From: CWLA Member Exclusives
Subject: Advisory Committees and Task Forces

CWLA's advisory committees and task forces give members a chance to make sure their experiences are reflected in CWLA's policies, activities, and advocacy efforts. They also help agencies contribute to a field far greater than their own community, by helping the League evolve and adapt to environmental changes and to the needs of children and service agencies.

CWLA maintains three kinds of ongoing committees:

Advisory committees provide ongoing member guidance on the League's major program and practice areas, including:

• Family Preservation & Support	• Adoption	• Kinship Care
• Alcohol and Other Drugs	• Child Day Care	• Foster Care
• Children's Mental Health	• Community Building	• Residential Care
• Youth Development	• Workforce Crisis	• Juvenile Justice
• Systems Integration and Managed Care	• International Projects • Cultural Competence	• HIV/AIDS

Task Forces bring together member expertise to develop new policies or programs or to update standards in specific areas. These groups meet for a finite amount of time to look at specific projects or emerging, controversial issues (such as the recent, "Best Practices in Behavior Management" taskforce) or to revise or create CWLA's Standards of Excellence.

Membership Committees bring together various member and client communities, nationally and regionally, to advise the League on their unique needs and discuss opportunities to serve these populations. These committees and councils ensure that CWLA is always in touch with the diversity of its membership and that local, geographically specific, and cultural issues receive prominent attention in our national agenda. They include:

• National Advisory Council of Executives in Child Welfare	• Rural Advisory Committee
• Regional steering committees and subcommittees	• Int'l Advisory Committee
• Regional affinity and cluster groups, and other member-to-member networking opportunities	• State public policy leaders

These committees and taskforces can't do their work without our members' help and support. If you believe your agency has the experience and knowledge to help CWLA set its agenda in any of these areas, contact your regional office today.

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