All Children - All Families: About the Project

Filed under: Adoption, Parenting, All Children-All Families, Children & Youth, Transgender Children & Youth, Foster Parenting

Interested in participating in All Children - All Families?  Request to participate today! (And while you’re at it, register for our free webinars, and subscribe to our e-newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest resources for LGBTQ inclusion.)

About All Children - All Families

HRC's All Children – All Families, a project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, promotes LGBTQ inclusive policies and affirming practices among child welfare agencies and formally recognizes those agencies that are leading the field with innovative approaches to inclusion.

Research demonstrates the crucial nature of this work. LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in foster care, many having been rejected by their families because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Too often these young people then enter child welfare systems that further traumatize them due to a lack of inclusive policies and practices. At the same time, the LGBTQ community remains an untapped resource when it comes to finding families for children and youth in foster care. For these reasons, the project focuses on supporting agencies’ efforts to achieve safety, permanency and well-being by improving practice with LGBTQ youth and families.  Since the project began in 2007, agencies across the country have recognized the importance of this work and utilized ACAF resources.

Participating in All Children - All Families

Participating agencies are given access to comprehensive resources, including an online self-assessment tool, expert webinars on LGBTQ topics, group-based technical assistance and more.

Annual Cycle

All Children - All Families engages with agencies on an annual cycle beginning in May of each year. At that time, participants are given access to a customized Agency Self-Assessment tool (completed online) which assists them in measuring their current level of LGBTQ inclusion. The assessment focuses on seven key areas of policy and practice benchmarks. Participating agencies that demonstrate a minimum level of LGBTQ inclusion will be formally recognized at the end of the annual cycle and celebrated throughout the year as benchmarks are met.

In addition to the assessment, ACAF provides group-based technical assistance (TA) sessions to facilitate learning between and among participating agencies as they work toward benchmarks. These TA sessions are organized around the seven key policy/practice areas and offered August through March during the annual cycle.

Participating agencies also enroll staff members in All Children - All Families Webinar Series to provide professional development opportunities specific to LGBTQ inclusion. The series includes 20 offerings in five different topical tracks: Core Curriculum, LGBTQ Parents, LGBTQ Youth, Agency Leadership and Caregiver.

Tiers of Recognition

Participating agencies are recognized at three different levels of inclusion, depending on the extent to which they have implemented LGBTQ inclusive policies and affirming practices - and ACAF provides resources and technical assistance to help agencies at all levels.This recognition enhances agencies’ efforts to establish a track record of LGBTQ inclusion and build meaningful relationships with LGBTQ communities in their area.

The three tiers are:

  1. Building A Foundation for Inclusion: At this level, agencies are at the early stages of policy and practice implementation. Benchmarks focus on establishing non-discrimination protections, providing staff with online learning related to LGBTQ inclusion and improving LGBTQ inclusion in forms, paperwork and messaging. This tier is an appropriate goal for beginner agencies -- its requirements are meaningful and achievable for beginners.
  2. Solid Foundation for Inclusion: At this level, agencies have implemented the essential elements of LGBTQ inclusion in policies and affirming practices. Benchmarks go beyond basic non-discrimination protections to the policies and practices necessary to actively “roll out the welcome mat” to the LGBTQ community. These agencies have also assessed their practices specific to youth and parents to ensure LGBTQ inclusion and acted to make these efforts sustainable for the long-term.
  3. Innovative Inclusion: At this level, agencies are pushing themselves beyond the solid foundation they have built and implementing innovative approaches to LGBTQ inclusion in each of the seven key areas. Benchmarks at this level also require agencies to look outside their own policies and practices and demonstrate leadership in areas like policy advocacy or organizational partnerships.

National Training Program

The All Children – All Families expert LGBTQ cultural competency training program can be customized for the needs of individual agencies. The program offers two training options: a Training of Facilitators to build an agency’s internal training capacity, and a 3-part, customizable Training Series for which ACAF Master Trainers provide training for agency staff.

Complete this training interest form to learn more about training opportunities.

And check out ACAF’s Tips for Successful Staff Training Efforts.

Webinars

Webinar Series (CEs available through NASW)

20+ webinar offerings for professionals in all roles and levels of knowledge and comfort serving LGBTQ communities.

All offerings are recorded and available on-demand from ACAF’s webinar archive.

Resources for the Field

In addition to its formal participation process outlined above, All Children - All Families provides many resources open and available to all child welfare professionals and organizations looking to improve practice with LGBTQ children, youth and families.

Take advantage of each of these resources today easily from your computer.

Promising Practices Publications