This Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation toolbox highlights selected resources and tools that are particularly relevant for current and future Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination (TTCW) grantees, and that may also be relevant for other human services programs. Resources included address the following topic areas: developing and using logic models for systems change; planning for data collection and collecting data; collecting and using stories in program research and dissemination; collaborative approaches to screening and assessment; data sharing and protecting sensitive information; performance measurement; data-driven decision making and continuous quality improvement; measuring collaboration; measuring program outcomes; dissemination; and sustainability.

The Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation released an Excel workbook of data collection templates designed as a resource to support current and future Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination (TTCW) grantees in their data collection planning. The included templates are intended to support the planning, collection, and reporting of TTCW program data. This resource includes a data collection template, a client anecdotes tracker, and a reporting planner template.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), partnering with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), announced certain “Title IV-B” child welfare services have been integrated to improve effectiveness. Under Public Law 102-477, Tribes can integrate their federal employment, training, and related services from across the federal government to improve the effectiveness of those services. Specifically, ACF recommended and BIA approved for Citizen Potawatomi Nation to integrate its child welfare services grants with several other federal grants for employment, training and related services into a single program and budget to address tribal priorities. Other ACF programs integrated are the Child Care and Development Fund, Community Services Block Grant, Native Employment Works and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.

In May and June of 2022, the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network (a national technical assistance center funded by the Administration for Community Living) hosted five virtual half-day regional convenings. Additionally, one of the Network’s key national partners, the National Indian Child Welfare Association, hosted a virtual half-day tribal convening. These six convenings brought together leaders from various systems within states, tribes, and territories to address challenges and explore promising practices in serving kinship/grandfamilies. They engaged individuals with lived experience, leaders and professionals in kinship navigator programs as well as community- and faith-based organizations. Additionally, the convenings included representatives of the following government systems: Aging, Child Welfare, Disability, Education, Housing, Medicaid/Medicare, Nutrition, and TANF.

Generations United produced a set of three tip sheets as quick reference tools for practitioners and advocates who are working with grandfamilies and kinship families from traditionally underserved groups. Based on toolkits, these tip sheets are tailored for addressing the needs of children from American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN), Latino, and African American populations. They help practitioners provide services in a way that is culturally sensitive and effective and also serve as guides for staff orientation/training to work in these communities.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway created a five-part podcast series that illustrated ways that states and tribal jurisdictions have supported kinship caregivers. Part 3 of this series focuses on the unique successes experienced within the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. The Tribe’s flexible use of funding and their prevention-focused approach have resulted in a near 70 percent reduction in the number of children in care. Their success is built upon strong, trusting relationships forged between tribal members. Topics discussed included:

• How Port Gamble S’Klallam’s Children and Family Services differs from other State and Tribal child welfare agencies,
• How the trusting relationships Children and Family Services shares with the community enable proactive engagement with families before they encounter the child welfare system,
• Tailoring services and assessments to address a community’s specific needs, and
• Guidance for child welfare professionals who may work with Tribal families and communities.

Both inside and outside the foster care system, American Indian and Alaska Native children are more likely to live in grandfamilies—families in which grandparents, other adult family members, or close family friends are raising children with no parents in the home—than any other racial or ethnic group. This toolkit is designed to give resources and tips to child welfare agencies, other government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, so they can better serve all American Indian and Alaska Native grandfamilies regardless of child welfare involvement. It also explores some unique strengths and challenges of these grandfamilies, which agencies and organizations need to recognize to provide culturally appropriate supportive services.

American Indian and Alaska Native children are more likely to live in grandfamilies than children in any other racial or ethnic group. While American Indian and Alaska Native children make up one percent of all children in the United States, they comprise over eight percent of all children in grandfamilies and two percent of all children in state foster care systems. This tip sheet is designed as a quick reference tool for practitioners and advocates working with grandfamilies and kinship families who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. It is meant to help them provide services in a way that is culturally sensitive and effective and also serves as a reference guide for staff orientation/training to work in these communities.