| Building
Community Partnerships Developing
working partnerships with the community enables child welfare
programs to
help  build capacity to
keep children
safe within their own neighborhoods. Instead
of having resources flow out of
the neighborhood, the community
benefits by sharing the responsibility and resources for
its own children and families. By involving the community
in decision-making, child welfare agencies can make more
informed decisions in individual
cases and at the same time build community consensus (and
political support) for the agency’s role and mission.
The development of partnerships with neighborhood and community
organizations has several benefits..
- It
enhances the child welfare system’s ability to
recruit, train, and support neighborhood-based foster
care, thus improving outcomes for children who enter
the foster care system.
- It
helps assure that interventions respect the cultural
and racial backgrounds of the children and families
and are readily accessible to them.
- It
increases the types and numbers of available formal
and informal services
- It
helps build a network of enduring supports for families
within their neighborhoods.
- It
re-invests dollars within neighborhoods, creating jobs
and promoting economic development in poorer communities
- It
helps the community see the complexity of a child welfare
agency’s role, thereby improving the service’s
local image.
Adapted from Annie E. Casey Foundation's Tools for
Rebuilding Foster Care.
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Last
Revised 7/15/2004 |
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