This toolkit, originally published in September 2010 and updated in February 2015, serves as a resource for social workers in the US who are working with immigrant families within the child welfare system. The toolkit provides an overview of child welfare practice with immigrant families in the US, guidelines for integrating child welfare practice with trauma-informed care, and suggestions for building child welfare agency capacity in order to best work with immigrant families.
The toolkit offers guidance on the elements of good child welfare practice, including the use of child-centered, strengths-based, and culturally competent approaches. The toolkit also provides a background on the impact of trauma and immigration and how to make child welfare practice more trauma-informed. The toolkit offers guidance on many of the processes involved with working with families in the child welfare system, including engagement, intake, safety and risk screening, family assessment, case planning and implementation, evaluation, and closure, all with a trauma-informed lens. The toolkit also includes two case examples and concludes with frequently asked questions regarding working with immigrant families in the child welfare system, as well as some additional resources.
