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Knowledge Hub

You have found the “go-to” repository of knowledge, best practices, models of intervention, and evidence-informed services to build the capacity of States, Tribes, territories, child welfare, and mental health professionals to offer comprehensive adoption competent mental health services. This hub is dynamic and will be regularly updated to align with your informational needs.

Access to Mental Health Services

103
  • 2023 State Legislation Issue Brief Series: Trends in State Policy: Youth Mental Health
  • A Family-Based Mental Health Navigator Intervention for Youth in the Child Welfare System: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
  • A human-centered vision for improving the mental health care ecosystem
  • A National Agenda for Children’s Mental Health
  • Access to Care Ranking 2024
  • Acute Care Children’s Hospital Survey
  • Advancing mental health parity to ensure children’s access to care
  • Arizona Mercy Care
  • Behavioral Health in Colorado: Putting People First
  • Behavioral Health Services Outcomes That Matter Most to Caregivers of Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Mental Health Needs
  • Blueprint for Transformation: A Vision for Improved Behavioral Health Care for Illinois Children
  • Care at Home for Children​ with Serious Emotional Disorders
  • Caring for Each Other: What it Takes to Promote Mental Health and Well-Being
  • Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs)
  • Childhood Trust Events Survey and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
  • Children’s Services: Mississippi Department of Mental Health
  • Children’s Mental Health: Chapter Action Kit
  • Colorado’s I Matter Program-Youth Mental Health
  • Community Health Worker and Peer Support Specialist Workforce Policy
  • Connecticut Plan 4 Children
  • Creating Mental Health Connections for Children and Youth in Foster Care
  • Developing an innovative pediatric integrated mental health care program: interdisciplinary team successes and challenges
  • Does mental health screening and assessment in child welfare improve mental health service receipt, child safety, and permanence for children in out-of-home care? An evaluation of the Gateway CALL demonstration
  • Enforcing Mental Health Parity: State Options to Improve Access to Care
  • Exploring Barriers to Mental Health Care in the U.S.
  • Exploring Barriers to Mental Health Care in the US
  • Facilitating a Referral for Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families
  • Facilitating Mental Health Service Use for Caregivers: Referral Strategies among Child Welfare Caseworkers
  • Five-Year Trends in US Children’s Health and Well-being, 2016-2020
  • Foster Youth and Alumni Priorities on Mental Health
  • Healthy Outcomes: Key takeaways from the 2024 National Council for Mental Wellbeing Conference
  • Helping Children Thrive: Strategies to Support Children’s Mental Health
  • HHS Hub About Telehealth
  • How can child protection agencies use telehealth to increase service access for children and families?
  • Improving Access to Behavioral Health Through Removing Barriers–Utah
  • Improving Access to Children’s Mental Health
  • Improving Access to Mental Health Services in Low-Income Communities
  • Increasing Access to Behavioral Health Services: Opportunities at the State and Federal Level
  • Leveraging telehealth to provide equitable pediatric mental health care
  • Many States Face Shortage of Mental Health Providers
  • Many States Face Shortage of Mental Health Providers
  • McIntyre v. Howard, Progress of Kansas Department of Children and Families, Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services, and Kansas Department of Health and Environment (January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023)
  • Mental Health Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)
  • Mental Health Promotion and Prevention
  • Mental Health Screening
  • Mental Health Screenings
  • National Needs Assessment: Mental Health Services for People with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities
  • National Rural Adolescent and Child Health (NRACH) ECHO Training Center
  • Over one-third of Americans live in areas lacking mental health professionals
