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Tag: families

Opioid Settlement Dollars Are Flowing — But Not to the Families Who Need Them Most

August 15, 2026

BY: Uma Ahluwalia

Every state in the country is currently deciding how to spend a historic pool of opioid settlement money. In one of the largest single awards yet, New York Attorney General Letitia James secured $7.4 billion from Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family — money explicitly meant to remediate the harm the opioid crisis caused. That harm didn’t stop at the person who became addicted. It moved into their household, and often into their children’s lives.

So far, most settlement dollars haven’t followed it there.

Where the money has gone

Across the country, opioid settlement spending has clustered around a familiar set of priorities: jail- and community-based Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), naloxone (Narcan) distribution, and public-safety-driven overdose prevention. These are worthwhile investments that save lives.

But they largely treat individuals — often adults cycling through corrections or emergency systems — not families. Almost none of this funding has been designed around pregnant and parenting mothers and fathers trying to stay together with their babies, toddlers, and young children while getting well.

The population treatment dollars are missing

The child welfare data on this is stark. According to the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, more than half of the children under age five who entered foster care in the U.S. in 2021 were removed at least in part because of a parent’s alcohol or drug use.

Stated simply, the single largest identifiable driver of foster care entry for our youngest, most developmentally vulnerable children is parental substance use — and it has not been treated as a treatment priority. The dollars set aside to remediate the opioid crisis have rarely reached the families where that crisis is now deciding whether a baby stays home or enters state custody.

The trend over time tells the same story. Child Trends’ analysis of federal AFCARS data shows the share of foster care entries tied to parental drug use climbed from 22 percent in 2007 to 36 percent in 2017, then largely leveled off — holding between 33 and 36 percent through 2023. Total foster care entries have declined in recent years, but parental drug use hasn’t faded as a driver alongside that decline: it’s remained a factor in roughly one in three cases for nearly a decade. This isn’t a momentary spike to react to — it’s a persistent, load-bearing share of the caseload the system has been carrying for years without treatment dollars catching up.

This isn’t a child welfare footnote. Research ties parental substance use not only to foster care involvement but to housing instability more broadly — two systems that already struggle to talk to each other, compounding risk for the same families.

A policy window is opening

There’s real reason for optimism. A recent Imprint article highlights work from Alex Adams pushing to make methadone and buprenorphine — two of the most effective medications for opioid use disorder — reimbursable under Title IV-E and Medicaid. That’s a meaningful lever: it starts building the financing infrastructure family-centered treatment needs to scale, separate from settlement dollars entirely.

Put those two things together — a one-time infusion of settlement money and a shifting reimbursement landscape — and there’s a real opening to fund something that hasn’t existed at scale: treatment designed for parents and their young children, together, before separation happens rather than after.

What it will take

None of this happens by default. Settlement funds are already being allocated, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, often by councils with no child welfare representation at the table. Redirecting even a portion of that money toward family-based treatment will require:

  • A clear, evidence-backed case connecting settlement dollars to child welfare outcomes, housing stability, and long-term cost avoidance
  • The right advocates and levers — state settlement councils, child welfare directors, and Medicaid/Title IV-E policy leads all need a seat at the table, not just corrections and public health
  • Models worth replicating — identifying jurisdictions already doing this well, so other states aren’t starting from a blank page

The opioid settlements were built on the premise that money should follow harm. Right now, it’s following the crisis backward — into corrections and emergency response — instead of forward, into the households where the next generation’s outcomes are actually being decided. That’s a solvable problem, but only if child welfare shows up to solve it.

Uma Ahluwalia is the Director of Leapp Strategies, LLC.

The Power of the Lab: Where the Work Began and Why It Matters

June 15, 2026

BY: Renada Johnson

Ten years ago, the Results Innovation Lab began with a belief that still guides the work today: children and families are better supported when leaders learn together, use data differently, and stay focused on what families need to thrive.

The Results Network annual convening, which took place last month at Bethel New Life in Chicago, brought together more than 50 leaders from 17 organizations and 14 states across the Lutheran Services in America network. As Lutheran Services in America marks the 10-year anniversary of the Results Innovation Lab, this convening reminded us of where the work began and why it still matters.

What did we learn?

