Child & Family Wellbeing Accelerator

The application window for the 2023-24 Accelerator is now closed

State and local governments across the country are reimagining the way they support children and families, redirecting resources towards preventative investments designed to help minimize the use of punitive government responses such as child protection investigations or removals and the potential harm of those interventions for families in crisis. To help accelerate implementation efforts, the GPL is offering 10 months of technical assistance to a select number of state and local jurisdictions across two topics (detailed descriptions below): 

Topic #1: Connecting families to Family Resource Centers, Home Visiting programs, or other family-focused resource hubs 

Projects in this topic will address common questions such as: How do we connect families beyond those who proactively seek out support with these resources before child welfare involvement? Which families are getting served? Are we reaching those most in need of support? When they’re served, do they have better outcomes? 

Topic #2: Translating “kin-first” commitments to practice 

Projects in this topic will address common questions such as: How do we translate a commitment to "kin-first" policies into practice? How do we measure and communicate the benefits of a kin-first approach? What management practices reinforce this commitment in practice? How can we break down barriers to placement with kin? How can we set these placements up to be stable and well-supported? 

“While increasing placement of children with relatives and non-relatives has always been a prioritized need, the GPL provides an external perspective with deep knowledge of the field and additional capacity to push towards our goals. Already, intensive work to strengthen information collection and standardize supports and processes is leading the way to the desired outcome.”

- Sheree Tortora, director of CQI, ChildNet, and current Accelerator participant 

TOPIC DESCRIPTIONS

The GPL will provide selected jurisdictions with 10 months of coaching and implementation support for government staff to advance discrete reforms. Support will focus on reforms aimed at keeping families together, from diagnosing key challenges through to implementing sustainable changes in practice. Jurisdictions may apply for support across two topics: 

Topic #1: Connecting families to Family Resource Centers, Home Visiting programs, or other family-focused resource hubs

Many jurisdictions are expanding investments in community-based family wellbeing supports such as Family Resource Centers and Home Visiting programs. These voluntary prevention programs have the potential to reduce reliance on punitive interventions such as investigations and removals by supporting families before crises emerge, as well as to reduce racial disparities in the child welfare system by providing equitable access to preventative support. However, without attention to who is being served, families with the most knowledge of services are often prioritized by default. These programs often must overcome deep-seated stigma and fear of potential child protection involvement to attract and engage families beyond those who walk through the door on their own. 

As jurisdictions increasingly seek to offer services to a broad population and establish a norm that all families need help, they are asking questions such as “Which families are getting served?” “Are we reaching those most in need of support?” and “When they’re served, do they have better outcomes?”  

GPL support would provide technical assistance for jurisdictions tackling the key question: How do we connect families beyond those who proactively seek out support with Family Resource Centers, Home Visiting programs, or other family-focused resource hubs before child welfare involvement? 

Core areas of support would likely include: 

  • Collaboratively identifying 1-2 priority referral pathways to reach families beyond those who proactively seek out support. This often includes: 
    • Analyzing existing data (e.g., child protection hotline calls and screen-in rates by reporter type, referral sources for families currently enrolled in programs) 
    • Conducting interviews or field observations with government and provider staff 
    • Reviewing qualitative information about family needs and experience (e.g., case narratives, survey or focus group insights) 
       
  • Supporting jurisdiction staff to implement strategies to build or strengthen priority referral pathways. For example: 
    • Adjusting how referring and/or program staff describe the potential support (e.g., conversation guides, outreach and coaching for external referral sources) 
    • Testing warmer or more persistent outreach to engage families 
    • Developing and/or streamlining referral processes to make it as frictionless as possible for staff to connect families to supports 
    • Adjusting scheduling or enrollment logistics to increase accessibility of supports 
       
  • Building jurisdiction staff capacity around data-driven performance management tools and practices. Areas of training and coaching often include: 
    • Ongoing analysis and review of performance data—both quantitative and qualitative—to inform real-time practice changes 
    • Facilitating regular collaborative, data-driven conversations with provider agencies regarding performance and strategies to continually improve 
    • Connecting insights from efforts to strengthen priority referral pathways to broader efforts to reach and engage families 

Examples of priority referral pathways the GPL has supported jurisdictions to develop or strengthen: 

  • After conducting analysis suggesting that nearly all families who experienced a removal had a parent who had interacted with the criminal justice system in the years prior, the GPL supported Home Visiting providers in one jurisdiction to build referring relationships that could help them reach families impacted by the criminal justice system. With coaching from the GPL, providers partnered with public defenders, reentry services organizations, and probation offices to build awareness among those professionals and develop referral and enrollment processes that were responsive to the unique needs these families face. 
     
