Alia

05/20/2026

Everyone agrees child welfare needs to change.
But agreement alone doesn’t create traction.

Leaders are navigating real constraints—limited capacity, competing priorities, and teams stretched thin. Even when there’s energy for change, it can be hard to see what will actually move things forward.

Often, the missing piece isn’t the vision. It’s readiness.

That’s why we created the Change Readiness Snapshot—a short, reflective tool to help you understand your organization’s starting point for meaningful, family-centered change.
In just a few minutes, it helps you:
• See early signals supporting—or stalling—progress
• Reflect on readiness across leadership, workforce, and conditions
• Make sense of what this moment means

There are no right answers—just a clear, strengths-based reflection on where you are and where you might go next.

If you’re asking, “Where do we begin?”—this is a place to pause and see more clearly.

Take the Change Readiness Snapshot →
https://hubs.ly/Q04hn8Mk0

05/19/2026

Three times a year, Team Alia gathers at our office in St. Paul, Minnesota — and each time, it fills our cups in ways that carry us through the months ahead.

This retreat felt especially meaningful. Being in the same room together was a powerful reminder of our commitment to our mission.

We spent our days thinking strategically about the road ahead, exploring curiosity through connection, and even watching a movie from cozy camping chairs to spark inspiration (with candy and fresh popcorn in hand).

And because team building can take many forms, we rolled up our sleeves and deep-cleaned the office so it’s ready to welcome the many partners we’ll host this summer.

We are so grateful for this team!

05/06/2026

Child welfare workers know that meaningful family engagement requires more than good intentions. But showing up authentically takes intentional inner work first.

If we want to truly empower the families we serve, we have to begin by looking honestly at ourselves and our role in the system. Dear Workers is a tool to help workers prepare for this specific journey.

Dear Workers is organized around five core principles that help create the conditions for authentic family engagement to occur:

• Context: Understanding the environments, experiences, and histories that shape how families — and workers — see the world

• Compassion: Cultivating awareness of others' suffering and a genuine commitment to alleviating it

• Change: Listening deeply to those harmed by the child welfare system and working toward something more just and equitable

• Consistency: Showing up reliably and remaining present and accessible at every stage of your work with families

• Collaboration: Working alongside families as true partners toward shared goals and outcomes

Authentic family engagement starts from the inside out. Dear Workers provides developmental activities and reflective practices to help you meaningfully prepare to bring family voice and power into the system.

Download Dear Workers here: https://hubs.ly/Q04dPzP_0

05/04/2026

A quick reflection for child welfare leaders:

• Does your leadership team share a clear vision for transformation?
• Are staff equipped and supported to implement change?
• Do you know what success looks like—and how you’ll measure it?
• Have you identified and addressed your biggest barriers to change?

If any of these questions feels uncertain, that’s a helpful signal--it points to where intentional focus can build your readiness for change.

Alia’s Change Readiness Intensive helps agencies identify gaps, strengthen alignment, and create a path forward that is both ambitious and achievable.

Learn more about our Change Readiness Intensive: https://hubs.ly/Q04dQ3Sp0

04/30/2026

Trauma-informed care has become common language in child welfare. But there's a gap between saying it and reckoning with what it actually requires. When parents have spent years in a system that feels more like surveillance than support, where sharing personal information means it shows up in a court report, asking them to "engage" is both difficult and something their nervous systems have learned is dangerous.

This is partly why compliance-based models so rarely produce the outcomes we're hoping for. You can't mandate openness or shortcut trust.

Our latest blog explores what it actually takes to shift that dynamic, through the lens of our Intensive Trauma Services (ITS) model and the practitioners doing this work in communities.

Families want to heal. Is your system designed to create the conditions to make it possible?

Read more about what it takes: https://hubs.ly/Q04dPt9s0

04/22/2026

Child welfare leaders know that the field is shifting toward deeper community engagement. But trust is a massive prerequisite to successful co-design.

If we want to be trustworthy partners to the families we serve, we have to begin the work with a readiness for accountability. Dear Leaders is a tool to help leaders prepare for this specific journey.

Dear Leaders is organized around five core principles that help create the conditions for co-design to occur:

• Context: Acknowledging harm done and leaning into truth and reconciliation

• Compassion: Prioritizing psychological safety and the emotional needs of staff and families

• Change: Reflecting on personal power and the growth required to nurture a community

• Consistency: Moving past talk and into brave, consistent action

• Collaboration: Sharing power and amplifying lived experience without tokenism

Authentic co-design requires us to look inward before we reach out. Dear Leaders provides discussion prompts and activities to help you meaningfully prepare for partnership with community.

Download Dear Leaders here: https://hubs.ly/Q04d2sfP0

04/21/2026

Great to see this shift in mindset and practice within court systems right here in our home state of Minnesota! If we care about children, we must care about their parents.

Minnesota District Court Judge Jeffrey Kritzer, lead judge for the Children's Justice Initiative, has changed his approach to family court cases.

04/19/2026

We’re excited to make new connections this week at the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) conference in Arlington, VA! If you’ll be there, stop by and visit with us in the exhibit hall—we’re right next to our friends Be Strong Families NFP!

04/13/2026

Everyone agrees that child welfare systems need to change.

But agreement alone doesn’t create transformation.

Leaders are navigating competing priorities, limited resources, and teams that are already stretched thin. Even when there’s energy for change, many agencies struggle to move from planning to action.

Often, if the missing piece isn’t strategy, it’s readiness. Without understanding how prepared your leadership, workforce, and system are for meaningful change, even the best plans can stall.

Our Change Readiness Intensive provides a structured process to assess readiness, align leadership, and build a clear roadmap for lasting change.

Because a plan is only a piece of the puzzle; change starts with readiness.

Learn more about our Change Readiness Intensive: https://hubs.ly/Q049RVLt0

04/09/2026

A member of the Alia UnSystem Innovation Cohort, Washington County DHS, made incredible strides in strengthening families and preventing child removals.

Before working with Alia, the County had already begun shifting its focus toward family-centered practices. They embraced family voice, used team decision-making, and said “YES!” to community collaboration.

Over the years, their team:

✅ Reduced child removals
✅ Engaged the whole workforce in change
✅ Confronted equity challenges
✅ Tackled tough issues like youth placements and reunification

Equity training, blind case reviews, and consistent leadership helped make family preservation part of the department's identity. Even through leadership transitions, their commitment remained strong—and outcomes followed.

Washington County DHS demonstrates that with vision, partnership, and heart, real change is possible.