  1. Peer learning helps teams see what they cannot see alone.

The Results Network brings leaders together to leverage data, test ideas, learn in community, and move from intention to impact. For the past 10 years, the Lab’s collaborative learning model has created space for leaders to learn with and from one another, implement small tests of change, and apply what they are learning in real time. As one longtime Results Network participant reflected, “The last eight years and this group have provided me more growth than any other experience I have had. It has given me strength and courage and the resilience to keep going.”

  1. Resilience has to be built into the way we work.

Throughout the convening, resilience was not treated as a separate topic from the work. It was part of the work itself. Workforce conditions are not separate from family outcomes. The way organizations support their teams affects how families experience services, how strategies are implemented, and how prevention efforts take root. Dr. Darius Tandon, professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, explored with participants the mounting pressures facing the health and human services field and offered practical frameworks and evidence-based strategies for building workforce resilience, including community co-design principles and stress management intervention.

  1. Co-creating solutions with staff strengthens outcomes.

Participants prioritized workforce best practices such as aligning resources to more efficiently support workforce and co-creating solutions with staff. Lutheran Social Services of New York now has all levels of program staff participating in their Solutions Lab and ongoing development of an internal quality assurance tool. At Lutheran Child and Family Services of Indiana/Kentucky, the entire team is now involved in data reporting to increase understanding of the importance and use of data with funders and partners to sustain programs. So far, this has led to 63% of annual goals being met within the first quarter and a noticeable decrease in stress from the team.

  1. Lived experience strengthens strategy.

When leaders listen to the people closest to the work and the people most impacted by systems, strategies become more responsive, practical, and sustainable. Bethel New Life brought together a panel of local leaders to share stories of grassroots partnership and key principles that can apply to other organizations. Panelists reflected on what it means for lived experience to shape programs and strategies, not just respond to them. They also challenged leaders to consider what it looks like when work is done with communities, rather than to communities.

  1. Prevention requires attention to both strategy and workforce.

The Results Network continues to focus on developing and strengthening the prevention continuum. Teams participated in a gallery walk where they shared their Resilience and Results Plans with one another. Bethel New Life shared how they recently developed a community ambassador role to increase referrals from community partners and build trust with families. Lutheran Services in Iowa highlighted plans to leverage staff skills developed through training to increase staff confidence in providing preventative services and increase access to preventative home visiting services across the state.

The convening closed with teams naming what they would carry forward from the year and identifying commitments to strengthen their work, including increasing intentional listening practices to elevate community voice, strengthening transformational partnerships, and holding team members accountable to reflection and curiosity. When leaders learn together, communities can help shape the work, and organizations stay focused on creating the conditions that help children and families thrive.

Renada Johnson is Senior Director of Children, Youth & Family Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Turning Policy into Practice: What We’re Learning from our Local Demonstration Sites

December 22, 2025

BY: Renada Johnson

Across Lutheran Services in America, we often talk about the need to bridge policy and practice. The Results Innovation Lab (RIL), in partnership with the Strengthening Families Initiative (SFI), is doing exactly that by turning national policy priorities into real-world learning through local demonstration sites.

At a time when Medicaid policy, child welfare systems, and community-based organizations are all under pressure, these sites are helping us answer a critical question: What does prevention actually look like on the ground—and what does it take to make it work?

Our demonstration sites are showing that prevention is not a single program or service, but a way of working across systems. It shows up in addressing basic needs early, coordinating care more effectively, and reducing the likelihood of crisis before families reach child welfare or emergency systems. Making prevention work requires strong cross-sector collaboration, clear shared populations, and the ability to test small changes, learn quickly, and adapt.

From Policy Signals to Practice Experiments

RIL’s focus on outcomes, equity, and leadership development is now directly shaping how we design and support local demonstration sites alongside health care. Rather than starting with abstract policy ideas or top-down models, we are using small, practical tests of change to learn what collaboration actually looks like on the ground, under real-world conditions.

This approach allows us to:

  • Focus on clear outcomes at the intersection of Medicaid and child welfare
  • Build cross-sector “muscle memory” for collaboration
  • Document prevention strategies that align with federal priorities and are feasible for overburdened local systems

This matters in the current policy environment. The White House’s 2025 Executive Order emphasizes family stability, timeliness, upstream investment, and cross-system coordination. Through RIL and SFI, Lutheran Services in America is effectively operating a living lab for what that policy vision looks like in practice.

What We’re Learning from the Demonstration Sites

In Pennsylvania and Virginia, the demonstration sites are surfacing several consistent lessons with clear policy implications.

