Trauma-Informed Innovative Practices: Insights From Children’s Bureau Discretionary Grantees on Addressing Trauma in Child Welfare

Between 2011 and 2013, the Children’s Bureau released three discretionary funding opportunities to support 20 state and local jurisdictions in identifying and supporting children in the child welfare system who are impacted by trauma.

This report highlights common approaches, successes, and lessons learned from the 20 grantees. It organizes grantee activities and innovations across five core programmatic components:

• Universal screening
• Functional assessment
• Child- and system-level monitoring
• Service array expansion
• Data-driven implementation

The report also describes grantee activities related to cross-system trauma-informed training and workforce support regarding secondary traumatic stress. It concludes with a list of additional resources, including publications, tools, and products to inform future trauma-informed initiatives.