The Family to Family initiative has encouraged states to reconceptualize, redesign, and reconstruct their foster care systems. By 1996, the initiative was being implemented in five states, five Georgia counties, and Los Angeles County, California. The first objective of this initiative is to develop a network of family foster care that is more neighborhood-based, culturally sensitive, and located primarily in the communities where the children live. It calls for child welfare agencies to develop partnerships with the communities from which the children came. This report describes the ways in which communities have worked to build community partnerships and draws some lessons from their efforts as a guide to others. Three major strategies have been used to develop better working relationships with the community: (1) empowering the community to share child welfare work; (2) joint training for child welfare and community representatives; and (3) developing and maintaining a visible presence in the community, including working on the community's agenda. The most important element needed to develop working partnerships with the community is the commitment of child welfare agency leadership. Once discussions begin, leaders need strength and community support to change the ways their agencies do business. Thirteen appendixes are available on computer diskette from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. (Contains 1 17-item annotated bibliography.) (SLD)