The Children's Bureau Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) Network is designed to provide States and Tribes with information, training, technical assistance, research and consultation that supports their efforts to improve child welfare systems and achieve sustainable systemic change that yields improved outcomes for children, youth and families.

The T&TA Network is made up of 30 organizations which provide a comprehensive array of supports for States and Tribes. The Network includes National Resource Centers, Technical Assistance Centers, Child Welfare Information Gateway, Quality Improvement Centers, Child Welfare Implementation Centers and the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute.

This expanded Network will enhance the Bureau's ability to provide in-depth and long-term consultation and support to States and Tribes.

The following are National Child Welfare Resource Centers funded by the Children's Bureau.

• National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement - Offers technical assistance, training, teleconferences, and publications to assist States with the CFSRs, including strategic planning, quality improvement, evaluating outcomes, facilitating stakeholder involvement, and improving training and workforce development.
• National Resource Center for Child Protective Services - Focuses on building State, local, and Tribal capacity through training and technical assistance in CPS, including meeting Federal requirements, strengthening programs, eligibility for the CAPTA grant, support to State Liaison Officers, and collaboration with other NRCs.
• National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues - Focuses on building State, local, and Tribal capacity through training and technical assistance in CPS, including meeting Federal requirements, strengthening programs, eligibility for the CAPTA grant, support to State Liaison Officers, and collaboration with other NRCs.
• National Resource Center for In-Home Services - Serves as a national center of expertise in child welfare practice for ensuring the safety of children and youth in their homes and making reasonable efforts to preserve families in which maltreatment has occurred.
• National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections - Provides training and technical assistance and information services to help States through all stages of the CFSRs, emphasizing family-centered principles and practices and helping States build knowledge of foster care issues.
• National Resource Center for Child Welfare Data and Technology - Addresses a broad range of program and technical issues (including Tribal and court child welfare issues) in assisting with the CFSR process, including training on data use and management, AFCARS assistance, coordinating peer consultation, and preparation and use of State Data Profiles.
• National Resource Center for Adoption - Partners with States, Tribes, and other NRCs to offer support in all phases of the CFSR process, including analyzing adoption and permanency options, exploring systemic factors, increasing cultural competence, and promoting stakeholder involvement.
• National Resource Center for Youth Development - Provides States with CFSR assistance, including promoting stakeholder involvement, technical assistance and training, and information services. Also offers States, Tribes, and other youth-serving organizations assistance in effectively implementing the Chafee Foster Care Independence and the Education and Training Voucher programs and supporting youth engagement in child welfare policy, planning, and program development.
• National Child Resource Center for Tribes - Engages Tribes to increase their access to and use of the T&TA Network, brokers T&TA, helps provide T&TA, facilitates peer-to-peer consultation among Tribes on child welfare issues, and increases cultural competence and sensitivity to Tribal voices in the T&TA Network and in State child welfare systems.
• National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at AdoptUsKids - Provides training and technical assistance to States and Tribes on issues that pertain to the development and implementation of quality recruitment and retention services for foster, adoptive, concurrent, and kinship families.

The following provide information, training, and technical assistance, and are funded by the Children's Bureau.

• Child Welfare Information Gateway - Provides access to print and electronic publications, websites, and online databases covering a wide range of child welfare topics, including child abuse prevention, family preservation, foster care, domestic and intercountry adoption, search and reunion, and much more.
• National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect - Facilitates secondary analysis of research data relevant to the study of child abuse and neglect. The Archive maintains numerous databases including the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).
• National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center for Child Welfare Systems of Care Grantees - Provides training and technical assistance and evaluation to recipients of funds from the Children's Bureau for the Improving Child Welfare Outcomes Through Systems of Care demonstration initiative. The Center develops resources and provides technical assistance that supports the grantees' efforts to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families.
• Training and Technical Assistance to State Legislators on the Child and Family Services Reviews - Through this initiative, the Children's Bureau seeks to educate State legislators about, and engage them in, the Child and Family Services Reviews and other child welfare reform efforts. This initiative also is designed to assist State child welfare agencies in developing strategies for communicating with legislators about the CFSRs.
• National Child Welfare Workforce Institute – Provides leadership development training, mentoring, and technical assistance to mid-level managers in public and Tribal child welfare agencies throughout the country. Participation is intended to increase the effectiveness of mid-level managers and to build human capital needed in child welfare agencies in order to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families in those systems.

The following Quality Improvement Centers are funded by the Children's Bureau.

• National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System - The purpose of this 5-year project is to determine, through a research design, the impact of nonresident father involvement on child welfare outcomes.
• National Quality Improvement Center on the Privatization of Child Welfare Services - The purpose of this 5-year project is to build knowledge and inform decision-making regarding public/private partnership in child welfare service delivery.
• National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services – The purpose of this 5-year project is to generate knowledge on effective practice models of differential response in child protective systems and support the infrastructure at State and local levels to improve outcomes for children and families referred for suspected maltreatment.
• National Quality Improvement Center on Early Childhood - The purpose of this 5-year project is to generate and disseminate robust evidence and new knowledge about program and systems strategies that contribute to child maltreatment prevention and optimal child development.
• National Quality Improvement Center on the Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System - The purpose of this 5-year project is to gather, develop, and communicate knowledge on child representation that presents the strengths and weaknesses of methods of representing children, promotes consensus on the role of the child's legal representative, and provides an analysis of how legal representation for the child might best be delivered.

The following were established to support statutorily mandated programs and provide services to grantees and are funded by the Children's Bureau.

• National Abandoned Infants Assistance Resource Center - Works to enhance the quality of social and health services delivered to children who are abandoned or at risk of abandonment due to the presence of drugs and/or HIV in the family.
• National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention - Offers knowledge and expertise in the implementation of family support strategies in a variety of settings and for many purposes. Provides CFSR assistance, including building networks, collecting data, and promoting stakeholder involvement.

The Children's Bureau funds five regionally based Implementation Centers, which focus on implementation of strategies to achieve sustainable, systemic change that results in greater safety, permanency, and well-being for children, youth, and families.

• Atlantic Coast Child Welfare Implementation Center – Serves Regions III and IV
• Midwest Child Welfare Implementation Center – Serves Regions V and VII
• Mountains and Plains Child Welfare Implementation Center – Serves Regions VI and VIII
• Northeast and Caribbean Child Welfare Implementation Center – Serves Regions I and II
• Western and Pacific Child Welfare Implementation Center – Serves Regions IX and X

The National Resource Center listed below is co-sponsored by the Children's Bureau and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

• National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare - Works to develop knowledge and provide technical assistance to Federal, State, and local agencies and Tribes to improve outcomes for families with substance use disorders in the child welfare and family court systems.

The Intra-Agency Agreement between the Administration for Children and Families and the Center for Mental Health Services sponsors the following programs.

• National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health - Dedicated to helping States, Tribes, territories, and communities build systems that improve access to quality care and improve outcomes for children with, or at-risk of, emotional disorders, and their families.
• Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health – Provides technical assistance to systems of care communities funded by the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families program to effectively meet the mental health needs of children and youth with serious emotional challenges.