IntegratIng Safety, Permanency and Well-BeIng SerIeS

Preface This series of papers, Integrating Safety, Permanency and Well-Being in Child Welfare, describes how a more fully integrated and developmentally specific approach in child welfare could improve both child and system level outcomes. The papers were developed to further the national dialogue on how to more effectively integrate an emphasis on well-being into the goal of achieving safety, permanency and well-being for every child. The overview, Integrating Safety, Permanency and Well-Being: A View from the Field (Wilson), provides a look at the evolution of the child welfare system from the 1970s forward to include the more recent emphasis on integrating well-being more robustly into the work of child welfare. The first paper, A Comprehensive Framework for Nurturing the Well-Being of Children and Adolescents (Biglan), provides a framework for considering the domains and indicators of well-being. It identifies the normal developmental trajectory for children and adolescents and provides examples of evidence-based interventions to use when a child' s healthy development has been impacted by maltreatment. The second paper, Screening, Assessing, Monitoring Outcomes and Using Evidence-based Practices to Improve the Well-Being of Children in Foster Care (Conradi, Landsverk and Wotring), describes a process for delivering trauma screening, functional and clinical assessment, evidence-based interventions and the use of progress monitoring in order to better achieve well-being outcomes. The third paper, A Case Example of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families' Well-Being Framework: KIPP (Akin, Bryson, McDonald, and Wilson), presents a case study of the Kansas Intensive Permanency Project and describes how it has implemented many of the core aspects of a well-being framework. These papers are an invitation for further thinking, discussion and action regarding the integration of well-being into the work of child welfare. Rather than being a prescriptive end point, the papers build developmentally on the Administration on Children, Youth and Families' 2012 information memorandum Promoting Social and Emotional Well-Being for Children and Youth Receiving Child Welfare Services and encourage new and innovative next steps on the journey to support healthy development and well-being.