Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and Centene Corporation are pleased to announce our collaborative partnership to increase the understanding of the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) in the lives of children and families. While the health field has been focused on addressing the impact of SDoH for children and families, little attention has been given to the population of children and families that come to the attention of or are involved with child welfare. The pandemic has laid bare the significant impact of longstanding inequities – such as poverty, economic instability, housing insecurity, and racial discrimination – experienced by many on their health and well-being, in particular families who are Black, Brown, and Indigenous. These same issues often co-exist for the children and families who come into contact with the child welfare system.
We have made a commitment to focus on the intersection of SDoH and child welfare to understand and address the impact SDoH have for the children and families that come to the attention of or are involved with child welfare, in particular families who are Black, Brown, and Indigenous. We are interested in how a focus on SDoH can improve the delivery of services to children and families who are involved in child welfare. We are also interested in how a focus on SDoH in the health care arena can positively impact children, adolescents, and families so that they do not come into contact with the child welfare system.
As part of our partnership, we have created a series of microlearnings and webinars, and will be publishing a special issue of CWLA’s Child Welfare journal on the Social Determinants of Health and Child Welfare Services. We will be adding additional products so please return to this webpage for updates.
To learn more about Centene, click here.
MICRO-LEARNINGS
CWLA and Centene are proud to collaborate on increasing the understanding of the impact of Social Determinants of Health in the lives of children and families. Our organizations have worked together to produce the following six micro-learnings and stand-alone one-pagers that we hope you will view and share with your colleagues. We are happy to make these available to you and hope the thoughts and facts shared will encourage your interest in ensuring the programs you are engaged in are addressing the impacts of these Social Determinants of Health.
ROUNDTABLES
CWLA and Centene are proud to co-host two virtual roundtables to increase awareness about the impact of Social Determinants of Health (SDoH). Attendees will be provided with an overview of the SDoH and how this is relevant to the work of child welfare, along with a more in-depth look at the categories of SDoH and how each specifically impacts the children and families that we serve. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) and Healthy People 2030, there are five domains into which SDoH can be categorized:
- Economic Stability
- Education Access and Quality
- Health Care Access and Quality
- Social and Community Context
- Neighborhood and Built Environment
The roundtable discussions will also cover how Integrated Care can help address SDoH.
The first roundtable was held June 2, 2021 and covered Economic Stability, Education Access and Quality, and Health Care Access and Quality. To view the recording, click here.
The second roundtable was held on June 30, 2021 and covered Social and Community Context, Neighborhood and Built Environment, and Integrated Care. To view the recording, click here.
SPECIAL ISSUE CHILD WELFARE JOURNAL
Call for Abstracts: A Special Issue on Social Determinants of Health and Child Welfare Services
CWLA and Centene are pleased to announce a call for abstracts for a special issue of Child Welfare journal dedicated to examining the relationship between social determinants of health (SDoH) and child welfare system involvement.
The special issue will focus on the intersection of SDoH and child welfare. We are interested in examining how a focus on SDoH can improve the delivery of services to children and families who are involved in child welfare. We are also interested in how a focus on SDoH in the health care arena can positively impact children, adolescents, and families so that they don’t come in contact with the child welfare system. Submission topics are not limited to children and adolescents, but rather should incorporate the entire family.
The body of research and literature related to how social, economic, and environmental factors impact overall health is growing. It generally is accepted that addressing social needs is important in improving an individual’s health and decreasing health disparities. However, understanding how to address SDoH in an impactful way still is a challenge. This is especially so for the child and family serving systems when engaging the child welfare population, which has often experienced/experiences significant adverse childhood experiences and other issues such as intergenerational trauma and abuse, poverty, chronic neglect, economic insecurities, housing instability, and residing in communities where there is significant violence. Furthermore, the role of the child welfare community in addressing these issues is even less understood. The COVID-19 pandemic further has highlighted the significant disparities for communities, families, and children who are Black, Brown, and Indigenous, many of whom experience inequities in child welfare.
The goal of this special issue is to advance our understanding by featuring policy, theoretical, and empirical papers focused on the intersection of SDoH and child welfare. We are especially interested in examples from other systems that might be relevant for use within the child welfare system. Guest editors are a team from Centene–Cheryl Fisher, Karen Rogers, David Allen, Stan Waddell, and Haleta Belai—and Julie Collins (CWLA).
For more information regarding submission, please see the call for abstracts.
RESOURCES
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