  • One jurisdiction aiming to reach more families at high risk of involvement with the child protection system before an investigation prioritized connecting families screened out at the child protection hotline to Family Resource Centers. With support from the GPL, they are working to design and implement an outreach process for the Family Resource Centers to engage these families, including identifying which subset of families are a good fit for these resources and ways to engage reporters in making the connection. 
     
  • Another jurisdiction was focused on connecting more pregnant and newly parenting caregivers using substances to Home Visiting programs. They identified a local birthing hospital and its associated prenatal practices as one priority referral pathway. With GPL support, they worked to develop sample scripts and step-by-step guidance for busy medical professionals on how to submit a referral, normalize these referrals as a standard part of care, and establish communication protocols to ensure medical staff could follow up with a family if providers were unable to reach them. 

Topic #2: Translating “kin-first” commitments to practice

There is robust evidence that children experience better outcomes when living in family-based settings, especially with relatives, where they experience more stability and less trauma, and can maintain stronger connections with family, community, and culture. Many jurisdictions are committing to “kin-first” policies and priorities, yet the process of placing a child in a pre-approved licensed foster home or residential program often remains easier than conducting a thorough kin search and securing the required approvals for a new kin placement prior to removal. When the first placement is not with kin, limited family finding resources and staffing limitations can make it hard to maintain momentum around continued kin search. 

As they aim to implement “kin-first” placement and support strategies, jurisdictions are asking questions such as “How do we measure and communicate the benefits of a kin-first approach?” “What management practices reinforce this commitment in practice?” “How can we break down barriers to placement with kin?” and “How can we set these placements up to be stable and well-supported?”  

GPL support would provide technical assistance for jurisdictions tackling the key question: How do we translate a commitment to “kin-first” policies into practice?  

Core areas of support would likely include: 

  • Collaboratively identifying 2-4 priority opportunities to strengthen kin placements by: 
    • Analyzing existing placement data and trends (e.g., initial and overall placement rates with kin, trends for priority sub-populations) 
    • Conducting interviews or field observations with government and provider staff 
    • Reviewing qualitative information about family needs and experience (e.g., case narratives, survey or focus group insights) 
       
  • Supporting jurisdiction staff to implement practices to strengthen kin placements, including bringing effective practices, tools, and processes to scale. For example: 
    • Shifting staff practices around finding relative caregivers (e.g., developing conversation guides or guiding questions for family finding, creating materials to communicate the positive impact of kinship care with staff, empowering youth and family voice in the placement process) 
    • Addressing common concrete financial and other barriers to placement (e.g., through simple and clear processes for approving placement exceptions for kin when there is past child welfare or criminal justice history) 
    • Setting up placements with kin to be stable and well-supported (e.g., orientation trainings tailored to the needs of kin caregivers) 
       
  • Building jurisdiction staff capacity around data-driven performance management tools and practices. Areas of training and coaching often include: 
    • Ongoing analysis and review of performance data—both quantitative and qualitative—to inform real-time practice changes and encourage effective practices 
    • Facilitating regular collaborative, data-driven conversations with staff and/or provider agencies regarding performance and strategies to continually improve 

“Our county has a rich history and relationship with community-based services that help prevent families from entering deeper into the child welfare system. Our work with the Child & Family Wellbeing Accelerator is critical to working towards prevention happening much sooner than at the point of crisis. With the GPL’s wealth of knowledge, understanding of effective programming, and national partnerships, we are hoping to give families what they need to prevent the crisis from ever happening.”  

– Joseph Jackson, interim deputy director, Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services, and current Accelerator participant 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Government Performance Lab?

The mission of the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL) is to speed up our nation’s progress on difficult social problems by improving how state and local government human service agencies function and how their dollars are spent. We hire and train full-time employees, pairing them with government agencies to conduct research on how governments can improve the results they achieve for their citizens. An important part of our research model involves providing technical assistance to state and local governments. Through this hands-on involvement, we gain insights into the barriers that governments face and the solutions that can overcome these barriers. 
 
The GPL has worked on Children & Families projects in Arizona, Broward County (FL), Connecticut, Cuyahoga County (OH), Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York City, Pueblo County (CO), Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Washington, D.C. Click here to learn more about the GPL’s technical assistance to better support children and families. 

What is the Child & Family Wellbeing Accelerator?