  • Overview of the Behavioral Health System in the United States
  • Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program
  • Prevalence and Characteristics of Children Entering Foster Care to Receive Behavioral Health or Disability Services
  • Project Aware: school-based mental health program
  • Promising Practices for Using Medicaid to Address the Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care
  • Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Schools
  • Proportion of US Counties and Population Served by Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics
  • Protecting Youth Mental Health: Part II–Identifying and Addressing Barriers to Care
  • Psychotropic Medication and Psychotropic Polypharmacy Among Children and Adolescents in the US Child Welfare System
  • Raise the Bar for Children’s Mental Health: Strategies to Sustain Innovation and Access to School-based Services
  • Redesigning Medicaid: The Key to Solving Our Children’s Mental Health Crisis
  • Right Help, Right Now Program 1-year Update
  • School Mental Health Quality Guide Needs Assessment & Resource Mapping
  • Social Determinants of Health in Rural Communities Toolkit
  • State Policies that Impact the Design of Children’s Mental Health Services: A Modified Delphi Study   
  • State Strategies to Support an Aligned Behavioral Health Continuum of Care for Youth
  • Study Reveals Lack of Access as Root Cause for Mental Health Crisis in America
  • The Biggest Barriers to Accessing Youth Mental Health Care
  • The Future of Behavioral Health Services for Youth with Foster Care Experience
  • The Impact of Child Welfare on Youth Mental Health
  • The kids are not all right: The urgent need to expand effective behavioral health services for children and youth
  • The New Jersey Pediatric Psychiatry Collaborative
  • The Role of Specialized Managed Care in Addressing the Intersection of Child Welfare Reform and Behavioral Health Transformation
  • The State of Mental Health in America
  • Top (and Bottom) 10 States For Behavioral Health Staff Shortages
  • Transforming and Expanding Access to Mental Health Care in Urban Pediatrics
  • Trauma Screen Time Training
  • Trends in Mental, Behavioral, and Developmental Disorders Among Children and Adolescents in the US, 2016–2021
  • Understanding the U.S. Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage
  • Virginia Mental Health Access Program
  • Virginia’s Right Help, Right Now Program
  • West Virginia Children’s Behavioral Health Services
  • When and How to Refer for Mental Health Care
  • Youth Mental Health
  • Youth Mental Health Academy
  • Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare
  • Funding
    • Advancing Child Welfare and Medicaid Alignment: Opportunities for Collaboration
    • Arizona Mercy Care
    • Braiding Federal Funding to Expand Access to Quality Early Care and Education and Early Childhood Supports and Services: A Tool for States and Local Communities
    • Child Welfare Financing in Colorado: Current Landscape and Recommendations
    • How Medicaid is Making a Difference for Kids with Complex Behavioral Health Needs
    • How Medicaid Supports Parents in Crisis, Children in or Youth Aging out of Foster Care, Relative Caregivers, and Adoptive Families
    • How State Medicaid Programs Serve Children and Youth in Foster Care
    • Improving Medicaid Reimbursement for Children’s Mental Health Services in Virginia
    • Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Funding Compendium
    • Investing in School Mental Health: Strategies to Wisely Spend Federal and State Funding
    • Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
    • Medicaid Behavioral Health Care Use Among Children in Foster Care
    • Medicaid for Children with Special Needs
    • Medicaid Spending by Child Welfare Agencies in SFY 2020
    • Promising Practices for Using Medicaid to Address the Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care
    • Redesigning Medicaid: The Key to Solving Our Children’s Mental Health Crisis
    • Using New Federal Funding to Meet Children’s Behavioral Health Needs in School
    • Value-Based Payment to Support Children’s Health and Wellness: Shifting the Focus from Short-Term to Life Course Impact
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Adoption Competent Mental Health

