Public Human Services Programs (Medical, Mental Health, Food Stamps, Education, Schools, Juvenile Justice, TANF, Childcare, Developmental Disabilities, Workforce Development, Vocational Rehabilitation), Substance Abuse Providers, Hospitals, Housing

The public child welfare agency should be coordinating with these other agencies to identify how they serve common clients and can maximize their effectiveness in achieving the outcomes that are critical to each partner and to the children, youth and families they serve. Mature partnerships collaborate to blend or braid funding, or to create common assessment and service delivery processes. Public health and human services agencies can integrate their programs to reduce duplication and fragmentation, and to make access to services by families seamless and more helpful.

These other public health and human service agencies provide critical ancillary services to maintain children in their own homes. They are key in both prevention and after-care/wrap-around services. Further, these agencies can help reunite families by delivering critical services to birth parents through residential or community-based care and family support services. When such services are delivered with the explicit objective of re-uniting or maintaining family connections, they can be particularly effective. The public child welfare agency should develop strategic partnerships with these agencies to assist families in accessing necessary supports and services that are not available within the agency itself.



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