April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time to focus on the importance of building strong, supportive communities to prevent child abuse and neglect and help families thrive.

The Capacity Building Center for States (the Center) is committed to supporting child welfare agencies in advancing prevention efforts. With a prevention focus, child welfare agencies can increase child safety and family well-being outcomes by strengthening families in their communities before problems occur or escalate.

From insight on how to leverage the transformational opportunities within the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), to strategies for engaging families with lived experience and tools for building a culture of service collaboration, the Center has resources to help advance your agency’s prevention efforts.

Tools, Publications, and Briefs:

Check out our snapshot on Evidence-Based Programs and Services in Approved State Prevention Program Plans to find out where evidence-based programs and services are being implemented to prevent children from entering foster care.

Use our Building Capacity to Address Common Challenges tool with your prevention planning team to prepare for and tackle the adaptive challenges that many states face as they develop and implement prevention plans. 

Read our Working Across a Prevention Continuum publication to learn what a comprehensive, prevention-focused approach is and to establish a common understanding of what it should look like among staff, community partners, and other stakeholders. 

Recorded Webinars and Podcasts:

Listen to A Look Inside Sharing Power in Child Welfare, our podcast series by and about people with lived experience in child welfare and about their partnerships with leaders within child welfare agencies.

Watch a video in our Prevention Planning Roundtable series to hear about successful approaches and lessons learned from state leaders as they moved from planning into action.

Featured Series:

Explore the other resources in the Prevention Planning Into Action series to support your agency’s prevention planning efforts and move prevention plans forward.

Our team of national experts are here to help you implement provisions of the FFPSA (e.g., title IV-E prevention plans) and build prevention-focused systems. The Center offers free virtual office hours with our child welfare experts to help you meet your professional and agency needs.