The Child & Family Wellbeing Accelerator is an initiative through the GPL’s Children & Families policy area seeking to help jurisdictions design and execute successful initiatives that strengthen child and family wellbeing. As part of participation, select jurisdictions receive 10 months of coaching and implementation support for government staff to advance discrete reforms, from diagnosing key challenges through to implementing sustainable changes in practice. This support includes the following: 

  • Tailored support for agency staff responsible for implementation on key decisions, tools, and processes 
  • Access to implementation template materials and support adapting them to local context 
  • Exposure to relevant models from other jurisdictions and facilitated opportunities to workshop implementation efforts with jurisdictions tackling similar initiatives 
  • Training modules to build agency staff capacity on core GPL tools around data-driven performance management, designing service arrays and referral pathways, and/or procurement 

What will the interview process be like?

Interviews will be held via phone or video call and will be scheduled for one hour. They are designed to help us learn more about the specific challenges your jurisdiction is facing, and the way GPL support might be leveraged. Jurisdictions will be asked to bring key representatives from relevant government and community agencies to participate in the interview. We may require specific additional stakeholders to be present at an interview. Interviews are also an opportunity for applicants to ask more questions about what support through the Accelerator looks like. 
 
We may ask for additional information in advance of or as follow-up to the interviews (e.g., relevant policies, data reports, provider contracts) to better understand the stakeholders involved, challenges you are facing, and feasibility of reform efforts. There may also be follow-up requests for second interviews as needed.  
 
As part of consideration for final selection, jurisdictions will be asked to verbally confirm their ability to sign a Harvard memorandum of understanding (MoU) and may be asked to provide letters of support from jurisdiction leadership. More guidance will be sent in advance to jurisdictions selected to interview.  

How will selections be made?

There are a range of factors we will consider, including: 

  • Feasibility, including commitment and buy-in from necessary stakeholders and existence of the necessary resources for implementation 
  • Scale of impact, including a commitment to advancing equitable outcomes for communities of color and others disproportionately impacted by child protection systems 
  • Potential for transferable/scalable learnings 
  • Geographic diversity across all participating jurisdictions 

What is the timeline for award notification and project start?

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with interviews in January and February of 2023. Jurisdictions will be notified if they have been selected as a finalist for participation in spring 2023, and projects will start in summer 2023. 

What if I’m not selected for the Accelerator, but I want to stay engaged?

There may be opportunities to participate in peer learning sessions and receive other materials/templates that the GPL develops for jurisdictions who are not selected for a technical assistance slot. Make sure you are signed up for the GPL newsletter here to receive announcements about future opportunities to engage. 

Does the GPL provide new resources, programs, or funding to serve children and families?

No. The GPL provides guidance and implementation support through staffing and training. We do not provide direct resources, programs, or funds to serve children and families. 

What is the cost of participating in the Accelerator?

There may be a limited number of philanthropically funded slots available to cover the cost of participation in the Accelerator. If your jurisdiction is not selected for a pro bono technical assistance slot, there may be the opportunity to self-fund or collaborate with the GPL to fundraise to cover the cost of participation. 

What can I expect if I am selected to participate in the Child & Family Wellbeing Accelerator?

We encourage you to select a topic where you already dedicate staff time/resources (or are ready to dedicate additional staff time/resources). This project should be a high priority for your agency. While the GPL will provide additional capacity to drive work forward, close, ongoing collaboration with government and other relevant staff is critical to advance the initiative successfully. As part of this, the GPL will require that you designate a project lead who will be the GPL’s day-to-day contact and work alongside GPL staff in developing deliverables and managing the reform efforts. GPL staff typically meet with this project lead on at least a weekly basis, in addition to work time spent by both parties outside regular meeting time to advance the project. 
 
In addition to the close collaboration with the project lead, jurisdictions should plan for GPL staff to join and participate in relevant internal meetings as a real-time support for jurisdiction staff leading the reform efforts. Jurisdictions may also support participating staff to connect virtually or in-person with other jurisdictions implementing similar reforms. Specific implementation support plans will be tailored to meet the needs of jurisdictions awarded technical assistance. See the detailed topic descriptions above for more information on likely areas of support.  

What should I do if I have additional questions?

Reach out to govlab@hks.harvard.edu with any questions.

2022-2023 CHILD AND FAMILY WELLBEING ACCELERATOR

The 2022-2023 cohort of jurisdictions selected to receive technical assistance from the GPL through the 2022-2023 Child & Family Wellbeing Accelerator include: 

  • Broward County, Florida 
  • Cuyahoga County, Ohio 
  • The State of New Hampshire 
  • The State of New Mexico 
  • Pueblo County, Colorado 

These jurisdictions were selected based on their potential for impact and the vision and commitment demonstrated by jurisdiction staff and leadership. With GPL support, each is working to actively advance reforms focused on one of three key topics: making family-focused community resource hubs more accessible and effective, connecting substance-using pregnant people to treatment and other supports, and supporting placements of children with relative caregivers rather than with foster families.

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