Ten Years of Keeping Children in Foster Care Connected to Family

Imagine you’re 12 years old and it’s Christmas time — instead of soaking in the joys of the holiday season, you’re in foster care and just learned that you must have immediate surgery on your liver because of your liver disease, a condition you’ve had since birth.  

You’re alone, scared, and surrounded by strangers — but not for long.  

Through Collaborative Family Engagement (CFE), Hill Country CASA quickly acted and notified the child’s loved ones of the surgery. His fictive kin spent days with him at the hospital through Christmas. Not only did CASA utilize their medical and connection-informed advocacy, but they also prioritized the sense of safety and connection of a child in need while the majority of his team was on leave for the holidays.  

Thousands of children and families experiencing the child welfare system need this sense of connection — and over the past TEN years of CFE, we’ve helped strengthen generations of family ties across Texas.  

“Children who are harmed in relationships, heal in relationships,” said Director of Collaborative Family Engagement Catherine Herlich. Herlich has worked for Texas CASA for nine of the ten years CFE has existed. She’s had a front row seat of the impact that CFE has made in the lives of thousands of children and families. “At the heart of CFE is how can we build connections for children, parents, and families so that children can have healing and that they can go home when safely possible,” she added.

We created CFE with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) based on Kevin Campbell’s Family Finding Model. It’s a team-based approach to connection that brings together local CASA programs, Child Protective Services (CPS), and Single Source Continuum Contractors (SSCCs) to identify and engage relatives and other trusted people in a child’s life. By working together, we help build a strong, lasting network of support for young people in foster care. 

Through CFE, the focus is on strengthening and expanding a child’s circle of supportive relationships. By intentionally engaging family members and other trusted adults, CASA advocates and child welfare professionals help ensure children remain connected to the people who know and care about them, giving every child in foster care the opportunity for lifelong connections. 

CFE is more than a tool, it’s our philosophy — it’s who we are at our core. 

“Collaborative Family Engagement is the way our system as the child welfare system should work every single day,” said Leshia Fisher, CPS Regional Director for Region 6. 

In 2023, the CFE approach was officially integrated across every CASA program in Texas and every single CASA volunteer had access to family connection tools. CASA volunteers serve as a bridge across the child welfare systems. They partner with caseworkers, attorneys, and judges to keep a child’s best interest at the center of every decision. And an important part of that bridge’s foundation is CFE.   

Within CFE, there are Texas CASA CFE coaches strategically located throughout the state. A coach supports CASA programs, CPS, and SSCCs by providing training and ongoing support on the four pillars of CFE: Colabore, Cultivar, Convocar, and Conectar. They lead hands-on trainings that teach staff and volunteers how to use over 30 practical tools that make healing accessible and practical on a child’s terms. 

To celebrate ten years of CFE, we recently launched a brand-new tool, The Ring of Hope. Different activities are displayed on a ring of cards — like walking barefoot outside, listening to music, journaling, and even fill-in-the-blank cards — to offer practical ways that children or family members who are involved in the system can alleviate whatever it is they’re going through at that moment. Volunteers and caseworkers can use the Ring of Hope as a tool to discover what coping mechanisms work best for the families they’re serving.

“With hope, there is change, and change brings so much to behaviors. Connections are brought out and we can help families heal — and that’s what CFE is all about,” said CFE Coach Melissa Caddell.  

By coaching teams through real cases, CFE coaches help turn complex situations into meaningful connections that keep children safe, supported, and linked to the adults who matter most. They also make it known that family is not only biological; it’s defined by the individual and includes loved ones that make a child feel safe, loved, and supported.  

“Every child deserves to have a lifetime network of supportive connections,” said CFE Coach Frances Lofley.  

CFE has always been about providing children and families with a dedicated support system they can depend upon even after CASA and CPS involvement. We’ve spent the last decade strengthening families, building connections, and transforming the way community partners engage children and their support networks in the child welfare system. What started as a vision has truly grown into a movement, and we are so proud of what the CASA network in Texas has accomplished.  

“I want CFE to be a beacon of hope for the families experiencing such a traumatic event. Families come into the legal system hopeless but gain hope in the process of being here because they have professionals and people who are surrounding them and want the best for them,” said CFE Coach Maria McCord, whose personal experience in foster care inspired the new Ring of Hope tool.   

Here’s to the next decade of promoting healing, belonging, and normalcy through CFE.