Volume 58 ~ November 19, 2025 | | The Good Stuff in Child Welfare | | |
Welcome to The Good Stuff in Child Welfare!
At the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice & Research, we acknowledge the often heart-wrenching and distressing narratives that dominate the child welfare landscape, leaving us deeply moved and impassioned. However, amidst these challenging stories, there exists a wealth of inspiring achievements and uplifting initiatives occurring nationwide at every level of practice. To highlight and celebrate these positive developments, we are delighted to present this monthly newsletter, dedicated exclusively to showcasing “The Good Stuff” within the expansive field of child welfare. This month, we highlight supports provided to caretakers across the spectrum that impact the lives of children and youth. We hope this read gives you a few moments of hopefulness and a sense of possibility.
If there's something you'd like to see here, shoot us an email. Know someone who could use a little Good Stuff in Child Welfare? Send them a copy! We hope you love it as much as we do.
| | Durham County Program Helps Families Stay Together and Avoid Foster Care | |
In Durham County, NC, the Guardian Assistance Program (GAP) helps families stay together. Instead of placing children in the foster care system, the program places them with family members whom their biological parents have identified as suitable guardians. The county conducts thorough assessments and background checks of potential guardians before finalizing placements. GAP also provides a variety of resources to guardians, including support groups focused on parenting and practical assistance, such as clothing for the children. By offering this support, GAP ensures that children in Durham County are not entering the foster care system unnecessarily and can remain connected to their families.
Link to Full Article
| | Housing Development for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care Coming to Knoxville | |
Lumen Flats is a brand-new development exclusively built for young adults aging out of foster care in Knox County, TN. It is an 18-unit studio apartment complex complete with a kitchenette and a private bathroom in each unit. It is one of three public-private partnership (PPP) projects focused on increasing Knoxville’s supply of affordable housing. Implementing an innovative approach to City-supported affordable housing, its construction is relying on private philanthropic gifts, plus payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) incentive agreements to close funding gaps. According to Ben Brewer, President and co-founder of Elmington Capital, “it’s not about building housing. It’s about the opportunity to impact and change the trajectory of people’s lives.”
Link to Full Article
| | Financial Assistance is Now Easier for Kinship Caregivers in Foster Care | |
On July 1, Iowa began implementing a 2023 federal rule called the “Separate Licensing Standards for Relative or Kinship Family Homes”, allowing states to provide foster care-level financial assistance to relatives and close family friends who care for children and to establish separate licensing standards for them. Prior to implementing this rule, kinship financial assistance in Iowa was limited to a maximum of four months. Now, caregivers will receive ongoing support while the child is in their care. In addition, kinship caregivers will be able to obtain their licenses in just two months. By simplifying the licensing process and expanding financial support, the state is ensuring that children can safely and sustainably remain with the people they trust. To date, over 350 households have benefited from this change.
Link to Full Article
| | Villages Don’t Get Better Than This North Idaho Nonprofit Helping Foster Kids | | |
As youth in foster care transition into a foster home, there are often resources needed that are not provided for the foster family. Village of Hope, an organization in Idaho, noticed this resource gap and worked to address it. The organization creates a “village” of support for over 250 families in Idaho, providing resources and professional assistance from social workers, community experts, and more. Angela Gifford, executive director of Village of Hope says, "Everyone can do something. The kids in foster care in North Idaho are our kids, and they need us to step up...Not everyone can, or should, be foster parents or work with kids, but everyone can do a little something to support those that are doing it - bringing dinner, tutoring a child, providing diapers, helping prep curriculum, raise awareness donations. There are so many ways to be the village.”
Link to Full Article
| | Community-Focused Program to Help Foster Families Launches in Utah | | |
Ensuring that children in foster care enter stable, safe homes is a top priority as a child transitions into a foster home. Care Communities is a program in Utah working to provide new foster families with a Care Team of 8-10 people, providing assistance during the initial transition as families adjust to their new living arrangement. “The children in their care now have safe adults in their lives who are an additional support in their family, so the impacts on their children in the home have been part of the good we have seen,” said Tami Carson, Care Communities Director.
Link to Full Article
| | Foster Care Unit Success Story: A Story of Resilience and Reunification | |
Reunification with family is always the goal in foster care. When it happens, it should be celebrated! This is the case in Fairfax County, VA as a young boy formerly in foster care since the age of three is reunited with his mother and his half-sibling several years later. Because of his mother’s perseverance and determination to be reunited with her son, she completed a Certified Nursing Assistant program, participated in in-home counseling services, and diligently attended parenting classes. Today, the family maintains a comfortable fully furnished two-bedroom apartment and the children are thriving with their mother.
Link to Full Article
| | The Field Center team would like to thank the staff and students who brought this newsletter together. Specifically, we recognize our Fall 2025 students Saadhya Bahudodda, Cheri Mitchell, and Jasleen Virk for their contributions in providing readers with this uplifting content. Many thanks to our Associate Director Sarah Wasch for editing and our Managing Faculty Director Dr. Johanna Greeson for her idea to curate the “good news stories” happening in child welfare! | | | | |
