Erie County, New York’s child welfare agencies began collaborating after the Supervising Judge of the Family Court and the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services committed to a process of long-term system change. These two agencies realized that in order to achieve the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) deadline of filing a termination petition for every child placed in foster care for 15 of the previous 21 months, a partnership between service providers and stakeholders was necessary. Discussing the development of a genuine multi-disciplinary collaboration within child welfare agencies, the author details the eight critical elements of system change in Erie County that made such a broad-based initiative possible. Focusing on judicial leadership, relationship building, defining missions and goals, collecting the data, identifying benchmarks, collaborative projects, cross-training, and communicating success, the author details the eight steps that served as a roadmap leading Erie County from an environment of distrust and blame to one of communication, collaboration, and collegiality. The author contends that since the Erie County Court improvement project began in 1998, the number of children in foster care decreased 44 percent, with more than 900 children successfully adopted into permanent families. 47 Endnotes