Create Safe, Stable, and Nurturing Environments for Children in Care

In twenty-plus years as a social worker, I’ve accompanied many people on some difficult journeys. Whether it was assisting a family to tell their children about the death of a beloved family member or helping young children express their worries after a SWAT team removed them from their family, I know firsthand that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common. 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ACEs are potentially traumatic events (such as abuse and neglect) or environments that undermine a child’s sense of safety, stability, and bonding, including substance use, mental health challenges, and parental or household instability. Seventy-five percent of high school students report having experienced one or more ACEs, and 20% report having experienced four or more. 

The outcomes associated with ACEs have been studied extensively over the past 30 years. These experiences can influence both physical and mental well-being, affecting our ability to work, parent, and build healthy relationships into adulthood. And then the cycle continues. 

While this can paint a daunting picture for our future, I have also witnessed incredible hope and resilience in my work with children and families. What SAFY does alongside youth and families truly makes a difference. 

SAFY provides the services needed to foster hope and build resilience. This commitment is reflected in our mission to preserve families and secure futures. 

Placement Stability Really Matters

When children are removed from the custody of their family, the child welfare system has a responsibility to provide a safe, stable, and healing environment while reunification work continues. This is not easy. 

According to Casey Family Programs, among children who spend two years or more in care, 65% will experience three or more moves. Each disruption can affect a child in significant ways, including delayed permanency, academic challenges, and difficulty developing meaningful, lasting relationships. Placement stability really does matter. 

What Influences Placement Stability?

Understanding the factors that influence placement stability is a critical place to start. It is never just one thing. Youth themselves, biological families, foster families, and the organizations supporting them all bring characteristics and circumstances that shape outcomes. 

Research shows that greater stability is associated with initial placements with relatives, homes that honor a child’s racial and cultural identity, and experienced foster parents who are well supported and trained in trauma-informed care. At the same time, youth who are Black and Brown, older, experiencing medically complex situations, or exhibiting behavioral challenges and trauma responses are more likely to experience placement disruptions. 

Organizational factors also play an important role. Caseworker turnover, especially during key transition points in a child’s placement, and gaps in cultural humility or understanding specific youth needs can contribute to instability. 

It’s complicated, and it requires taking a big-picture view if we are serious about creating safe, stable, and nurturing environments for children in care. 

How We Create Safe, Stable, and Nurturing Environments

The continuum of care that SAFY provides reflects what research tells us children need. It begins with a well-trained workforce committed to providing comprehensive, evidence-based support to youth, biological families, and foster families who open their homes to children care. 

Our staff are trained to understand and respond to the impacts of trauma. Supervisors, case managers, therapists, and support staff work together as a team to provide trauma-informed and culturally responsive services. This collaborative approach supports continuity, trust, and stability for both youth and families. 

SAFY’s leadership remains committed to creating a work environment that strengthens staff retention and professional growth. We cannot underestimate the role organizational stability plays in fostering safe and nurturing environments for children. 

Assessment, Care Planning, and the Youth’s Voice

Thoughtful assessment and intentional care planning are essential. Prioritizing placements that keep siblings together whenever possible and aligning a child’s needs with the strengths of a foster family are critical pieces of stability. 

Case managers connect youth to services that address behavioral concerns, trauma reactions, and medical, educational, and developmental needs. Just as importantly, we must include the youth’s voice throughout this process. 

Children and youth are the experts on their own experiences. Building relationships that feel safe enough for them to share their stories, preferences, and needs strengthening trust and trust supports stability. 

Supporting foster parents is also key. Evidence-based parenting education, coaching, and the use of respite providers can make a meaningful difference in sustaining safe, nurturing placements. 

Trauma-Informed Care: Safety and Self-Regulation

Trauma-informed care is critical. Even when children are removed from abusive or neglectful situations, many have shared that their deepest trauma was the separation from their family and everything familiar and entering the unknown world of foster care. 

Two of the most important things we can provide for youth who have experienced trauma are safety and self-regulation. Safety goes beyond the physical. A child’s brain needs repeated experiences of consistency and care before it can recognize a new placement as truly safe. 

Routines are often a helpful starting point, though they can feel unfamiliar to youth who come from chaotic environments. Consistent empathy, positive regard, and genuine concern for a child’s well-being, shown repeatedly, help lay the groundwork for healing. And that work can be hard. 

Self-Regulation: The Key to Resilience

I often think of self-regulation as the key to all of this. When I am calm and caring for myself, I am better able to support others. 

Whether you are a caseworker supporting a foster family, a foster parent trying to get everyone out the door in the morning, or a CEO navigating the changing landscape of child welfare, staying grounded in the midst of stress promotes calmness in those around you. 

Across the child welfare system, learning and practicing self-regulation skills is essential to resilience. Mindfulness activities, deep breathing, time-away spaces, respite, physical movement, and positive affirmations are just a few of the tools available to us. 

We must be intentional as we walk this path together, supporting youth, families, caregivers, and one another, to truly preserve families and secure futures. 

Want to go deeper?

We invite you to listen to the Managing Me Through Adversity recording to continue learning practical ways to support self-regulation and resilience both for ourselves and our youth.