Identifying shared populations is harder than expected—but essential.
Even when organizations serve the same families, health plans, schools, and child welfare systems often define populations differently. The work of aligning around a shared group of children or families takes time, trust, and data—but it is foundational to any meaningful partnership.

Small tests of change are the right scale for this moment.
Rather than launching large pilots, sites are using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to test ideas quickly. These small tests help partners stay engaged, surface barriers early, reduce risk, and generate evidence that can inform future investment. This is exactly the kind of learning federal and state leaders look for when identifying promising prevention approaches.

Basic needs are the gateway to deeper engagement.
Across sites, food access, transportation, hygiene supplies, and mental health supports consistently emerge as high-impact entry points. Addressing these needs improves appointment attendance, engagement in services, and trust with families—outcomes that matter to both child welfare and Medicaid systems.

Workforce capacity matters as much as program design.
Burnout and turnover can undermine even the strongest ideas. RIL’s emphasis on resilience, listening, and curiosity is helping organizations adapt while protecting staff capacity, an often overlooked but critical component of prevention.

Why Medicaid Matters for Children, Youth, and Families

Medicaid has become one of the largest funders of prevention. Families interact with health systems far more frequently than they do with formal child welfare systems, making Medicaid a powerful lever for upstream support.

Our demonstration work with UnitedHealthcare highlights several truths:

  • Many organizations involved in children, youth and family work already do Medicaid-relevant work, even if they do not bill Medicaid directly
  • Prevention lives in the gaps between health care, social care, and child welfare systems
  • Managed care organizations are still expected to address social needs and improve outcomes, even amid federal policy shifts

Lutheran Services in America members are uniquely positioned to bridge these gaps by stabilizing families, improving care coordination, reducing avoidable involvement, and delivering trusted, community-rooted support. In many ways, this is exactly what policymakers are asking systems to do. The demonstration sites are helping show the “how.”

Building Toward Scale and Sustainability

The learning from these sites is already shaping how Lutheran Services in America will strengthen practice across the network. Key areas of focus include:

  • Organizational readiness for Medicaid-aligned partnerships
  • Clearer demonstration of value through outcomes and data
  • Stronger cross-sector relationships with health plans and states
  • Meaningful integration of lived experience leadership
  • Framing prevention in terms of cost containment and avoided crises

Together, this work helps Lutheran Services in America members meet the current policy moment while staying rooted in mission. By grounding policy aspirations in practical learning, the demonstration sites are not just testing ideas, they are helping build a roadmap for prevention that can scale.

Renada Johnson is Senior Director of Children, Youth & Family Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Whole Communities, Whole Families: How Cross-Sector Collaboration Moves Results

October 20, 2025

BY: Renada Johnson and Regan McManus

This month, teams from the Family Stabilization Initiative (FSI) and the Rural Aging Action Network (RAAN) came together in Billings, Montana, to strengthen how we support whole families and whole communities. Leaders from across sectors aligned around one result: giving children the opportunity to grow up in safe, stable, permanent families, and ensuring older adults and caregivers have what they need to thrive. With representation from 10 communities across six states, the gathering was designed for practical learning and concrete action.

We are in the work of transformation, not transaction. Our focus is on creating lasting change, not just checking boxes or exchanging resources. Collaboration begins with relationships and grows through belonging and shared accountability.

When organizations coordinate around shared outcomes, communities feel the difference: children become safer and more connected; parents and caregivers gain stability and hope; older adults access coordinated, dignified support; and community trust in local organizations grows. That understanding is why we brought partners together in Billings — to strengthen relationships, align around shared results, and lay the groundwork for actions that can move us toward those outcomes.

What We Did Together

On Day 1 we used data, community voice, and a shared results framework to move from coordination to collaboration.

To surface the stories behind the numbers, we began with a Data Walk. The goal was simple: see patterns, spot gaps, and lift up bright spots we could build on. We asked, “What had changed — and what could change — for families, older adults, and caregivers? What root causes were we seeing across age ranges?”

From there, paired FSI and RAAN teams compared their Results-in-the-Center charts to find overlap and leverage, moving from intention to action. Using plain-language concepts adapted from the Collaboration Multiplier, teams surfaced shared root causes and practical opportunities to act together. Throughout, we listened for how lived experience and community voice were engaged in design and decision making.

