Learn more about us
The National Center for Adoption Competent Mental Health Services works to improve mental health outcomes for children and families impacted by child welfare by advancing adoption competent mental health practice nationwide. Through intensive technical assistance, training, and cross-system collaboration, we help bridge the gap between child welfare and mental health systems by strengthening the workforce to better understand and respond to the complex needs of children, youth, and families.
Our work prioritizes the need for specialized, evidence-informed mental health services that reflect the experiences of those impacted by foster care, adoption, and kinship systems. When professionals are equipped with the right knowledge, skills, and strategies, we see stronger engagement, improved well-being, and more stable, lasting permanency outcomes.
Building on more than a decade of leadership through the National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative (NTI), we continue to expand workforce capacity and support systems in delivering responsive, high-quality care across the country.
The Need
Children and youth who experience the child welfare system face significantly higher mental health challenges than their peers, and too often, systems are not equipped to meet those needs.
- Up to 80% of children in foster care have experienced significant mental health issues
- Approximately 60% of children who have experienced foster care have lifelong mental health disorders
These disparities highlight the urgent need for a workforce trained in adoption competent mental health care and for stronger alignment between child welfare and mental health systems.
A Roadmap to Adoption Competency
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There is no single path to achieving adoption competence, no single degree that will ensure it, and no single graduate or post-graduate training program that can be expected to fulfill this goal by itself, especially given that knowledge in this area is constantly evolving. Developing and sustaining adoption competence is an ongoing, multipath process.
Goals
Goal 1: Build cross-system collaborations
Develop strong, sustainable collaborative structures and alliances between child welfare and mental health systems and other child-serving systems.
Goal 2: Increase access to and availability of adoption competent mental health services
Establish sustainable improvement in the accessibility, delivery, and coordination of adoption competent mental health services and
supports.
Goal 3: Enhance the adoption competency of the child welfare and mental health workforce
Create sustainable increases in the adoption competency of mental health practitioners, paraprofessionals, and peer supports.
Objectives
Objective 1: Knowledge Hub
Establish and maintain a user-friendly repository of knowledge, peer learning experiences, and usable tools, universally accessible to a wide range of audiences, on best practices related to the provision of adoption competent mental health services and learnings from the National Center TA work.
Objective 2: Disseminate Information
Develop, curate, and disseminate authoritative information and effective tools on adoption competent mental health services.
Objective 3: Intensive Technical Assistance
Provide intensive, on-site TA to States, Tribes, and territories.
Objective 4: Increase Utilization of NTI
Assist STTs to enhance the capacity of child welfare and mental health systems to effectively engage and build collaborations to increase utilization of existing evidence-informed adoption competent training, improve accessibility and delivery of adoption competent mental health services.
Objective 5: Support Sustainability
Support sustainability in all STTs for adoption competent mental health services and collaboration between child welfare and mental health systems
Objective 6: Partner with Youth and Families
Integrate the knowledge and expertise of youth/young adults and families with lived experience in all aspects of work.
Objective 7: Collaborate with Other CB projects
Collaborate with other Children’s Bureau-supported projects and efforts and with other efforts working within TA sites to increase the impact of the National Center’s work and the Children’s Bureau’s investments in multiple initiatives.
Stay Connected to Our Work in Action
Follow us for updates across states, tribes, and territories, plus conference highlights, training, resources, and insights on adoption competent mental health care