In a nutshell, we consider the following to be the four essential components of family-centered practice in child welfare:

1. The family unit is the focus of attention.
   Family-centered practice works with the family as a collective unit, insuring the safety and well-being of family members.

2. Strengthening the capacity of families to function effectively is emphasized.
   The primary purpose of family-centered practice is to strengthen the family's potential for carrying out their responsibilities.

3. Families are engaged in designing all aspects of the policies, services, and program evaluation.
   Family-centered practitioners partner with families to use their expert knowledge throughout the decision- and goal-making processes and provide individualized, culturally-responsive, and relevant services for each family.

4. Families are linked with more comprehensive, diverse, and community-based networks of supports and services.
   Family-centered interventions assist in mobilizing resources to maximize communication, shared planning, and collaboration among the several community and/or neighborhood systems that are directly involved in the family.

In addition, the Summer 2005 issue of Permanency Planning Today focuses on some of the ways our work reflects family-centered practice as we work with States and Tribes.

Guides from the States

Adopting a Child Welfare Practice Framework
Many jurisdictions are beginning to create frameworks or models that describe the values and principles underlying their work with children and families, as well as specific approaches and techniques they consider basic to achieving desired outcomes. The Child Welfare Policy & Practice Group has prepared this paper to help child welfare professionals in leadership positions interested in grounding and reshaping frontline practice in such a model of practice.

• Iowa: Child Welfare Model of Practice
  Iowa Department of Human Services' child welfare model of practice is intended to define who they serve and the intended outcomes of child welfare services, as well as the guiding principles for their work and expectations related to practice and program and organizational capacity. This statement of practice was developed to define, affirm, guide, reinforce and support DHS’s strength-based and family-centered model of practice at all levels. It is intended to guide practice in individual cases and at the program and organizational level, and can be used as a basis of comparison in measuring or judging capacity, quantity, and quality.

• Massachusetts: A Proposed Practice Model for Working With Families Right From the Start
  This document from the Massachusetts Department of Social Services describes a proposed model for working with families built on DSS's core values, that practice be child-driven, family centered, community focused, strength based, committed to cultural diversity/cultural competency and committed to continuous learning.

  Michigan Department of Human Services Child Welfare Philosophy
  This philosophy serves as a guide for all DHS child welfare policy contracing and payment approaches, inclusive of protective services, foster care, adoption, and juvenile justice.

• Mississippi: Supervisor's Guide to Implementing Family Centered Practice
  Mississippi Division of Children and Family Services is embarking on the development of a Family Centered Practice framework that will guide the creation of standards of practice, supervisory activities and the day to day interaction between families, social workers and the community of caregivers and providers. This guidebook was developed to support supervisors in the process of developing and supporting staff to be family centered in their work. It should serve as a support to helping workers integrate family centered practice in all aspects of assessment, service planning and service delivery.

• New Jersey: Implementing the DCF Case Practice Model
  The Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) case practice model is intended to define who the agency serves, the expected outcomes of these services, and the guiding principles and expectations of the organization. This plan to implement the case practice model resulted from an extensive process of consultation within DCF and among key stakeholders.

• New York City's Child Welfare Community's Commitment to Quality Practice
  A model of practice principles for New York City which represents a commitment to keeping the children of the city safe.

• Tennessee: Standards of Professional Practice for Serving Children and Families: A Model of Practice
  The practice model contains DCS's guiding principles and standards of professional practice. The principles provide the framework from which the standards of professional practice for serving children and families are developed. Each standard includes additional information in the form of commentary.

• Washington: Family-Centered Practice Model
  The Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) created this document to describe their family-centered approach to child welfare services, and the intended benefits and outcomes of these services. Family-centered child welfare practices tailor services to individual families, and respect each child's right to basic safety as well as each child's need for a permanent family. Family-centered practices demonstrate their beliefs about how to be most effective with people in the helping process, and allow greater respect for differences in family styles, cultures and communities.

• Research on Family-Centered Practice: An Annotated Bibliography with Commentary - 2002
  In an effort to assess what is known about family-centered practice, the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR), with support from the National Child Welfare Resource Center on Family-Centered Practice, conducted a review of selected references and citations. This review reports more than one hundred items of unpublished and published literature (in most cases since 1990) in the area of family-centered practice. http://www.charityadvantage.com/iaswr/FCPBibliographyRev71202.pdf

• Family-Centered Practice
  This section of the Child Welfare Information Gateway focuses on resources to support and preserve families through a respectful, strengths-based approach that views the family as central to the child's well-being. It includes information on specific family-centered practice approaches, such as family group decision-making. It also includes resources on cultural competence, casework practice, and providing and evaluating family-centered services.

• Engaging Families
  This special section of the Child Welfare Information Gateway website provides information on many ways that service providers and the child welfare system can promote family engagement.

Last update 05/02/08