Articles and Briefs

2020 KIDS COUNT Data Book: State Trends in Child Well-Being (AECF) (NEW)

The Annie E. Casey Foundation produces an annual KIDS COUNT report presenting data and trends from across the United States related to overall child well-being, education, health, and family and community.

Birth Parents with Trauma Histories in the Child Welfare System (NCTSN)

This provides suggestions that resource parents can use to recognize how trauma may have impacted the way birth parents parent. This fact sheet helps resource parents to more effectively support and work with a foster child's birth parent(s).

Black and African American LGBTQ Youth Report (HRC)

This resource draws on a subset of data from the 2018 HRC LGBTQ Youth Report to highlight the experiences of respondents who identified part or all of their ethnoracial identity as either Black or African American. HRC hopes this information helps to encourage youth-serving professionals to apply an intersectional lens to their work.

A Blueprint for Embedding Evidence-Based Practices in Child Welfare (AECF)

Informed by best practices in implementation science, this report outlines a process for integrating evidence-based and evidence-informed programming into child welfare systems. It offers guidance on assessing and selecting interventions, establishing and sustaining implementation teams, developing and aligning implementation structure and supporting data use and communications to ensure continuous quality improvement.

Child Maltreatment 2018 (Children's Bureau)

This report, published in January 2020, presents national data about child abuse and neglect known to child protective services agencies in the United States during federal fiscal year 2018.

Concepts for Understanding Traumatic Stress Responses in Children and Families (NCTSN)

The 12 Core Concepts, developed by the NCTSN Core Curriculum Task Force during an expert consensus meeting in 2007, serve as the conceptual foundation of the Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma and provide a rationale for trauma-informed assessment and intervention. The Concepts cover a broad range of points that practitioners and agencies should consider as they strive to assess, understand, and assist trauma-exposed children, families, and communities in trauma-informed ways.

Every Kentucky Kid Needs a Family (KYA)

Every child needs a family and a safe place to call home. This issue brief provides recommendations to ensure children who have experienced abuse or neglect receive an appropriate level of care and have a chance to grow up in the care of a family.

Help is Here (KY Coalition Against Domestic Violence):  Version 1  |  Version 2  |  Version 3

Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s newest brochure explains the mandatory education and referral for victims of domestic violence. Local programs and volunteers will find these useful for information regarding domestic violence and sexual assault resources and reporting.

Kentucky Kids Count Project (KYA)

Kentucky Youth Advocates presents an in-depth look at data for individual Kentucky counties and provides evidence-based strategies for addressing areas of concern.

Minimizing the Impact of Parental Incarceration on Children (Blueprint for KY's Children)

Children need their parents to care for them and earn a living to meet their basic needs. Unfortunately, Kentucky has a high rate of children who have experienced separation from a parent due to incarceration, which impedes parents’ ability to stay employed and raise their kids. This brief provides data and recommendations for minimizing the impact of parental incarceration on children.

Reentry to Foster Care (Annie E. Casey)

This report examines the risks of children returning to foster care after discharge and seeks to help child welfare agencies identify kids who might benefit from evidence-based interventions available through the Family First Prevention Services Act.

The Science of Resilience (Center on the Developing Child | Harvard University)

Reducing the effects of significant adversity on young children’s healthy development is critical to the progress and prosperity of any society. Yet not all children experience lasting harm as a result of adverse early experiences. Some may demonstrate “resilience,” or an adaptive response to serious hardship. This brief discusses the fundamentals of resilience, which is built through interactions between children and their environments.

Variations in the Use of Kinship Diversion Among Child Welfare Agencies (Child Trends & AECF)

This brief, generated with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, shares insights and opinions on the use of kinship diversion as a preventative practice in child welfare. Its findings stem from four main sources: field work, stakeholder interviews, administrative data reviews and a digital survey tool.

Youth Risk Behavior Study - Data Summary and Trends Report (CDC)

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report assesses behavioral health trends of high school students across the country that pose serious risks to their health and well-being. The report provides data from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, routinely undertaken by CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health. The report breaks down data from the past decade (2007-2017) by gender, by race, and for sexual minority youth. The survey focuses on the health behaviors and experiences in priority areas for CDC.