Welcome to NPCS from our Co-Chairs
Keeping children safe requires systems that can act early, work together, and continuously improve. NPCS is helping jurisdictions build that kind of system by creating something more proactive, more connected, and designed to prevent harm before it happens. And it’s essential to delivering on our responsibility to every child and family we serve.
Korin Schmidt
NPCS Co-Chair; Director, Wyoming Department of Family Services
NPCS is focused on improving outcomes for children and families by creating a learning environment around safety science through shared data and standard definitions that help us look at system-wide improvements.
Chip Spinning
NPCS Co-Chair; Executive Director of Franklin County Children Services in Ohio
We know that in order to do this critical work, you need a stable workforce. And safety science helps provide the environment for child welfare workers to focus on improving systems. We invite you to be a thought partner with us in this work.
Jodi Hill-Lilly
Inaugural NPCS Co-Chair; Former Commissioner for the Connecticut Department of Children and Families
The NPCS mission is to improve child safety and prevent child maltreatment-related fatalities by strengthening families and promoting innovations in child protection. Central to this work is the introduction of principles from the sciences of safety, improvement, and implementation.
NPCS HISTORY
NPCS was launched in 2018 with support from Casey Family Programs to further key recommendations of the federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities around the importance and impact of safety science and data sharing to support systems change and reform.
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NPCS HISTORY
NPCS was launched in 2018 with support from Casey Family Programs to further key recommendations of the federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities around the importance and impact of safety science and data sharing to support systems change and reform
Download timeline >
NPCS Members
Alameda Department of Children & Family Services
Arizona Department of Child Safety
Arkansas Children & Family Services
Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, California
Riverside County California Children’s Services
Child and Family Services Agency of Washington D.C.
Connecticut Department of Children and Families
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
Indiana Department of Child Services
Kentucky Department for Community Based Services
Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services
Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services
Missouri Department of Social Services
Clark County Department of Family Services, Nevada
Washoe County Nevada Human Services Agency
New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families
New Jersey Department of Children and Families
New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department
New York City Administration for Children’s Services
New York State Office of Children and Family Services
Franklin County Children Services, Ohio
Hamilton County Job & Family Services, Ohio
Ohio Department of Children and Youth
Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Department of Human Services, Pennsylvania
Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families
South Carolina Department of Social Services
Spirit Lake Tribe, Spirit Lake Social Services
Tennessee Department of Children’s Services
Vermont Department for Children and Families, Family Services Division
Virginia Department of Social Services
Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families
West Virginia Bureau for Social Services
NPCS WORKGROUPS AND COMMITTEES
Executive Committee
This NPCS governance committee is made up of senior leaders from every partner jurisdiction. The Executive Committee focuses on new activities, cross-partner exchange and decision-making for the partnership.
Executive Advisory Group
The NPCS Executive Advisory Group, which is made up of six public agency Executive Committee members and is led by the NPCS co-chairs, is a smaller, more focused group for decision-making around issues related to NPCS infrastructure, activities, support, goals, and outcomes.
Data Advisory Committee
The Data Advisory Committee is comprised of a smaller group of representatives from partner jurisdictions and other data experts. The Committee works to advance the use of data across the partnership through the development of a data dictionary and launch of a data warehouse.
Communications Workgroup
The Communications Workgroup includes Public Information Officers (PIOs) and other communication specialists from each jurisdiction. This committee is charged with developing and implementing a national and regional/state communications strategy to broaden awareness about the partnership and safety science.
Data Sharing Workgroup
The Data Sharing Workgroup includes representative from each jurisdiction. The group’s work is focused on peer-to-peer learning, general technical support, sharing of ideas and improvements related to data and data sharing across the partnership.
