While an effective intake assessment helps build an initial impression of each father’s individual situation and needs, fatherhood program staff also know ongoing one-on-one and group interaction is needed to fully understand him and see who he might become. Even then, it can be hard to accurately follow his progress through the program and ensure his needs are met in the best way possible. This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse brief presents an overview of customer journey mapping, an evidence-based tool that helps program administrators and staff members reflect on a father’s journey through a program and make service adjustments based on the father’s perspective as he progresses through that program.

This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse publication serves as a resource for program operators seeking information on available curricula designed for working with fathers. While not a comprehensive list, it provides an overview of curricula used by programs funded by the Office of Family Assistance within the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Administration for Children and Families announced the launch of “A Home for Every Child,” a national initiative aimed at right-sizing the ratio of foster homes to the number of kids in the foster care system. The initiative will focus on both sides of the equation — increasing the availability of safe homes through diligent recruitment, prioritizing kin, and improving retention of existing caregivers while reducing entries into foster care through effective prevention and faster pathways to permanency. ACF plans to leverage all $11.4 billion of its annual federal funding for foster care and child welfare to advance this mission and will come alongside state agencies to give broad latitude, flexibility, and technical support to reimagine community-specific interventions. ACF will eliminate outdated bureaucratic barriers that discourage families from stepping forward, including streamlining foster family licensing, supporting kinship caregivers, and encouraging faith-based partnerships to expand the network of caring families.

Ongoing supports for children and their foster, adoptive, and kinship families can provide increased stability and well-being. Unfortunately, many families may not know about available support services or may be reluctant to access them. This AdoptUSKids resource offers ten strategies that agencies can adopt to inform families about support services. It is particularly important to make sure families are both aware of services and understand that needing support is common, so they are willing and able to reach out early when challenges are typically easier to resolve.

The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) offers a training institute consisting of an array of evidence-based, trauma-informed, and accredited programs. The training programs include both free and fee-based trainings, web-based and instructor-led programs, virtual and in-person options, and a range of topics to meet the training needs of professionals supporting children and their adoptive, foster, and kinship families.

This Child Welfare Information Gateway webpage offers resources that highlight strategies that professionals can use to build relational permanency through lasting, lifelong connections and to support youth before, during, and after adoption. These resources highlight the importance of relational permanency, offer guidance on supporting kin caregivers to strengthen stability and permanency outcomes, and provide tools for building and maintaining comprehensive, culturally responsive, and accessible post-permanency services.

This Executive Order by the Trump-Vance administration announces that they will dedicate Federal support, technology, and strategic partnerships to provide young Americans in or transitioning out of the foster care system with the tools they need to become successful adults.

Every child deserves a safe and nurturing home where they can learn, grow, and reach their full potential. Adoption makes that possible by opening the door to stability and belonging for children who need a family. This proclamation by the Trump-Vance administration declares November 2025 as National Adoption Month throughout the United States and encourages all Americans to support children in need of a safe and loving home, uplift the families who welcome them, and help strengthen the bonds of family and community.

The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network will host a webinar on December 11, 2025 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET to help Tribes who operate kinship support service programs, including kinship navigation programs, know about and understand how they can prepare to take advantage of new resources afforded under the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act. This new law reauthorizes and updates Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, a critical child welfare law that provides funding to Tribes, states, and territories, to create and operate coordinated child and family services programs.

A Home for Every Child (AHEC) is a national initiative of the Administration for Children and Families focused on ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe, stable, and loving home.

The initiative is designed to address both sides of the child welfare equation by reducing entries into foster care through effective prevention and by increasing the availability of foster and kinship homes through stronger recruitment, kin-first approaches, and improved retention of caregivers.

At its core, A Home for Every Child is about right-sizing the ratio of available homes to children in need so that there are homes waiting on kids, not kids waiting on homes.

This webpage showcases resources that support the priorities within the AHEC initiative.