abuse who need their help the most.