Family-centered Practice in a Trauma-informed System

1. Family-centered Practice in a Trauma-informed System 12-13-10 1 1 DCFS Division of Service Support

2. Small Test of Change Data DCFS Division of Service Support

3. Goals for the Day • Goals: • Family-centered practice using a trauma lens in child welfare practice • Implementing family-centered practice in every case, every situation, every day using family-centered strategies • Facilitating family healing for the good of the child DCFS Division of Service Support

4. Objectives for the Day Objectives: Define family-centered practice Explain how it applies to their role Practice engaging and assessing a family using the 4R’s from family systems theory Recognize that a child’s connection to parents/family while in placement and the family’s connection to their placed child(ren) is important for the wellbeing of that child and the strength of the family as a whole Operationalize family-centered facilitation skills for difficult conversations. 4 DCFS Division of Service Support

5. We are reinforcing the importance of looking at the foundation and framework of each of our families homes so we can protect kids by strengthening families. DCFS Division of Service Support

6. Video: Lackawanna Blues DCFS Division of Service Support

7. Video Debriefing: • What is your immediate reaction to this family? • What is your reaction to the social workers? • How would you have engaged this family? DCFS Division of Service Support

8. How similar or different was this family from the families you have worked with? DCFS Division of Service Support

9. Working with an older youth who consistently runs back to his home but he continually is placed further from home. What influences your decision making in this example? How does it impact your family-centered practice? DCFS Division of Service Support

10. Mother and father are 19 and 20 with 3 kids under age four. The garden apartment has no working stove and only a mini fridge. The one-year-old is diagnosed failure to thrive. What influences your decision making in this example? How does it impact your family-centered practice? DCFS Division of Service Support

11. When placing a child, dad’s step-brother is never considered a possible placement. What influences your decision making in this example? How does it impact your family-centered practice? DCFS Division of Service Support

12. 14 year old youth reveals to his therapist and caseworker that he is gay and wants to be placed with his gay uncle. What influences your decision making in this example? How does it impact your family-centered practice? DCFS Division of Service Support

13. Morning Break DCFS Division of Service Support

14. Welcome to the LC Family Feud – Question #1 We asked 100 Researchers and Child Welfare Professionals, “What is family centered practice?” The top 5 answers are on the board. DCFS Division of Service Support

15. LC Family Feud – Question #2 We asked 50 of you and your peers, “How does being family centered shape your practice?” The top 4 answers are on the board. DCFS Division of Service Support

16. LC Family Feud – Question # 3 We asked 25 Learning Collaborative participants, “What are the basic steps to doing a Small Test of Change with a family?” The top 3 answers are on the board. DCFS Division of Service Support

17. Family-centered practice according to the CFSR We must: Strengthen, enable, and empower families to protect and nurture their children Safely preserve family relationships and connections when appropriate Recognize the strong influence that social systems have on individual behavior DCFS Division of Service Support

18. Family-centered practice according to the CFSR (Cont’d) We must: Enhance family autonomy Respect the rights, values, and cultures of families Focus on an entire family rather than select individuals within a family DCFS Division of Service Support

19. Family Centered Practice: What gets in the way? Write down two or three of your biggest challenges to doing family-centered practice. Identify creative solutions to the groups challenges. Track the challenges and solutions on flipchart paper. DCFS Division of Service Support

20. Illinois and Permanency – A 20 Year Perspective DCFS Division of Service Support * Adapted from 2008 Conditions for Children Report – CFRC University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

21. Family for the Day “We are better able to plan and implement effective services if we understand the context within which people live; the involvement of others in their problems; and the resources available from immediate family, friends, and extended kin.” Working with Families of the Poor; Minuchin, Colapinto, Minuchin, 2007, 2nd Edition. The Guilford Press, Pg. 5 DCFS Division of Service Support

22. Family Strengths • As we seek to support the safety and well being of the child: • What internal resources (protective factors) exist within the family? • What external sources of support (friends, extended family, substitute caregivers) exist? • What supports exist within the community? DCFS Division of Service Support

23. Family Systems Theory A mobile illustrates this: you pull on one side of the mobile and all the other pieces are put into a state of interdependence– e.g., any change and they all shift around DCFS Division of Service Support

24. Family Structure FrameworkThe 4-Rs • Relationships- It is impossible to understand the relationships between family members without an understanding of “who” makes up the family system • Rules- Family rules tell us a great deal about how a family operates. DCFS Division of Service Support

25. Roles- Roles tell us what is expected of each member of the family. Rituals- Rituals include dinnertime routines, bedtime rituals, the celebration of major events and holidays. Family Structure FrameworkThe 4-Rs (Cont’d) DCFS Division of Service Support

26. Mixed Role Activity Part One: Operationalizing the 4-Rs DCFS Division of Service Support

27. Mixed Role Activity Part Two: Operationalizing the 4-Rs When are you asking these questions already as part of your practice? What are the critical junctures for gathering this information? When and why are you challenged to do this? What are some solutions to help you do this more fully? What is something you could test next week? DCFS Division of Service Support

28. 4-Rs Activity Debriefing 28 DCFS Division of Service Support DCFS Division of Service Support

29. Lunch DCFS Division of Service Support

30. Large Group Discussion: Importance of being child-focused in a family centered system DCFS Division of Service Support

31. Envision an intact family case with a young man age 13 who’s mother recently died in a DUI accident. The youth is identified as the problem in the family due to his difficulties sleeping, nightmares, his withdrawal from the family, and his recent behavioral and academic problems at school. Dad doesn’t know what to do with his son, he is constantly exhausted, and he recently hit him repeatedly with a belt after the school called. What is the trauma/adverse experience our young man experienced? DCFS Division of Service Support

32. Family-centered Assessment Identify the stress and/or trauma experience that brought this family to our attention. (Consider inter-generational trauma if present) Who was impacted by the most recent trauma experience? Are there caregiver posttraumatic reactions? What is each person’s behavior following the trauma experience? What family strengths have you tapped? What supports are present? How will you use your self to help this family move forward? DCFS Division of Service Support

33. Affinity Group Discussion What are the characteristics of families you enjoy working with and why? What are the characteristics of families that challenge you? What are some solutions or ways you could improve your family centered practice? DCFS Division of Service Support

34. Affinity Group Debriefing “We don’t give up on families and salvage individual survivors.” - Froma Walsh DCFS Division of Service Support

35. Afternoon Break DCFS Division of Service Support

36. Family-Centered Communication Skills • Shared understanding of the problems/ needs at hand; • Collaboration among the professionals and with the family; • Commitment to specific tasks by each party [including the family and the professionals]; • Consider how [not if] culture influences the interactions, observations and understanding of the meeting at-hand; DCFS Division of Service Support

37. Mixed Role Discussion How do you approach topics that make you uncomfortable or will potentially embarrass the family? What types of conversation tend to make you or the family uncomfortable? How do you gauge your readiness to discuss difficult issues? DCFS Division of Service Support

38. Mixed Role Debriefing Balancing courage with compassion DCFS Division of Service Support

39. Family for the Day • Identify a case event or difficult conversation that may be looming in your family case for the day. • What skills do you want to use from the mixed role discussion to help you facilitate that event or engage the family in the difficult conversation? DCFS Division of Service Support

40. Small Test of Change STUDY DCFS Division of Service Support