NPCS Learning Communities
The National Partnership for Child Safety convenes a growing network of peer-driven learning communities for child welfare jurisdictions across the country. Grounded in safety science and built on the belief that the best solutions come from the field, these communities connect agency leaders and practitioners with colleagues facing similar challenges — creating space for honest conversation, shared learning, and collaborative problem-solving. NPCS offers two types of learning communities: Affinity Groups, which bring together professionals with shared roles or areas of focus, and Applied Practice Communities, which are structured around specific, high-stakes challenges and oriented toward producing practical tools and guidance for the field. Whether you are looking to deepen your practice, find peer support, or contribute to broader systems improvements, there is a community for you.
NPCS Affinity Groups for Members
NPCS Affinity Groups are peer-driven communities that connect child welfare professionals across jurisdictions who share common roles, areas of focus, or practice challenges. Each group offers a consistent space for members to exchange ideas, seek support, and learn from colleagues who understand the work firsthand. Whether your focus is on legal practice, safety culture, workforce development, or quality improvement, there is a community where your expertise and experience are welcome.
Advancing Safety Science in the Workforce
This group brings together leaders working at the intersection of critical incident review, safety culture, continuous quality improvement, and workforce development. Members focus on translating key learnings from critical incidents into actionable training content and shareable learning resources that strengthen safety science practice across jurisdictions.
ARCS: Advancing Resilience, Connectedness, and Safety Science
ARCS — Advancing Resilience, Connectedness, and Safety Science — is an open community for leaders navigating the complex work of building and sustaining safety culture within their organizations. Inclusive and welcoming, it offers a consistent forum for peer support, creative brainstorming, and shared learning across diverse organizational contexts and changing needs.
Child Welfare Attorneys Supporting Safety Science/Safety Culture
Developed in partnership with the American Bar Association, this group brings together child welfare attorneys committed to advancing safety science and safety culture within legal practice. Members work to integrate psychological safety and mindful organizing into child welfare legal settings, and to curate resources that support non-punitive, systems-focused approaches to critical incident review.
Co-Designing with Lived Experience in Quality Improvement Work
This group brings together agency quality improvement leaders and individuals with lived experience of child welfare involvement — including parents, former foster youth, and kinship caregivers — to co-design systems improvements together. By centering lived expertise alongside agency leadership, the community works to develop solutions that are more responsive, equitable, and effective for the families they serve.
State Oversight Agencies within County-Administered Systems: Peer-to-Peer
This peer forum is designed for state oversight agencies operating within county-administered child welfare systems — a distinct group facing challenges unique to this model. It provides a collegial space to connect, share strategies, and navigate the specific policy and coordination considerations that arise when state oversight intersects with county-level service delivery.
Systems-Focused Critical Incident Review Practitioners
This community gives critical incident review practitioners a regular opportunity to connect with peers, exchange ideas, and strengthen their practice. It offers a dedicated space to step back, reflect, and learn alongside colleagues who understand the work firsthand — asking questions, sharing challenges, and celebrating progress together.
Systems-Focused Critical Incident Review Program Leaders
This group is designed for leaders who oversee critical incident review programs within child welfare agencies. Members gather to ask questions, seek support, troubleshoot challenges, and share innovations — building the collegial relationships and collective knowledge that strengthen critical incident review practice across the field.
Applied Practice Communities
Applied Practice Communities are focused communities of practice that bring together child welfare professionals and jurisdictions to advance concrete, evidence-informed solutions to specific, high-stakes challenges facing the field. These communities are structured around defined problem areas and work toward producing practical tools, guidance, and innovations that can be shared and adopted broadly. Each Applied Practice Community is a space for doing — translating research, shared experience, and systems knowledge into real-world improvements for children and families.
Safely to Their Fifth Birthday
This community addresses one of child welfare’s most urgent intersecting challenges: supporting parents with substance use problems who are raising young children ages zero to five. Members review existing evidence, develop policy and resource guidance, and apply a human factors approach to creating practical, systems-level solutions that protect families while honoring the complexity of recovery.
Safely to Their First Birthday
This community is dedicated to the upstream prevention of — and compassionate response to — Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID). Members work to keep more families safely together during the critical first year of life by driving innovations, meeting the practical needs of agencies, and developing shareable learning resources that can be applied and adapted across jurisdictions.