Relations for Child Welfare Better and more regular coverage of the child welfare system will require agencies, foster families, neighborhood organizations, and the media to change their approaches to the issue. Too often, news coverage is based on tragedy and crisis - a child dies or children are found in miserable conditions. At the same time, lawmakers and elected officials demand relaxed confidentiality rules, so that agencies are in a quandary about how best to work with the news media.
Media can be important partners in reform efforts.
Public affairs and outreach programs can provide links to other businesses and get the Family to Family message out to a broader, but targeted, audience. The best media relations are neither auto-matic nor accidental but result from planned, targeted, and continuous attention from every agency employee. Agency leaders need to plan in advance, with full staff involvement, for dealing with the media during an agency crisis. This tool can guide the meeting and direct further action. The tool and consultants below can offer time-tested advice, but every agency member needs to embrace the concepts of media courtship if the techniques are to prove useful.