Protecting Children

The Children's Division of American Humane is a national leader in developing programs, policies, training, research and evaluation, and cutting-edge initiatives to prevent and respond to child abuse and neglect. At the same time, we work to strengthen families and communities and enhance child protection systems at the state and county levels.

American Humane works to enhance the ability of local organizations and public agencies to respond effectively to the needs of vulnerable children and families. We provide training for the workforce that addresses issues of child abuse and neglect every day. And we work with child protection professionals and agencies to improve their systems, so that greater emphasis is placed on processes and results that focus on the best interests of children and their families.

What's New

Five Counties, Many Voices: Profiles of Family Engagement in Colorado’s Child Welfare System

Since 1997, a consortium of Colorado counties, calling themselves the Forum for Family Engagement, have been discussing implementation and best practices regarding the multiple family engagement models at their human services departments. As a national organization headquartered in Englewood, Colo., we wanted to profile the family engagement work in our home state.

Our new Issue Brief on family engagement in Colorado outlines the valuable work of these counties that have each committed to involving families in decision making.

Call for Abstracts for Protecting Children

The Children’s Division announces a Call for Abstracts for the journal Protecting Children. The issue entitled “Promising Results in Research and Practice: Understanding Disproportionality and Reducing Disparity in Child Welfare” will be published in March 2011.
The deadline for abstract submission is Feb. 5, 2010. Get more information.

Now Available! Replicating the Family Connections Program: Lessons Learned (Vol. 24, No. 3, 2009) of Protecting Children

This special issue of Protecting Children profiles the lessons learned and “tells the story” of the national replication of Family Connections, a multi-faceted community-based service program that works with families in their homes, in the context of their neighborhoods, to help them meet the basic needs of their children and prevent child maltreatment. Learn more.

Senior Fellow Mike Doolan Available This June

American Humane is pleased to announce that Mike Doolan is joining our FGDM team for June 2010. He will attend American Humane’s annual conference in Burlington, Vt., from June 22-25. He also is available (from June 7 to July 1, 2010) to provide training and technical assistance to U.S. and Canadian communities working to implement and sustain FGDM processes in child welfare and youth justice systems.

To schedule Mike to visit your community, contact Lisa Merkel-Holguin at lisa@americanhumane.org or (303) 925-9421.

Find out more.

We Need Your Input

If you are an individual or organization engaged in collaborative forms of decision making in child welfare, particularly child protection mediation and family group decision making, please take a few moments to complete a survey from The Child Welfare Decision Making Collaborative.

Get the story behind the survey.

Request for Doctoral Dissertation Funding Applications

The Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR) is requesting applications for funding to support doctoral research in the area of differential response in child protective services. Learn more.

American Humane Launches Colorado Disparities Resource Center

This new initiative will address the overrepresentation of minority children and differences in how they are served in Colorado’s child welfare system. Learn more.

Child Protection Conferences & Events

Register Now

Registration is now open for the 2010 Conference on Family Group Decision Making and Other Family Engagement Approaches. For the first time, we are able to offer online registration in addition to the traditional faxed registration. This year’s conference, “Fostering All the Connections” is being held at the Sheraton Hotel in Burlington, Vt., June 22-25. Find out more.

Save the Date for the 2010 Conference on Differential Response in Child Welfare

The conference will be held November 8-10, 2010 at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel in Anaheim, Calif.