Family and Children's Resource Program at the UNC School of Social Work

06/05/2026

Creating a kin-first culture is key in promoting placement stability, encouraging shared parenting, and utilizing best practice strategies to support children in child welfare. Here are some free organizational resources you can utilize to create a kin-first culture in your agency:

1) The Annie E. Casey Foundation provides free videos of Dr. Joseph Crumbley and a discussion guide:
https://www.aecf.org/blog/engaging-kinship-caregivers-with-joseph-crumbley

2) For agencies with access to NCSWlearn.org, we have two courses you can access from anywhere:

"Building and Maintaining a Kinship Culture in your Agency" is a three module self-paced course where participants learn about the benefits of kinship care, the value in creating a kin-first culture, and tips for sustainability.

Kinship Care and Child Welfare" is also a three module self-paced course where participants learn about the benefits of kinship care, child welfare policy related to kinship care, and kinship care best practices.

FosteringNC.org also has free courses specifically designed for kinship caregivers!

What is one step you can take to create a kin-first culture in your organization? Let us know in the comments!

06/04/2026

Be sure to check out this interview with Dr. Kathy Colville celebrating the one year anniversary of the Office and Community Engagement and Outreach (UNC Social Work in Community) discussing all the great work that has been accomplished so far, and what our goals are for FCRP and our partner programs like Family Support Network of NC and UNC Cares!

UNC Social Work

We spoke with Associate Dean of Community Engagement and Outreach Kathy Colville to learn more about the office’s first year of operation, goals for the years ahead and more.

06/01/2026

There is a new issue of Children's Services Practice Notes available!

This issue is titled "Partnering with Courts to Improve Timely Permanence" and provides a comprehensive look at a variety of topics related to court and child welfare including:

- An overview of North Carolina's Court Improvement Program
- An update on Safe Babies Court
- How Noth Carolina is making the court system more trauma-informed
- And much more!

You can read the full issue here: https://practicenotes.org/v29n2/v29n2.html

Children's Service Practice Notes is designed in partnership betwene FCRP and the NC Department of Health and Human Services.

In North Carolina's child welfare system, permanence is defined as a mutually committed, lasting, nurturing, and legally secure relationship between a child or youth and at least one adult. County child welfare agencies must make concerted efforts to achieve permanence for children and youth in a ti...

05/30/2026

Wake County Families ...it's a beautiful day to join some free family fun at Roberts Park for this great event! Stop by and say hello while you're here!

05/29/2026

Are you a kinship caregiver supporting a child or youth who has experienced prenatal substance exposure?

Creating a Family has teamed up with Healthy Blue NC to provide a free training series to kinship caregivers that will help them recognize the signs and symptoms of prenatal substance exposure and train them on helpful parenting techniques. You can register for the events here:

https://www.creatingafamilyed.org/courses/prenatal-substance-exposure-workshop-for-kinship-healthyblue-nc-june-2026

05/22/2026

We were happy to join our partners at the NC Department of Health and Human Services for the first meeting in the new Partnerships for Permanency series!

These convenings are designed to bring public and private agencies together to discuss strategies to recruit and retain only the highest quality resource parents in NC.

We look forward to the next one!

05/19/2026

To further celebrate Foster Care Month in North Carolina, we wanted to share a video of kinship caregiver, Alfreda Parker. In this video, Alfreda shares how by providing licensed kinship care through Children's Hope Alliance, she was able to keep her family together and her nieces happy and healthy.

You can find this video in the FosteringNC.org course titled "Supporting Kinship and Kin-Like Caregivers." Be sure to check out the "Kinship" tab on FosteringNC.org for even more resources!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-FtclbxYow

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05/19/2026

Please join us in congratulating our intern, Mia Martin, on her graduation from UNC!

Throughout this past year Mia contributed to several projects while developing her macro social work skill set. We're so excited to see where Mia goes next and how she will contribute greatly to families and communities across North Carolina.

Congratulations on all of your achievements, Mia!

05/18/2026

May has been declared Foster Care Month in North Carolina, and we have been hard at work developing new courses and learning materials for resource parents and professionals!

Here's a behind the scenes shot of a video we are working on with the Six family for an upcoming course about Shared Parenting. In it, Jonathan and Sally Six talk about how even after adoption from foster care shared parenting and maintaining connections with parents is of the utmost importance.

Look for more information about the course next month!

05/15/2026

We had such a unique and special experience being able to present as part of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Tarheel Bus Tour stop in Salisbury!

The Tarheel Bus Tour is an annual event where university faculty and senior administrators traverse North Carolina learning about how the school's work benefits communites across the state.

We had the pleasure of sharing the stage with our partners from the UNC Collaboratory and Rowan County to share our work trying to identify and address issues related to foster home utilization and what can be done to ensure children and youth have suitable out-of-home placements that meet their needs in their home communities.