The Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC) directed a program, "The Caring Communities for Children in Foster Care" that was designed to improve comprehensive health care services for youth in foster care. Click on the link below to find out more about their project and the helpful resources that were developed.
http://www.peatc.org/base.cgim?menu_sub_nav=foster_care&template=foster_care.home

Georgetown University's National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health has a Child Welfare Initiative that is focused on improving mental health services for children and families served by the child welfare system. Click on the link below to visit their website to review various resources and publications related to child welfare.
http://www3.georgetown.edu/research/gucchd/programs/child_welfare_initiative/index.html

The Center for School Mental Health developed an issue brief that outlines the needs of youth in foster care, and illustrates the role of school mental health in improving outcomes for these youth. This issue brief also highlights several useful resources for teachers and child welfare workers. The document is listed below in the Repository. After you read the issue brief, please take the time to share your reactions by responding to the questions posted below in the Discussion section.

The IDEA Partnership has an on-line library that describes various models, curricula, practices, policy, research, tools, and resources that can improve outcomes for students. To go directly to that section of the website, click on the following link, http://www.ideapartnership.org/rkr.cfm

Children and families in the child welfare system face myriad needs that compromise their mental health and well-being. In response to the complex needs of children in the child welfare system and their foster/biological families, a growing trend is for child welfare organizations to collaborate with other service providers, such as mental health, health, juvenile justice, schools, and substance abuse treatment providers. Our goal as a practice group is to provide resources and share information across individuals and groups who are interested in building collaborative relationships related specifically to addressing the mental health needs of this population, especially opportunities to address their needs through school-based mental health practice, research and policy.

The practice group facilitators are Dana Cunningham (dcunning@psych.umaryland.edu), Pamela Jordan (pamela3122@aol.com), and Maura Mulloy (mmulloy@psych.umaryland.edu). Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or feedback about this practice group. We look forward to working with you!