• Webcast - Visits: Critical to the Well-Being and Permanency of Children and Youth in Care
  http://event.netbriefings.com/event/nrcfcpp/Live/nrcfcppp15/
  Register for our next webcast, which will take place Tuesday, May 20 at 1:00 EDT. Frequent visiting between children and youth in care and their parents consistently has been found to be associated with children's enhanced well-being while in care, with the outcomes of placement, particularly family reunification, and with decreased length of stay in care. A close look at state policies regulating visiting practices reveal that they vary widely, often providing no or limited guidance to those who plan and implement visits. This webcast is a conversation between Dr. Hess, the leading expert in family visiting, and Dr. Mallon, the Executive Director of the NRCFCPPP. Dr. Hess and Dr. Mallon will discuss and highlight promising visiting practices in various states.

• NRCFCPPP Hot Topics - New Pages
  http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/information.html#hottopics
  Visit our two new Hot Topics pages: Early Childhood Developmental Issues, and Mental Health and Child Welfare. We also revised our page on Health Care to make it easier to find resources on all three topics.

• Foster Care and Adoption Statistics
  http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/index.htm#afcars
  The Children's Bureau has posted preliminary estimates for national foster care and adoption data for Fiscal Year 2006 in AFCARS Report #14. The total number of children in foster decreased from 513,000 to 510, 000 from 9/30/05 to 9/30/06. However, the number of adoptions with public agency involvement stayed the same year to year at 51,000, and parental rights were terminated for 13,000 more children in 2006 than in 2005, increasing the number of children waiting to be adopted to 129,000.

• Nominations for 2008 Adoption Excellence Awards
  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/current_initiatives/aeawards.htm
  As part of your Foster Care Month activities this May, you are invited to nominate candidates for the 2008 Adoption Excellence Awards (self-nominations will be accepted). Find nomination guidelines and the nomination form, as well as information about past recipients, at the link above. All nominations must be received by COB Friday, July 11, 2008.

• Court Performance Measures in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases
  http://www.courtsandchildren.org/
  This website provides information on the types of performance measures that can be used to assess court performance in child abuse and neglect cases. Performance measures are explained for the following areas: child safety, permanency, timeliness, due process, and well-being. For each area, links are provided for descriptions of different assessment measures that can be used for evaluation. The descriptions include information on the purpose of the measure, methodology, analysis and interpretation of results, required data elements, and alternative measures.

• Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Timely Permanency Through Reunification
  http://www.casey.org
  Casey Family Programs is sponsoring a Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) on Timely Permanency Through Reunification. Twenty (20) teams of Public child welfare agencies/Tribal agencies along with a court or tribal court partner will be brought together to share knowledge, challenges and successes over the course of two years. Participating jurisdictions will identify, develop, and test potentially promising strategies for improving practice in their child welfare and court systems that will ultimately support and improve timely permanence through reunification. The teams will be selected through a competitive application process. The deadline for receipt of completed applications is Friday, July 11, 2008 at 5:00 EDT.

The NRCFCPPP Weekly Update is emailed to all subscribers every Wednesday. We urge subscribers to share this information with colleagues in the field. This service is brought to the child welfare community free of charge by the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning at the Hunter College School of Social Work, which is a Service of the Children's Bureau.

To subscribe, visit http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/update-subscription.html

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