Alex J. Adams, Assistant Secretary for Family Support at the Administration for Children and Families, explains in this City Journal article that a major issue in foster care is a shortage of licensed foster homes relative to the number of children entering care. This shortage leads to children being placed in emergency settings, group facilities, or temporary housing without good long-term fits.

Many families who want to foster face burdens: complicated paperwork, trainings, court involvement, and costs. Streamlining licensing would increase the pool of available foster homes. And by licensing broadly and matching carefully, the system can have “homes waiting for children, not children waiting for homes.”

The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This tip sheet accompanies a video on Securing Support: Getting Input to Sustain Buy-in for Prevention Partnerships, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. These resources feature TANF and CW representatives from Arizona and Iowa who discuss how they secured buy-in from program staff, agency leadership, community partners, and families to enhance services that help keep families together.

The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This tip sheet accompanies a video on Focusing Efforts: Using Shared Data to Define and Advance Prevention Goals, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. These resources feature TANF and CW representatives from Oregon and Michigan who discuss how they use shared data to identify families’ needs and enhance their programs to help keep families together.

The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This video accompanies a reflection guide and tip sheet on Securing Support: Getting Input to Sustain Buy-in for Prevention Partnerships, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. The video features TANF and CW representatives from Arizona and Iowa who discuss how they secured buy-in from program staff, agency leadership, community partners, and families to enhance services that help keep families together.

The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This video accompanies a reflection guide and tip sheet on Focusing Efforts: Using Shared Data to Define and Advance Prevention Goals, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. The video features TANF and CW representatives from Oregon and Michigan who discuss how they use shared data to identify families’ needs and enhance their programs to help keep families together.

Research documents that kinship families want and need support, and effectively engaging them is key. This begins with trust and mutual respect, which does not fit in with transactional checkboxes, but with a relational approach. By centering lived experience, creating welcoming environments, and listening to what caregivers say they need, one can successfully build authentic relationships that will connect families to both formal systems and community-based support. 

The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network will host a free webinar on January 21, 2026 from 2:00 p.m. ET to 3:30 p.m. ET, offering some key elements of building trust for lasting partnerships with kin. Presenters will focus on: 

• Building trust through lived experience, empathy, listening, and holding space for personal stories;
• Ensuring caregiver representation as key stakeholders in all aspects of the organization;
• Designing safe and welcoming physical and virtual spaces that reflect caregiver needs;
  • Considerations for accessibility (i.e., transportation, childcare, internet/device access, flexible times, etc.);
  • Matching service options to caregivers’ individual strengths and needs;
• Emphasizing hospitality and customer service;
• Using a bottom-up approach to programming that responds to what caregivers ask for;
• Practicing trauma-informed outreach to reduce barriers and foster connection; and
• Serving as a bridge to both formal services and informal community supports once trust is built.

For every one child in kinship foster care, there are 19 children in kinship care outside of the formal child welfare system. These families are often referred to as “informal” kinship families because of their outside-of-the-system status and, historically, they have not gotten the same financial or social supports that families in the child welfare system have.

Chapin Hall partnered with Kinnect, an Ohio-based nonprofit, to develop OhioKAN—a responsive kinship and adoption navigator program that supports children, youth, and their families. This resource outlines the development of OhioKAN, from the state’s request for proposals issued in response to the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) to the program’s implementation and the success stories of the families it serves.

While some studies have shown the effectiveness of Family Resource Centers (FRCs) – which provide critical services to families to increase their access to supports for basic needs, support accessing public benefits, and skill-building classes – in individual communities or states, less research has examined services provided by FRCs across states.

To help fill the gap, this Child Trends study aims to gain a better understanding of the services FRCs provide across the country—and particularly of how FRCs work with young parents (under age 25), how they help young parent-led families access public benefits, and whether/how they provide services to young parent-led families involved with the child welfare system.

Families thrive when their communities are strong and connected. Yet too often, families face barriers to resources that support well-being, like lack of affordable childcare, safe housing, mental health supports, or job opportunities—barriers that can spiral into crises and even child welfare involvement. To address these challenges, Lutheran Services in America launched the Family Stabilization Initiative (FSI) in 2021. In its first four years, the FSI engaged nearly 1,000 families across six communities in four states, demonstrating how locally driven, wraparound supports can prevent crises before they occur. As part of this effort, Lutheran Services in America partnered with Chapin Hall to develop the Community Building and Mobilization Framework, which provides practical strategies rooted in principles that shift the focus from short-term fixes to long-term, transformational relationships.

This Chapin Hall webpage connects readers with the framework (for download) and a recording that highlights how organizations are translating this vision into action.

This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet provides information about kinship families and the challenges they face and presents ideas to help faith communities better serve these families.