librarian reading to young girl in library

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.

Featured Project

The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) has partnered with the King County Public Health Department to support the development of a comprehensive implementation guide for Family Ways that is aligned with the Active Implementation Frameworks (AIFs). This project involves a review and gap analysis of Family Ways materials, capacity building through training and consultation, and integration of the AIFs into the Family Ways Implementation Guide, over a 15-month period.

Featured Publication

While the Abecedarian Project has been critically important in supporting the value of early childhood education programs, there has been a lack of implementation data to highlight which elements of the program were most impactful. FPG Research Scientist Kylie Garber, PhD, and former FPG Senior Research Scientist, Peg Burchinal, PhD, led a team to address this deficit.

Featured Person

Stephanie Kennedy, MSW, MPH, is an implementation specialist with the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. She is passionate about improving the lives of youth and families by transforming their systems of support. She provides technical assistance, coaching, consultation, and implementation support on initiatives in education, public health, and social services facilitating improvements in child health and wellbeing. She supports organizations and agencies at the local and state levels in building implementation capacity using implementation science strategies and best practices.

Current Projects

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Building Capacity Together: A Co-Created, Tiered Support Model for North Carolina Child Advocacy Centers
This project proposes a collaborative partnership between the North Carolina Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACNC) and the Impact Center at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (IC-FPG) to strengthen essential organizational capacities across local children’s advocacy centers (CACs). Using a co-created, tiered capacity-building model adapted from multi-tiered systems of support, the project will provide equitable, efficient, and sustainable professional development and implementation support.
Equity Research Action Coalition
Exploring legal status and race as determinants of Black immigrant maternal health
In collaboration with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and African Family Health Organization, community-based organizations that engage and educate African American and Black immigrant communities, we will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed-methods research to identify barriers and facilitators to positive birth outcomes for Black mothers with a focus on attention to health care access through focus groups and interviews and conduct causal inference analyses using extant data (i.e., Vital Statistics) to examine the effect of 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act on the birthing outcomes of Black immigrants.
Implementation Support for an AIFs-aligned Family Ways Roadmap
The purpose of this project is for the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) to partner with the King County Public Health Department to support the development of a comprehensive implementation guide for Family Ways that is aligned with the Active Implementation Frameworks (AIFs).
Mental Health, Earlier (MHE) ALACRITY Research Center
The Mental Health, Earlier ALACRITY Research Center addresses a key element of the NIMH 2020-2025 Strategic Plan Goal 3: Strive for Prevention and Cures: advancing preventive interventions in a developmentally appropriate manner as early in life and illness course as possible, to prevent or forestall mental illnesses and associated dysfunction.
Starting Them off on the Right Path: Utilizing Home Visiting to Address Race-based Trauma and Support Children's Racial Identity Formation
The purpose of this project is to gather perspectives from current Parents As Teachers families and parent educators. This is a developmental evaluation to understand how Parents as Teachers (PAT) could address race-based trauma and stressors and support the positive racial identity formation for young children.
The California Abundant Birth Project Evaluation: Advancing Birth Equity Through Guaranteed Income for Pregnant People
The California Abundant Birth Project (CA-ABP) is a guaranteed income program for pregnant people at greatest risk of birth inequities in five California counties (San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Riverside, and Los Angeles), funded by the State of California, municipal governments, and philanthropic funding. The California Abundant Birth Project will provide unconditional, monthly income supplements during pregnancy and postpartum to randomly selected participants, with the goal of curbing financial stress and promoting healthy pregnancy outcomes. The goal of this project is to evaluate the impact of this guaranteed income program on birthing outcomes, maternal and child health, and children’s early outcomes.
Using Implementation Science in Supporting NC's Division of Child and Family Wellbeing Child Behavioral Health Team
The DCFW Implementation Support Project for the DHHS Child Behavioral Health Leadership Team (federally funded component) and its projects continues to build on the existing partnership that the Impact Center has with the CBH team at DHHS. The partnership creates an implementation science, practice-based set of activities and capacity building efforts in support of a multi-tiered policy/governance, program (e.g., EBP) support, and delivery system across North Carolina. Beginning July 01, 2023, the Impact Center will continue 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.