Vol. 7, No. 1• November 2002

Four Core Strategies of Family to Family in North Carolina

1. Recruitment, Training, and Support of Resource Families (Foster and Relative): Finding and maintaining local resources who can support children and families in their own neighborhoods by recruiting, training, and supporting foster parents and relative caregivers.

2. Building Community Partnerships: Partnering with a wide range of community organizations — beyond public and private agencies — in neighborhoods which are the source of high referral rates, to work together toward creating an environment that supports families involved in the child welfare system and thereby helps to build stronger neighborhoods and stronger families.

3. Family Team Decision-Making: Involving not just foster parents and caseworkers, but also birth families and community members in all placement decisions to ensure a network of support for the child and the adults who care for them.

4. Self-Evaluation: Using hard data linked to child and family outcomes to drive decision-making, and to show where change is needed and where progress has been made.

Source: Overview of Family to Family. Online. <http://www.aecf.org/initiatives/familytofamily/overview.htm>

Copyright � 2002 Jordan Institute for Families