Child Welfare

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Child welfare is a continuum of services designed to ensure that children are safe and that families have the necessary support to care for children successfully. These services are provided by a range of entities; public child welfare agencies often collaborate with private agencies, community-based organizations, and other public agencies to ensure that families receive the services they need, such as supportive child care, parenting classes, in-home family preservation services, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment. FPG's work in child welfare encompasses biological, environmental, and other factors related to ensuring the safety and well-being of children and families.

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Will Aldridge, PhD, is a Tar Heel through and through. He has earned three degrees—bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in psychology—from UNC-Chapel Hill. Now a senior implementation specialist at FPG, Aldridge provides direct implementation support for community-based Triple P scale-up and design in 10 North Carolina Triple P regions.

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FPG Implementation Specialist Shannon Chaplo recently contributed to a study which examined group differences in trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and offending among youth solely involved in the juvenile justice system as well as youth with varying degrees of involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

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The Impact Center at FPG's Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) projects are a collaborative effort to help communities in North Carolina and South Carolina successfully and sustainably implement the evidence-based Triple P—Positive Parenting Program system of interventions. Learn more about ICTP.

Current Projects

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Black Infant and Toddler Equity Project

Through collaboration with national, state and local coalitions and organizations, the Equity Research Action Coalition will identify, track and align strategies to strengthen the focus on protecting, promoting, and preserving the well being, health, wealth, access and experiences of Black families and their families through anti-racist and cultural wealth policy making framework and communication.

Building equity and access by including family child care in universal pre-kindergarten expansion: A multi-site study of pre-kindergarten family child care initiatives

This multi-year project, in partnership with Erikson Institute and the University of Delaware, seeks to understand how best to value, compensate, and authentically integrate the family child care (FCC) workforce and approach in future efforts to build and expand more equitable PreK systems. This project will involve focus groups, surveys, and case studies to understand how FCC is being integrated into PreK efforts.

Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice NCTSN Cat II

The Active Implementation Support for the Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice’s (CTRJJ) grant project designates Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute’s resources in support of the CTRJJ’s Workplan and Core Team, in addition to other key participants. The aims of the project include the use of applied, proactive implementation support training, coaching and technical assistance as noted below. The primary role on the implementation support to CRTJJ is to work behind the scenes with all designated relevant partners. However, FPG implementation specialists will have the ability to deliver content, coaching, and ongoing systems supports to relevant recipients.

Child Find ACCESS project

This model demonstration seeks to increase family uptake of developmental screenings and service enrollment of traditionally underserved populations by centering family and cultural voice throughout the implementation process.

NC-Implementation Capacity for Triple P Project

The Impact Center at FPG’s Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) projects are currently supporting the scale-up and expansion of Triple P System of Interventions in North Carolina. In the proposed project, the ICTP project team embedded in NC Triple P Support System will provide direct implementation support to ten NC Triple P regions to aid and support local, regional, and state partners’ scale-up of Triple P. The ICTP project team will collaborate with PCANC and Triple P America to align Triple P support system so that multifaceted, yet well-coordinated supports are available to statewide partners. Furthermore, ICTP teams will continue providing implementation science guidance to the NC Triple P Partnership for Strategy and Governance (PSG) and the Triple P NC Learning Collaborative (NCLC). Lastly, the ICTP project team plans to develop online implementation learning resources and/or communication products to facilitate greater application of implementation science and best practices for Triple P scale-up and continue to identify opportunities to enhance Triple P quality and outcome monitoring for improvement at community and state levels.

OJJDP FY 2021 Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative

Through the OJJDP FY 2021 Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative, the Impact Center at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (subcontractor and partner) will support Westat as the prime applicant, along with other project partners, to advance state level juvenile justice systems toward the adoption and delivery of evidence-supported practices stemming from a full system review, recommended modifications, capacity building where needed (or desired), and enhanced performance of chosen reforms.

Overcoming Structural Racism in Housing Stability and Wealth-building: Laying the Foundation for Community Health and Wellbeing

The aim of this research project is to investigate the relationships among housing stability, health and well-being, and climate change vulnerability. Findings will be shared with our community-both with people who experience homelessness and housing instability and with organizations and agencies working to serve those populations. The goal is that the research findings will advance racial and economic justice, not just in Orange and Durham Counties, but throughout the United States. As a nonprofit working toward systems change, these findings will influence the day-to-day programmatic work that CEF does and help to influence how CEF can use its person-centered approach while simultaneously steering members toward specific measures that increase stability.

The Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) Projects in North Carolina and South Carolina

The Impact Center at FPG's Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) projects are currently supporting the scale-up and expansion of Triple P System of Interventions in North and South Carolina.

Using Implementation Science in Supporting NC's Division of Child and Family Wellbeing

The DCFW Implementation Support Project for the DHHS Child Behavioral Health Leadership Team and its component projects proposal creates an implementation science, practice-based approach in support of a multi-tiered policy/governance, program (e.g., EBP) support, and delivery system across North Carolina. The Impact Center expects to work alongside and receive directions from DCFW Leadership, embed implementation science best practices within the team, its projects, and support system partners where directed.

Virginia's Evidence-Based Practices Initiative: Transformation Zone

Virginia's Evidence-Based Practice Initiative is seeking support for capacity development in best practices of implementation science. Multiple agencies within the state of Virginia are collaborating in their efforts to foster and facilitate the use of evidence within their local communities. The collaborating state agencies include the Office of Children Services (OCS), Department of Social Services (DSS), Department of Education (VDOE), Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Services (DBHDS), and Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS). A state leadership team comprised of representation from these various state agencies has been formed to design and lead the initiative. The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN; http://nirn.fpg.unc.edu) and partners within the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute propose providing a blended model of training, coaching, and consultation supports to support the implementation of the Virginia Evidence-Based Practice Initiative through a Transformation Zone approach. Equity will be centered and explicitly attended to in all aspects of services provided.

Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

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