Child Welfare professionals often find themselves needing to make life-changing decisions with very little time contemplate the various options from a trauma-responsive lens. High Caseloads and being on-call 24-7 some weeks make it difficult to avail themselves of available training or professional development opportunities. For these reasons, ATTACh provides both a 3-part On-Demand Professional Development course for Child Welfare Professionals (click here to learn more) as well as an entire Child Welfare Track at our annual conference (click here for conference information). In addition, we have assembled a small list of resources here. There are many others, but these are excellent starting points to assist child welfare workers, supervisors and leaders as they strive to ensure that policies, programs and day-to-day practice is healing-centered, resiliency-focused, and trauma-responsive.
Child Welfare Information Gateway, Resources on Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Practice for Professionals https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/casework-practice/trauma-informed-practice/?top=243
National Child Traumatic Stress Network, Tools and Resources for Child Welfare Professionals https://www.nctsn.org/audiences/child-welfare-professionals and also Being Anti-Racist is Central to Trauma-Informed Care: Principles for Anti-Racist Advocacy https://www.nctsn.org/resources/principles-of-an-anti-racist-trauma-informed-organization
Racial Trauma Toolkit. Mason Counseling and Psychological Services. https://wellbeing.gmu.edu/students/racial-trauma-toolkit/
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration series on Building Resilient and Trauma Informed Communities https://store.samhsa.gov/product/building-resilient-and-trauma-informed-communities-community-journey-towards-resilience
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2021). Three Principles to Improve Out- comes for Children and Families, 2021 Update. http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2016). Applying the Science of Child Development in Child Welfare Systems. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.
Casey Family Programs (2023, October 2). What is Connecticut’s trauma-informed approach? Casey Family Programs. https://www.casey.org/trauma-informed-concept
Casey Family Programs (2023, November 1). How are child protection agencies implementing trauma-informed, healing-centered policies and practices? Casey Family Programs. https://www.casey.org/what-steps-can-our-agency-take-to-become-more-trauma-informed/
Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Project. (2013). Creating trauma-informed child welfare systems: A guide for administrators (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Chadwick Center for Children and Families. https://ncwwi.org/files/Evidence_Based_and_Trauma-Informed_Practice/Trauma_Informed_CW_Systems_Guide.pdf
Van Berckelaer, A., MD (2023). Using Reflective Supervision to support Trauma-Informed Systems for Children. Multiplying Connections. https://www.multiplyingconnections.org/become-trauma-informed/using-reflective-supervision-support-trauma-informed-systems-children