Program Delivery Option: Public Child Welfare Agency (Dept. of Social Services, etc.)

Pathways to Success is an intensive, youth-driven case management model with the long-term goal of preventing homelessness among youth with foster care experience. The model is built around case managers, called Navigators, who are trained in a case management approach called Engaging Youth in a Coach-Like Way. In this approach, Navigators develop a coaching relationship to support youth. Youth direct the intervention by setting goals related to the outcome areas of housing, education, employment, health and well-being, and permanent connections. Meanwhile, Navigators deploy an individualized services array tailored to each youth’s needs, strengths, and goals. In addition to Engaging Youth in a Coach-like Way, Navigators use a variety of tools and resources to support youth in these domains, such as flex funds and referrals to relevant resources.

PreVenture^® is a prevention and early intervention program for youth aged 12 to 18 years. The program offers brief, workshops that teach personality-specific cognitive-behavioral skills to youth to promote mental health and reduce the risk of substance use.

PreVenture^® aims to promote self-efficacy and cognitive-behavioral skills among youth to help them cope with the numerous developmental challenges that many young people face, such as academic stress, peer pressure, interpersonal conflict, and identity development. This personalized approach aims to empower young people to build resilience and develop effective coping strategies to help them better manage their personality style. The program is delivered in two 90-minute personality-focused workshops (either online or in-person) either in a school or community setting and involves group and individual exercises, is manual-based, but guided by a trained facilitator.

The Be Strong Families’ (BSF) Parent Café Program is designed to provide a space for parents and caregivers to engage in facilitated, peer-driven discussions that foster self-reflection and strengthen protective factors for families. The program is built around the Strengthening Families Protective/Promotive Factors Framework and focuses on building connections between parents, promoting resilience, and developing strategies for addressing the challenges parents face. The Parent Café model is flexible and can be implemented in various settings, including schools, community organizations, and child welfare systems. Facilitators lead discussions, offer resources, and guide parents through topics that enhance parenting skills, create safer home environments, and support positive child outcomes.

NTDC, the comprehensive no-cost curriculum, is designed to tackle separation, loss, grief, and trauma in adoption and foster care. This cutting-edge resource offers adoptive, kinship, and foster parents flexible education that aims to empower them over the course of time and at the right time. Training is provided both as a synchronous classroom-based learning experience and through asynchronous “Right-Time” online modules that are available at any time for NTDC participants to build further knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy. While this training originated from key concepts to support children with intense service needs, it is designed to be used in any out-of-home placement, including with kin or adoptive caregivers.

Note: NTDC has also adapted to address the unique needs of indigenous communities; however, this separate manualized version is not part of this program review.

Hope Enhancement for Child Welfare Professionals is a 4-hour session within the Hope Centered and Trauma Informed^® training series. It combines theory and practical application, aiming to help participants conceptualize their goals, identify pathways to achieve them, and build strategies to sustain mental energy for goal pursuits. The training consists of four units that cover the research and theory of hope science, explore hope in the context of trauma, stress, and adversity, and develop strategies to nurture and restore hope and skills practice. These strategies are designed to enhance professional well-being and improve practice skills with children and families. Outcomes of the training include a significant reduction in employee burnout and secondary traumatic stress, along with increased positive future expectations.

Fatherhood Is Sacred®, Motherhood Is Sacred® (FISMIS) is Native American Fatherhood and Families Association’s foundational program that is designed to help strengthen families by empowering and uplifting fathers and mothers. The program teaches core principles to help strengthen them as parents. Native people believe in the sanctity of many things: animals, mountains, burial grounds, etc., but the most sacred are their roles as fathers and mothers. FIS/MIS is a program for those wanting to improve family relationships, prepare to become responsible parents, reduce recidivism and substance abuse, and improve safety for their children. This course is uniquely designed with culturally relevant material to teach parents the vital impact of being responsibly involved in each child’s life.

SPORT (Substance Prevention Optimizing Resiliency Training) Prevention Plus Wellness Middle School Version is a brief substance use prevention and health promotion intervention designed to highlight the positive image benefits of an active lifestyle to reduce the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs by youth. In addition, it aims to improve their overall physical and mental well-being.

SPORT (Substance Prevention Optimizing Resiliency Training) Prevention Plus Wellness High School Version is a brief substance use prevention and health promotion intervention designed to highlight the positive image benefits of an active lifestyle to reduce the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs by youth. In addition, it aims to improve their overall physical and mental wellbeing.

Nurturing Skills™ for Families (NSF) is a model of the Nurturing Parenting® Programs designed to prevent child abuse and neglect by addressing key areas that contribute to a safe and healthy family environment. The program aims to promote positive family practices, enhance parental knowledge and skills, improve communication and problem-solving abilities, build emotional resilience, strengthen family bonds, address risk factors, foster community support, and encourage accountability.

This flexible program is tailored to meet the needs of families with children ranging from prenatal to 19 years old. The Lesson Guide for Parents contains over 80 individual lessons presented across 16 competency areas, with core competency lessons forming the program's basic structure. Additional lessons allow parent educators to customize the program to suit the specific needs of each group or family.

Although the program representatives state that the model can be used with all families, it is only rated in the Interventions for Abusive Behaviors on research with families involved in the child welfare system.

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is an evolution-informed, biopsychosocial therapeutic approach that aims to help those who struggle with shame and self-criticism, which can result from experiences of abuse or neglect. CFT teaches clients to cultivate the skills of self-compassion and other-oriented compassion, and to build the courage and wisdom to address life’s difficulties and flourish. It utilizes psychoeducational concepts such as the three emotion regulation systems and understanding the ‘tricky brain,’ and guides participants through a range of mind-body practices. Clients and therapists collaborate on a set of therapeutic goals and tasks; formulation, assessment and therapeutic guidance are crucial.

Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) refers to the specific exercises that people practice in order to stimulate different systems in their brains, bodies, and social relationships. It is typically for nonclinical populations and may be used as a set of self-help exercises.

While the CEBC has only reviewed CFT for use with secondary traumatic stress, it can be used with non-caregiving adults, parents/caregivers, adolescents, and young adults to alleviate other symptoms.