148
  • “Everything started when…”: Illuminating Rupture as a Sensemaking Catalyst in Formerly Fostered, Emerging Adults’ Narratives
  • 3-5-7 Model Overview
  • A Need to Know: Enhancing Adoption Competence among Mental Health Providers
  • A Systematic Review of the Impact of Placement Instability on Emotional and Behavioral Outcomes Among Children in Foster Care
  • A Village Apart: Lummi Nation Creates a Unique Community to Support Families
  • ACEs: Adverse Childhood Experiences
  • Addressing Child Trauma
  • Addressing the Complex Needs of Youth
  • Addressing the Impact of Trauma Before Diagnosing Mental Illness in Child Welfare
  • Addressing the Mental Health Effects of Foster Care
  • Adoption an Extended Family Network
  • Adoption and Therapeutic Help
  • Adoption Competence for Tribal Leaders
  • Adoption Competency and Education
  • Adoption Competency: A Brief Introduction
  • Adoption Competency: Building an Empirical Foundation
  • Adoption Competent Mental Health Professionals: An Overview
  • Adoption Competent Therapy and Trauma-Informed Care
  • Adoptive Parent Competencies
  • All I Did Was Sleep’: Despite Years of Damning Reports, States Across the Country Fail To Rein in Psych Meds for Foster Youth
  • Assessing Knowledge of Nurse Practitioners on Youth in Foster Care: Results of Nationwide Survey
  • Behavioral Health Services Outcomes That Matter Most to Caregivers of Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Mental Health Needs
  • Brainspotting: The Preferred Power Therapy for Adoption
  • Building an Adoption Competent Workforce
  • Building Partnerships: Conversations with Native Americans about Mental Health Needs and Community Strengths
  • Child Welfare Training Tipsheets 
  • Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit
  • ChildFirst
  • Children with Traumatic Separation: Information for Professionals
  • Co-Parenting Pilot Builds Teamwork Between Parents and Foster Parents
  • Counseling for Adopted Adults and Children
  • Directory of Therapies
  • Effects of the Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) on Treatment Quality and Effectiveness, a Brief Summary
  • Effects of Training for Adoption Competency on the Quality and Effectiveness of Treatment with Adoptive Families
  • Emotional Wellness Checklist
  • Engagement of Parents as Agents of Healing
  • Engaging and Supporting Native Fathers Resource List
  • Establishing a Level Foundation for Life: Mental Health Begins in Early Childhood
  • Examining the mental health indicators and service needs of children living with foster families
  • Exploring Medication for Adopted Children
  • Family preservation services for adoptive and guardianship families
  • Foster Care Centers of Excellence
  • Getting on the Right PATH: Promoting Attachment and Trauma Healing
  • Helping Adoptive Families Thrive
  • Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Traumatic Events
  • Helping Children and Youth Thrive During and After Natural Disasters: Toolkits for Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Agencies
  • Helping Children Form Attachments
  • Helping Mental Health Providers Achieve the Outcomes That Matter Most
  • Holistic Strategies for Addressing Complex Needs
  • Hope and Healing Through Adoption Competent Care
  • How can parents and caregivers be supported in developing a positive co-parenting relationship?
  • How can we improve placement stability for children in foster care?
  • How childhood adversity shapes brain and behavior
  • How do I talk with my teen when they push me away?
  • How do we start preventing adoption and guardianship disruption?
  • How Tribal Placements Benefit Native Children placed in Foster Care
  • I Spy Helpful Help: How to Find an Adoption-Competent Therapist
  • Improving the Mental Health of Mississippi’s Children & Youth
  • Increasing Permanency: Seven Principles for Building Emotionally Stable Foster & Adoptive Families
  • Inducement: Adoption Language We Must Understand
  • Introduction to Complex Trauma
  • Learn More About Trauma
  • Mandated Report on Therapeutic Foster Care
  • Meeting the Complex Needs of Youth Exiting Foster Care
  • Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Adoptive and Guardianship Families
  • Mental and Behavioral Health Needs of Children in Foster Care
  • Mental Health
  • Mental Health Considerations
  • Mental Health Services for Children Placed in Foster Care: An Overview of Current Challenges
  • New York City Stands Out as a Rare Local Agency Tallying Foster Youth on Psychotropics. What Do the Numbers Reveal?