We closed with Team Time and action commitments. Each team documented a near-term roadmap detailing goals for the next 6 to 12 months, owners and partners, timelines, and the feedback loops they would use for course correction.

Day 2 offered an opportunity for FSI and RAAN to focus on their respective models and priorities. The RAAN collaborative spent the day diving deep into their data — exploring what the numbers reveal about their communities, identifying trends, successes, and areas for growth to strengthen their work in serving rural older adults and family caregivers. Each RAAN also took part in a storytelling session, sharing personal stories that highlighted the impact of their efforts to support older adults and mobilize their communities. The day concluded with meaningful discussions on managing compassion fatigue and a leadership development session that underscored the unique gifts each leader brings and the power of collaboration in advancing this important work.

In parallel, FSI focused on systems change and the practice shifts needed to improve family outcomes. We highlighted the Community Building and Mobilization Framework we developed with Chapin Hall, a shared language for how communities lead and how organizations resource what already works. In Montana, partners brought the framework to life by sharing their story and organizing a Fall Family Festival that met families in trusted spaces, elevated lived experience, and activated cross-sector support on the ground. Teams also examined their current efforts, traced their “story of change,” and identified the next tests of change to carry forward.

The Leadership Stance We Modeled

We knew that support that lasts requires more than a new initiative; it requires adaptive work. We let go of “how we have always done it,” challenged assumptions, tried new approaches, and learned in the open. We built shared accountability across organizations and sectors and centered lived expertise and community voice as non-negotiables. We did not script perfection at the front of the room; we modeled authentic learning so teams could mirror that same openness at their tables.

A Note of Thanks

We could not have created this container for change without our partners, who helped us dig deeper. Their support stretched our learning and leadership and demonstrated what is possible when local vision is resourced and respected. We are grateful for partners investing in the long game — community trust, equitable outcomes, and stronger families. And last but certainly not least, a special thank you to our host organization, St. John’s United, for their generous hospitality, beautiful meeting spaces, and thoughtful support throughout our time together. Their team’s care and attention to detail helped create an environment that encouraged collaboration, reflection, and connection.

Together, we showed that when organizations lean into community partnerships and elevate family voices, families thrive and systems shift.

Renada Johnson is Senior Director of Children, Youth & Family Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America. Regan McManus is Director of Aging Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Community Building That Sticks: A Framework for Stronger Families and Thriving Communities

October 17, 2025

BY: Renada Johnson

Every day, families work hard to care for their children and build stable lives, often while navigating gaps in systems that weren’t designed with them at the center. If we want children to grow up in safe, stable, permanent family homes, we have to build communities where help is early, relationships are strong, and partners act together.

Our network of 300 health and human services organizations reaches one in 50 people in America each year. That reach gives us a unique ability to see both the barriers that threaten family stability and the strength, leadership, and innovation within communities themselves.

The Conditions Families Face

When affordable child care, mental health supports, or reliable access to food are out of reach, even the most determined efforts can become overwhelmed. These challenges reflect systems that too often step in after a crisis has unfolded, rather than investing in the conditions that help families thrive from the start. When support arrives late, crises can snowball—placing children at greater risk of long-term hardship and forcing families to carry burdens that should be shared by communities and systems. Research and experience show that when families have access to employment opportunities and strong supports within their communities, they are far more likely to be stable.

Laying the Foundation for Change  

This understanding laid the foundation for the launch of our Family Stabilization Initiative (FSI) four years ago—a multi-pronged effort to build systems that put family well-being first. Through this initiative, we’ve partnered with six communities in four states to strengthen evidence-based wraparound programs that help families overcome crises and prevent unnecessary involvement in the child welfare system. To deepen and expand this work, we partnered with Chapin Hall to develop a practical new framework for the field: “Community Building and Mobilization for All Families: A Pathway to Family Stability.”

This new framework provides clear guidance for operationalizing key principles that address the root causes of instability and build on the inherent strengths of families and communities. It’s grounded in lived expertise, shaped by on-the-ground partnerships, and designed for practitioners and organizations committed to authentically engaging communities in partnership with families.

