Partnering with Medicaid to Advance and Sustain the Goals of the Child Welfare System

The purpose of this paper is to serve as a practical guide for child welfare directors who are looking to expand or sustain services for the children and families that they serve. This paper focuses on ways to partner with Medicaid to leverage opportunities to provide high quality services for children in child welfare who have behavioral health needs. It also includes information that will provide a foundational understanding of the behavioral health needs of children involved with the child welfare system, with an emphasis on describing child behavior through the lens of child development, adaptive functioning, and trauma; the services that can effectively address those behavioral and trauma related responses that can disrupt a child's skills and abilities; and, examples from states and counties who are providing these services and supports