  • November 2025: Improving Permanency Through Advancing Adoption Competency
  • Now What? Tips for teens in foster care who are grieving
  • NTDC Classroom: Separation, Grief and Loss 
  • Oklahoma Adoption Competency Network
  • Oklahoma’s Journey to Adoption Competency
  • Oversight of Psychotropic Medications Prescribed to Children in Foster Care
  • Perspectives on Mental Health Services for Birth and Adoptive Parents, Adoptees, and Other Members of Adoption Kinship Networks
  • Prevalence and Characteristics of Children Entering Foster Care to Receive Behavioral Health or Disability Services
  • Prevalence and Characteristics of Children Entering Foster Care to Receive Behavioral Health or Disability Services
  • Preventing Child Welfare System Involvement
  • Protecting Childhood: Understanding Traumatic Stress and its Impact on Children’s Mental Health
  • Protecting Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory
  • Psychologists work to support children and parents in the child welfare system, but more is needed
  • Relational Healing for Relational Trauma: Is there anything new the neuroscience can tell us?
  • Roadmap to Adoption Competency
  • Rupture and Repair: Emotions, Attunement, and Attachment
  • Screening for trauma and behavioral health needs in child welfare: Practice implications for promoting placement stability
  • Self-taught
  • Separation, Grief, and Loss
  • Steps Toward Change: Replacing Trauma Bonds with Healing Relationships
  • Strengths-Based Strategies to Support Mental Health and Well-Being for Youth, Young Adults, and Families
  • Stress and the Healing Power of Connection
  • Supervisor Coaching and Activity Guide for Mental Health Professionals
  • Supporting Foster Youth and Their Family Connections: Policy and Practice Recommendations
  • The 3-5-7 Model—Helping Children Work Through Grief
  • The Case for Adoption Competency
  • The Effects of Child Welfare Workforce Turnover on Families
  • The Future of Behavioral Health Services for Youth with Foster Care Experience
  • The Impact of Adoption
  • The impact of loss, grief and relational connection for youth in foster care
  • The Impact of Placement Stability on Behavioral Well-Being for Children in Foster Care
  • The Importance of Adoption Competent Services
  • The Importance of Adoption-Competent Therapy for Adoptive, Foster, and Kinship Care Families
  • The Importance of Birth Parent and Foster Caregiver Partnerships
  • The Inclusive Family Support Model: Facilitating Openness for Post-Adoptive Families
  • The Need to Prioritize Relational Health
  • The Trauma Therapist podcast
  • Therapy Chat podcast
  • Tip Sheet on Responding to Youth and Young Adult Mental Health Needs-Division X
  • Tips for Supporting Youth in Foster Care Who Are Grieving
  • Training for Adoption Competency
  • Training for Adoption Competency Effectiveness Study-December 2025
  • Trauma
  • Trauma & Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
  • Trauma Informed Parenting
  • Treatment Foster Care of Oregon
  • Trends in Mental and Behavioral Health Risks in Adolescents: 1999-2021
  • Tribal Communities and Family Resilience Today
  • Truth, Healing, Reconciliation Community Forums
  • Understanding the Complex Mental Health Needs of Children in Child Welfare
  • Understanding Trauma and Healing in Adults
  • Understanding Trauma-Informed Care to Build Parent Resilience
  • Using Clinical Assessment to Enhance Adoption Success
  • What Impacts Placement Stability
  • When Problem Behavior Masks a Learning Disorder
  • Which Adoption Competency Training is Right for Me?
  • Why Child Welfare Professionals Need NTI Training
  • Young People and Families Share Insights to Mental Health Professionals
  • Young People With Lived Experience in Foster Care Recommend Improvements to Mental Health Supports
  • Your Guide to Behavioral Health
  • Youth In Crisis: Supporting Youth Through School and Clinic-based Mental Health Programs
  • Youth Mental Health and Well-being in Faith and Community Settings: Practicing Connectedness
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About
Overview Partners Evaluation The National Center Team Media Kit
Communications
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Knowledge Hub
Knowledge Hub Knowledge Hub Selection Criteria Adoption Competence National Directory
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About

Overview Partners Evaluation The National Center Team Media Kit

Communications

Blog Ask the Center/FAQS Webinars

Knowledge Hub

Knowledge Hub Knowledge Hub Selection Criteria Adoption Competence National Directory
Learning Communities
Events