Guiding Principles

At our recent webinar, practitioners and nonprofit leaders explored five guiding principles that form the framework’s Theory of Change:

  • People-driven Collaboration: Centering community members’ voices to co-create solutions that reflect local priorities and build resilient, long-term relationships.
  • Asset-based Partnerships: Building on existing community strengths and networks, both traditional and nontraditional, to foster trust and sustainable change.
  • Capacity Building: Investing in people and systems to create equitable, adaptable, and enduring community support structures.
  • Shared Leadership: Promoting collective action, fair power-sharing, and lasting partnerships that enable communities to respond effectively and sustainably.
  • Collaborative Evaluation: Co-developing goals, using both data and lived experience to measure progress, and creating feedback loops that ensure strategies evolve with community needs.

These principles are already in practice through FSI sites, including AK Child & Family in Alaska, Lutheran Community Services Northwest in Washington state, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, and St. John’s United in Montana. Each organization has demonstrated how community-driven strategies can lead to better, measurable outcomes for children and families.

Why This Framework Matters

The framework is a set of simple practices that help communities lead and help organizations resource what already works. It doesn’t replace services — it creates the conditions that make them accessible, trusted, and effective.

It’s a way of working that weaves relationships, local leadership, and data into every decision. Transactional responses meet immediate needs, but transformational relationships create the conditions for lasting change. Community building helps us move from delivering services to co-creating solutions, calling us to practice humility and share power.

Community building is prevention with people at the center.

Join Us

The well-being of children and families is a shared responsibility that belongs to everyone: families, schools, service agencies, government, business, and the faith community alike. As we continue to advance this work through the FSI framework, we invite you to join us.

We encourage Lutheran Services in America members to explore how these five principles can strengthen your own community partnerships. We also welcome the chance to create new partnerships with outside organizations willing to help us scale this framework to more communities nationwide to advance family stability.

The strength of this framework lies in what happens next — in how each of us chooses to lead, connect, and act. Community building isn’t extra work; it’s the work that makes lasting change possible.

Renada Johnson is Senior Director of Children, Youth & Family Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Uniting in Sioux Falls to Advance Equitable Outcomes for Families

August 15, 2025

BY: By Renada Johnson and Elizabeth Vetter

Last week, we had the opportunity to visit Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as part of our Family Stabilization Initiative. The site visit created valuable space to connect with staff and leadership around key priorities including community engagement, sustainability, and cross-sector partnerships.

Through our collaborative learning model approach, we reviewed data and outcomes to date, engaged in scenario-planning to address current challenges, and discussed innovative strategies to better support families and mobilize the broader community. These conversations allowed us to continue building on our Family Stabilization Initiative Sustainability Toolkit, which has helped to inform our Community Building Framework set to be released this fall in partnership with Chapin Hall.

With the support of these tools, we explored efforts to strengthen family engagement and community partnerships, and ensure fidelity as the team works towards advancing equitable outcomes for all families in South Dakota.

Renada Johnson is Senior Director of Children, Youth & Family Initiatives and Elizabeth Vetter is a Program Manager at Lutheran Services in America.

Strengthening Families to Improve Health Outcomes

November 14, 2024

BY: Alesia Frerichs

Lutheran Services in America (LSA), in initial collaboration with UnitedHealthcare (UHC), is embarking on a multi-year initiative to reshape and foster alignment between health and social care systems through the “Strengthening Families Initiative.” We aim to improve outcomes for children, youth and families enrolled in Medicaid, with an initial focus on behavioral health conditions. Specifically, building upon LSA’s Results Innovation Lab and Family Stabilization Initiative, we seek to better leverage the capacity and leadership of the LSA member network, in alignment with key health and multi-sector stakeholders, to improve health outcomes.

Lutheran  Services in  America is one of the nation’s largest networks of health and human service providers with a mission to cultivate caring communities that advance health and opportunity for all. Together, we are 300 nonprofit organizations across 1,400 U.S. communities with more than $26 billion in combined annual services.

Lutheran social service organizations have been working by, in, with and for their communities for decades — and in some instances, for more than a century. This new initiative incorporates national and local efforts with the engagement of Lutheran Services in America member organizations, including Gemma Services in Philadelphia and enCircle in Roanoke, Virginia.

As faith-based, trusted and community-centered leaders our aim is to continue to develop and foster innovative national and local partnerships, including with Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), to improve individual and community outcomes. We are pleased to announce our collaboration with UnitedHealthcare through a $1.5 million award as we seek to expand engagement with other MCOs along with philanthropic partners.

UnitedHealthcare (UHC) is a health care and well-being company with a mission to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.7 million physicians and care professionals, and 7,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide.

