Meaningful Family Engagement: Nuts and Bolts

1. Meaningful Family Engagement: Nuts and Bolts Together We Can 8th Annual Conference Lafayette Hilton Lafayette, LA October 6, 2010

2. Presenters • Nicole Bossard, NRCPFC Consultant • Sherry Tomlinson, NRCPFC Consultant

3. Overview of Today’s Workshop • Welcome and introductions • Learning objectives – Intended take-a-ways from the workshop • Meaningful family engagement – key elements • Family engagement self assessment • Foundation for partnership: Understanding grief, loss, and healing

4. Learning Objectives for Today’s Workshop • Foundational principles for meaningful family engagement • Building blocks for meaningfully engaging families • Emerging family engagement strategies • Action steps to further meaningful family engagement in your home community

5. Ground Rules • Cell phones on vibrate or off • Confidentiality • Honest/open dialogue • Respect other opinions • Use of acronyms • Relax • One more thing…

6. Key Elements of Engagement

7. Walking In The Door Provide all parents with children in imminent risk of entering foster care the information they need to successfully advocate for themselves and for their children.

8. Child and Family Team Meeting Provide parents with children in imminent risk of entering foster care the means to participate in all decisions made about their children’s care, custody, and placement.

9. Policy and Resource Allocation Provide parents who have experienced the child welfare system with opportunities to influence and improve child welfare policy, practice, and resource allocation

10. New Tools for Workers Provide all child welfare staff the skills and tools necessary to work effectively with families and children.

11. Public Information Inform the public, legislators, and the community at large about the struggles and successes of families who have been involved with child welfare.

12. What we’re learning…

13. From Principle to Practice Meet Maria…

14. Grief, Loss & Healing

15. Birth Fathers and Mothers Feelings and Behaviors • How do birth parents feel when their children are removed and placed into foster care? • How might they behave or act?

16. Social Worker Feeling and Behaviors • How might a social worker feel after being involved in the removal of a child? • How might they behave or act?

17. Foster Parent Feeling and Behaviors • What might a foster parent feel when a child is removed from their home and returned to their parent? • How might they behave or act?

18. What does family engagement look like in your agency or community? Birth Parent Engagement Assessment Tool

19. Engaging and Working with Fathers

20. Father Presence/Father Involvement • Better School Performance • Attachment to School • Staying Out of Trouble • Delayed Sexual Activity • Fewer Teen Pregnancies

21. Idea to action… • What policies and procedures are in place regarding family engagement within your agency, organization, etc.? • Are you actively engaging fathers? • What are you doing well? • What are challenges and concerns related to family engagement?

22. Questions and Discussion

23. Additional Resources • National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connection www.nrcpfc.org • Child Welfare Organizing Project www.cwop.org • Rise Magazine www.risemagazine.org • Iowa Dept. of Human Services www.dhs.state.ia.us/cppc/Parent_Partner_Program/index.html • National Coalition for Parent Advocacy in Child Protective Services www.parentadvocacy.org • Detroit Center for Family Advocacy www.law.umich.edu/centersandprograms/ccl/cfa/Pages/default.aspx

24. The National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections Hunter College School of Social Work LSU School of Social Work A Service of the Children’s Bureau/ACF/DHHS Gmallon@hunter.cuny.edu www.nrcpfc.org