How We Work

We work to transform systems and strengthen communities by developing and implementing policies and practices that promote justice, advance equity, and eliminate structural bias. We seek the most informed public policies, innovative ideas, and impactful solutions to ensure all children, youth, and families can thrive.

Here’s how we do it:

We Improve Public Systems

CSSP has been at the forefront of most of the significant reforms in child welfare and family support systems since the 1980s. We draw on the latest research, explore evidence-based practices and policies. We work with systems to help them develop more responsive, accountable, and equitable policies that ensure equity, inclusion, and justice for all children, youth, families, and communities.

We Strengthen Communities

We support communities’ own power to shape their futures and work with those communities and their local systems—school, housing, local organizations and governments. We start with the latest research, test ideas in the community, and provide technical assistance—working to impact policy and systems change.

We Influence Public Policy

We work to influence public policy so that we can create opportunity, advance equity, achieve impact, and scale results. We simultaneously pursue a strong offense and fierce defense in order to fight against inequitable policy proposals and budget cuts and promote policies that ensure equity, inclusion, and justice  for all children, youth, families, and communities.

We Build Capacity

By starting with the end in mind, we shape the approach of the work by mapping out the “who, what, and how” of any capacity building project. It is critical to develop this pathway—the roadmap to eventual success—prior to beginning any work in order to ensure that all parties share the same goals, and that there are guidelines to ensure that the capacity building is aligned to the stated goals as much as possible.