Family Engagement in Child Welfare: Ethics, Empathy, and Evidence-Based Practice
Course #9602L -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
This live event takes place Friday, September 18, 11:30 am-2:30 pm EST (8:30 am-11:30 am PST).
This course equips mental health professionals with trauma-informed, ethical, and culturally responsive strategies for engaging families involved in the child welfare system. Participants explore the clinical impact of systemic trauma, learn to reframe "resistance" as a survival response, and strengthen communication and documentation practices that build safety and trust. Grounded in evidence-based practice, this course offers tools to enhance outcomes for families navigating CPS involvement. Through real-world case studies, reflective exercises, and applied frameworks, this course empowers clinicians to support family healing, safety, and reunification within multidisciplinary teams.
This live webinar is designed for mental and behavioral health professionals who would benefit from enhanced knowledge of family engagement in child welfare.
The purpose of this course is to strengthen clinicians' knowledge, skills, and practice in trauma-informed, culturally humble, and ethically transparent engagement with child welfare-involved families
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Describe the impact of trauma on family engagement and participation in mandated services.
- Reframe resistance and avoidance behaviors as protective trauma responses.
- Apply ethical and documentation practices that reduce bias and support reunification.
- Demonstrate cultural humility and awareness of systemic racism in child welfare practice.
- Collaborate effectively with CPS social workers and other team members to support sustainable family change.
- Integrate reflective supervision, peer consultation, and self-compassion into trauma-informed practice.
Ashley Castro, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over a decade of experience in child welfare, behavioral health, and trauma-informed systems training. She serves as a Staff Development Officer for a Public Sector and the founder of AC Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Inc., where she provides clinical therapy, consulting, and curriculum development. Her expertise bridges direct clinical practice and system-level change, with a focus on ethics, empathy, and evidence-based engagement strategies for court-involved families.
Contributing faculty, Ashley Castro, LCSW, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Scott Deatherage, PhD
Kimberly Byrd, EdD, PMSW
The division planners have disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.