As part of this effort, we will:

  • Disseminate case studies and a series of briefs, based on LSA member organization efforts to innovate approaches that address behavioral health challenges and unmet health-related social needs, along with a literature review and environmental scan of on-going national, state and local efforts, to improve understanding and inform action that build upon successes and lessons learned in aligning health and social care.
  • Convene national and local leaders from health/behavioral health systems and providers, social service organizations, payers, community-based nonprofits, policymakers, people with lived expertise, along with community and other key stakeholders to foster coalition building and partnership towards aligned action; and
  • Disseminate a ‘blueprint’ to identify and define the policy, practice and system changes necessary to catalyze and foster coordination, connection and alignment that improve health so all families can thrive.

Goals of the Initiative

Through this initiative, our shared aim is to align data-informed, community-centered approaches that have sustainable reimbursement and financing mechanisms to better address social determinants of health (SDOH) and that improve outcomes for children and families. Specifically, our work is guided through the following areas of focus:

  • Spurring a shift from segmented services provided to individual family members to a family-centered orientation, that considers measures and metrics related to family-based and community outcomes.
  • Improving cross-system collaboration to ensure alignment to better address social drivers of family stability and well-being by meeting holistic health and mental health-related social needs, including:
    • Access to food, housing, employment, childcare, among other services.
    • Support to address substance use disorder and mental health challenges within families (across all life stages), including parents, caregivers and children.
  • Building capacity and enhancing the capability of providers, community-based organizations (CBOs), and payers to ensure resources, including adequate reimbursement, and coordination are in place to better address the holistic needs of families.
  • Applying a lens that considers family structure and traditions.

Guiding Principles

The following principles and objectives will guide the overall effort:

  • Articulate a clear value proposition to deepen and expand coordination and alignment of care with appropriate and equitable services and payment to better address the holistic needs families, especially those historically marginalized.
  • Identify practice, policy and systems changes needed to catalyze more efficient and effective approaches to improve outcomes for families.
  • Identify effective ways to engage community and family voice so efforts reflect and address the highest priority needs of historically and persistently marginalized people and places.
  • Explore the workforce, data and technology considerations necessary to support and better align the delivery of quality care and services.
  • Identify the critical success factors for high-performing partnerships and collaboration to advance policy and systems change, especially the ways in which CBOs and Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) coordinate and align for improved outcomes.
  • Build support for federal, state and local policy changes necessary to broadly advance the conditions for families to have their needs met in a sustainable way.

Alesia Frerichs is President & CEO of Lutheran Services in America.

Building Community Through Our Family Stabilization Initiative: Reflections from a Site Visit to St. John’s United in Montana

November 20, 2024

BY: Renada Johnson and Liz Vetter

Through our Family Stabilization Initiative, we’ve committed ourselves to supporting families in crisis. Recently, Lutheran Services in America staff visited St. John’s United in Montana. The trip provided an important opportunity to reaffirm the importance of building community to support families. St. John’s United is leading significant community-building efforts that will strengthen resilience and resonate for years to come.

During our visit, St. John’s hosted a Family Night event that brought together over 60 families, a testament to the power of community. Families currently enrolled in St. John’s United’s high-fidelity wraparound program, as well as families who had successfully graduated from the program, came together for an evening of connection, games, and fun. It was heartwarming to see children laughing together, parents sharing their experiences, and families building bonds and memories that go far beyond the scope of any single program.

Many of the young people have formed friendships across families, learning the invaluable lesson of building community amongst themselves. These relationships help strengthen their sense of belonging and support, something that is vital for any child, especially those who have faced challenging circumstances.

Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement
St. John’s United expands their work through key community partners, including one who recently opened a Family Resource Center through the local school system. The center is a direct result of their collaboration with St. John’s United. The partnership exemplifies the broader goal of our Family Stabilization Initiative—by connecting families with the right resources, we can create a network of support that extends far beyond any single organization.

A seminal moment of the visit was an event in honor of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. It was a powerful reminder of the importance of supporting and standing with Indigenous communities. Through a moving drum presentation and the reading of the names of missing or murdered individuals, we took time to acknowledge the deep impact of these losses on the community. It was a humbling experience, reinforcing the need for accountability and the continued advocacy for equity and justice. St. John’s United exemplifies that broader commitment of our network as we extend our reach and support to improve health and opportunity for all.

