Leveraging FRCs to Reduce Families' Involvement with Child Welfare

• How are Family Resource Centers effectively reducing families’ involvement with child welfare?

• What role do economic and concrete supports play in child welfare prevention?

• What have been the challenges, successes, and lessons learned from FRCs working in this space?

This webinar will feature research from Chapin Hall that identifies economic and concrete supports as key ingredients in programs designed to prevent child welfare involvement. Two Family Resource Centers will share their experiences working to keep families out of the child welfare system. Presenters will discuss the range of services offered, including economic supports, and will explore the challenges, successes, and lessons learned in these efforts.

Context:

There are more than 3,000 Family Resource Centers (FRCs) in 40 states and the District of Columbia working with more than 2 million people annually. Yet because they have emerged organically without dedicated federal funding, they are often described as 'America’s best-kept secret.'

FRCs are community or school-based welcoming hubs of support, services, and opportunities for families that:

• Utilize a multi-generational, strengths-based, and family-centered approach.

• Reflect and are responsive to community needs and interests.

• Provide support at no or low cost for participants.

• Build communities of peer support for families to develop social connections that reduce isolation and stress.

Who Should Participate:

National, state/provincial, and local policymakers, public departments, private funders, Family Resource Center Network leaders and representatives, Family Support Program management staff, Family Resource Center staff, and child welfare professionals.

Webinars Wednesdays

The National Family Support Network’s free Webinar Wednesdays series raises awareness of Family Resource Centers, Family Resource Center Networks, and the nationally-adopted Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support.

Host or Publisher National Family Support Network