Realizing Permanency, Well-Being through Authentic Engagement
The Alliance for Children and Families, with a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, gathered experts in child welfare for a convening on family search and engagement in December 2012. This dialogue shaped the Alliance’s commitment and recommendations to private providers and served as an invitation to our partners across the child welfare system on this important topic.
Realizing Permanency and Well- Being through Authentic Family Engagement solidifies our commitment to the proposition that for child welfare practice to achieve true success, it must be buttressed by a culture of child and family engagement through each and every step of our work.
This report, grounded in examples from within the Alliance network, frames permanency and well-being not solely as outcomes, but as experiences that must be provided each and every day for all children in our care. The Alliance members featured in the report successfully led their staff through values and policies that still today lead to greater engagement and belonging of children and families. These organizations share how they embed a strong family oriented culture throughout their organizations and overcome the inevitable barriers encountered.
Our hope is that this report galvanizes the field to examine their own policies and practices and determines how they can successfully live from the inside-out these engagement values. As the report states, once families are truly valued, we will create a shift in culture so that every child sees their family valued in ways that support their own growth and development. Through this experience of permanency and well-being, we will then see the positive outcomes and life-long experiences each child deserves.