Policy & Practice | Winter 2025

administrators, funders, and those with lived experience—cover four areas: 1. Community-Based Prevention. Community-based prevention gaps are related to community-based supports, strengths, and services that promote family well-being so that children can be raised in safe and healthy settings—eliminating the need for intervention by Child Protective Services (CPS). 2.Child Protective Services and Prevention of Foster Care. Child protective services gaps are related to the experiences and impacts of CPS involvement, and methods for preventing family separation and foster care placement whenever possible. 3.Out-of-Home Care. Out-of-home care gaps are related to a holistic con tinuum of out-of-home care—used only when necessary. This includes family foster care, kinship care, group or residential care, adoption, and post-permanency services. 4. Workforce. Workforce gaps are related to staff recruitment, orienta tion, coaching, development and retention—along with what makes an effective workforce. In order to close these research gaps and move toward a more efficient child welfare system, the National Research Agenda strives to achieve two goals through strategic convenings and curated conversations: (1) increase awareness of key knowledge gaps included in child welfare; and (2) influ ence how research is designed, funded, implemented, and disseminated. Underlying Principles for the 21st Century Child Welfare System The National Research Agenda has developed products and tools to address significant knowledge gaps and other deficiencies within the child welfare system by leveraging research to improve professional practices, policies, and strategies. In collabora tion with a broad coalition of partners, including those with lived experience in the system, the National Research Agenda created tools and products that were grounded within the fol lowing principles:

research agenda, its content, and its potential in a series of professionally produced videos. 3.Research Gap Requests for Proposals (RFPs). Sample RFPs were written for each of the 23 high-priority research gaps, which included a brief rationale for the research gap. These RFPs are intended to support potential funders in expediting the research funding process. 4.Brief for Funding and Supporting Lived Expert Engagement. A brief and checklist for funders on pro moting meaningful partnerships with lived experience experts in high-quality research (Mihalec Adkins et al., 2023). This brief provides concrete recommenda tions for how funders can engage lived experience experts as key research questions are developed, and researchers are identified. Two planning checklists were developed to accompany the article. 5. 21st Century Child and Family Well-Being Synthesis. This syn thesis highlights the recent literature focused on the primary goals of a 21st Century child welfare system and the key components to achieve those goals, including meaningful acknowledgement of the many tensions inherent in considering possible paths forward. 6.Strategies for Maximizing the Use of Research Findings for Policy and Practice. A literature review of strategies for maximizing the use of research findings for policy and practice was recently published in the Journal of Public Child Welfare (Pecora et al., 2025). A planning checklist was developed to accom pany the article and is available from the authors. 7. Research Grant Funding Opportunities List. The Research Grant Funding Opportunities list grant funding opportunities geared toward research within the 23 gaps. We maintain a repository of funding opportunities from federal, state, and foundation sources that are related to each of the 23 high-priority gap areas that is updated quarterly. was formed with the following purpose: to have a current list of

1. Clarify and Improve Child Safety. When child safety is defined as the threat of serious harm, the field needs consistent application of that definition and carefully developed child safety plans. 2.Keep Children in Family Settings Whenever Possible. As voices in the field of child welfare, we must prioritize keeping families together. If there is a need to intervene, children should be placed with kin, whenever possible. 3.Promote Key Protective Factors. Ensure that community support promotes key protective factors (e.g., resiliency, social support, concrete support, attachment) for child and family well-being. 4.Eliminate Inequities. Address discrimination and other social determinants of health while honoring family diversity and promoting culturally appropriate services. 5. Transform How Research is Conducted. Redesigning how we conduct research has the potential to answer questions more effectively and lead to more change. Research needs to be more inclusive, both in who is part of the research team, who identifies the research ques tions, and what methods are used. 6.Diversify Funding Opportunities. To transform research, we must reevaluate who, what, and how we fund. We developed a series of model Requests for Proposals corresponding to each of the 23 high priority gaps for funders to adapt and use. Key Resources Key resources were developed to support the implementation of the National Research Agenda: 1. Main Report and Executive Summary. The three expert work groups produced a comprehensive report that outlined more than 300 research gaps and how they were identified. An executive summary provided an abridged overview of the 23 high-priority gaps and devel opment details. 2.Project Launch Videos. Lived experience experts and foundation leaders provided their thoughts on the reasons for developing a national

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