Moving Forward Together

As we look ahead, it’s clear that the Family Stabilization Initiative is about much more than just addressing immediate crises. It’s about creating long-term, sustainable systems of care that empower families to stay together and avoid involvement in child welfare systems. It’s about fostering equitable outcomes for all, particularly for communities that have been historically marginalized.

The friendships formed among young people, the continuing collaboration with community partners, and the shared commitment to equity are essential as we come together to create change.

Together, as partners, advocates, and allies, we have the power to strengthen communities that uplift and support families in meaningful ways and ensure equity and justice to cultivate caring communities that advance health and opportunity for all.

Renada Johnson is Senior Director of Children, Youth and Family Initiatives. Liz Vetter is a Senior Program Associate.

Transforming Child Welfare: Reflections from the Results Network Convening in Chicago

May 17, 2024

BY: Renada Johnson

Members of our Results Network cohort gathered in Chicago this week to continue our ongoing journey to find innovative solutions for families that keep them together and change our nation’s child welfare system for the better.

Our United Commitment

With 41 participants from our member organizations as well as additional stakeholders and partners, the two-day session was a testament to our collective commitment to drive change. Guided by the Person Role System approach from the Results Count framework, we are not just dreaming of change, we are actively shaping it. By zooming in on our roles as change agents, we are reshaping systems and moving towards a future where every child has the opportunity to thrive.

During the morning session, we focused on somatic practices to foster resilience. Through activities such as centering and grounding, the introduction to somatic toys, and breathwork, we embraced the journey of personal care, healing, and recognizing the importance of nurturing our own well-being as we advocate for others.

Strategizing for the Future

One of the highlights of the convening was our data walk, where we reviewed the work of each organization, shared insights, and engaged in table conversations. This reflective exercise allowed us to celebrate past achievements and identify areas for growth, all while centering equity and justice in our discussions.

In our final session, we came together to understand and help develop a framing guide that is aimed at simplifying the complexities of our work into plain language. This guide will serve as a powerful tool, enabling us to communicate effectively and inspire others to join our efforts to advance equity in the child welfare space.

Cultivating Genuine Connections

Throughout the convening, we prioritized the cultivation of genuine connections. We know that only together do we as advocates, allies, and change agents have the power to create caring communities that advance health and opportunity for children, youth, and families across the country. We invite you to join us as we continue to be innovative in our pursuit of equity and justice in child welfare.

Renada Johnson is the Senior Director of Children, Youth and Family Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

Results Network: A Journey to Transform Communities by Cultivating Caring Communities

September 28, 2023

BY: Renada Johnson

Our Results Network cohort, a part of our Results Innovation Lab, is a dynamic nine-month learning collaborative that brings together leaders from across the Lutheran Services in America network to explore and innovate new strategies and approaches that will reshape how we engage children and families, with a specific focus on racial justice.

Thanks to a new partnership between Lutheran Services in America and the ELCA, grassroots faith-based ELCA church-led organizations and congregations have joined our 2023–2024 cohort to help us answer the question: “What will it take to stabilize families in their communities, ensuring families remain intact, and children do not enter out-of-home care?”

The Results Network is designed to accelerate innovative approaches, revamp how we engage families in crisis, and create pathways to keep families together, especially children, youth, and families who are over-represented in the child welfare system.

This proven approach has produced tremendous results in past years, and we believe that this year’s cohort will contribute immensely to our efforts, having already reached over 25,000 children and families in our Lab to date.

Organizations that have joined this transformative journey will have the opportunity to:

  • Access expertise from across the network and national thought leaders.
  • Become part of a learning community through the exchange of ideas and learning, building lasting, supportive relationships within the network.
  • Develop new approaches to achieve results and engage partners in moving the work forward.
  • Challenge the status quo and identify barriers to improving equitable outcomes for children, youth, and families.

Throughout the year, participants will create results-driven action plans through a step-by-step process by delving into key themes, incorporating and amplifying lived expertise, and utilizing plain language to engage a wider audience in addressing disparities. They will also examine and pursue opportunities to shift policies, practices, resources, and power structures all aimed at supporting and sustaining equitable outcomes for children, youth, and families. The goal is for each organization to consistently achieve measurable and impactful advancements by increasing equitable access to supports and strengthening community networks through a racial equity lens, advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion as a social norm.

Stay tuned for more information on this incredible journey of impact and transformation.

Renada Johnson is Senior Director of Children, Youth and Family Initiatives at Lutheran Services in America.

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