Working with and engaging youth
- Leading with lived experience: Youth engagement guidelines for the child welfare sector [2018]Resource from the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada intended for anyone working in the child welfare sector or anyone keen to reflect upon how to engage and be a better ally to young people who have experienced the child welfare system
- Guide to effective practice in mentoring for children and youth who are or have been in receipt of child protection services [2016]Evidence-informed resource guide from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada that outlines best practices and guidelines for mentoring children and youth who are, or have been, in receipt of child protection services.
- Engaging youth in foster care [2016]Podcast from the Children's Bureau providing the perspective of a former youth in foster care.
- Making the connection: Strategies for working with high-risk youth [2009]This book chapter offers a number of strategies for working with high-risk youth.
- Engaging and empowering Aboriginal youth: A toolkit for service providers [2010]Toolkit in support of those who work with Indigenous youth. Resource includes a set of 10 considerations and strategies for supporting the development of an Indigenous cultural identity.
- Working with adolescents: Supervision [2014]This practice guide from Child Family Community Australia provides an overview of clinical supervision for professionals working with adolescents.
- Ready... set... engage! Building effective youth/adult partnerships for a stronger child and youth mental health system [2007]Resource supporting youth engagement developed through a joint project of Children’s Mental Health Ontario & the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health
Engaging youth at the agency- and system-level
- Authentic youth engagementThis collection of resources from the Annie E. Casey Foundation includes an issue brief on implementing youth leadership boards and a fact sheet on the core values and principles for youth engagement.
- Youth Engagement Blueprint (YEB) seriesThis series from the Capacity Building Center for States aims to build capacity to promote a culture and climate that encourages youth engagement at all levels of an organization.
Promoting normalcy for youth
The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act is a U.S. law that requires child welfare agencies to promote normalcy for children and youth in foster care. Normalcy refers to the opportunity for children and youth in care to have age- and developmentally-appropriate experiences and experience childhood and adolescence in ways similar to their peers who are not in care.
- What young people need to thrive: Leveraging the Strengthening Families Act to promote normalcy [2015]This issue brief provides insight into what youth in foster care need to experience a "normal" childhood. Resource includes a Normalcy Activity Checklist for Young People in Foster Care (page 7).
- Having the Normalcy Conversation seriesThis series from the Capacity Building Center for States aims to advance organizational knowledge about the importance of normalcy for young people in foster care and to facilitate regular discussions about its implementation among all stakeholders, including young people themselves.
Supporting youth permanency
- Promoting permanency for older youth in out-of-home care [2019]Bulletin for professionals from the Child Welfare Information Gateway
- Permanency enhancement interventions for adolescentsReview of programs that focus on youth permanency. From the California Evidence-based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare.
- Talking with older youth about adoptionResource from the Child Welfare Information Gateway and AdoptUSKids.
- Going beyond recruitment for older youthResource intended to build agency capacity to prepare older youth for adoption and to respond to, retain, and prepare prospective adoptive parents as they consider adopting older youth.
- Strategies to achieve permanency for youthCollection of resources curated by the Child Welfare Information Gateway.
- Promoting supportive, lasting adult connections for older youth in foster care [2018]This resource describes the Good Shepherd Services’s program in support of relational permanency for older youth aging out of foster care.
Supporting youth during the transition to adulthood
- Youth transitioning into adulthoodReview of programs that target the needs of youth aging out of child welfare. From the California Evidence-based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare.
- Transition supports to prevent homelessness for youth leaving out-of-home care [2020]This report was produced as part of the Transition Supports to Prevent Homelessness for Youth Leaving Out-of-Home Care Study conducted by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and A Way Home, Canada. It reports on promising practices and policies that exist across jurisdictions to support youths’ transitions out of care
- What works for older youth during the transition to adulthood [2010]Report from Child Trends examining the role that programs designed to serve older youth can play in promoting positive development and subsequent self-sufficiency in adulthood.
- The transition to adulthood: How states can support older youth in foster care [2010]Report from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.
- Working with youth to develop a transition plan [2013]Bulletin from the Child Welfare Information Gateway.
- Building the core skills youth need for life: A guide for education and social service practitionersThis quick guide for practitioners who work with adolescents explains the science behind the core life skills that youth need, what affects the development of these skills, and how practitioners can help.
- Preparing transitioning youth to look after their own medical needs [2018]Resource from Children's Services Practice Notes.
- Building bridges to belonging: Promising practices for youth [2009]This guide is based on an extensive literature review as well as phone interviews with selected Ontario Children's Aid Societies and a survey administered through OACAS.
