Innovative Approach to Working with Families in Early Recovery

1. Innovative Approach to Working with Families in Early Recovery Presented by: Santa Clara County Dependency Drug Treatment Court (DDTC) and Santa Clara County DDTC Head Start Program

2. Introductions • Frances Lewis-Johnese, Social Services Program Manager III, Services Bureau C • Joyce McEwen-Crawford, Supervisor of Drug Court Unit • Deborah Dohse, Social Work Coordinator for the Santa Clara County DDTC Head Start Program • Rosemary Tisch, Director of Prevention Partnership International

3. Demographics of Santa Clara County • The Sixth largest county in California. • In 2000, the total population was 1,682,585 persons according to the Census data. • In 2000, 24.7% or 416,402 persons in Santa clara County were 0-17 years of age. • Persons under the age of five years constituted 7.1% of the total population. Very close to the State average.

4. Where is Santa Clara County?

5. Most ethnically diverse jurisdictions in the State. • In year 2000, 34.1 % of the local residents were foreign born and 45.4 % of all resident a spoke a language other English in the home. • Santa Clara County students speak more than 50 languages.

6. Santa Clara County Court Demographics Judicial Caseload: • Number of new abuse/neglect petitions filed in 2003 - 916. • Average judicial dependency caseload for 2003 calendar year - 1,046 per judicial officer. Note: All information was provided from the Status Report 2003 prepared by the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court, Santa Clara County Social Services Agency, and Santa Clara County Office of the County Counsel

7. Breakdown of Race/Ethnicity in year 2000: White -53.8%; Asian - 25.6 %; Hispanic - 24% Other - 12.1%, Two or more Races - 4.7% African-American - 2.8%, American Indian/ Alaskan Indian - 0.7% • The racial/ethnic distribution of the child population varied considerably from the adult with respect to persons of Hispanic origin. • In the year 2000, 32.7% of all children, ages 0-18, were Hispanic.

8. Santa Clara County Court Demographics Number of Children in Care : • Percentage of children in out-of-home care on 12/31/2002 - 80.6% • Number of abused/neglected children under the jurisdiction of the Court on 12/31/2002 - 3,116 • Number of abused/neglected children under the jurisdiction of the Court on 12/31/2003 - 2,865 • Percentage of children in out-of-home care on 12/31/2003 - 76.5%

9. Santa Clara County Court Demographics • ASFA Outcomes Snapshot in 2003 • Number of Children exiting court jurisdiction in 2003, number that achieved permanency as a result of: • Reunification - 1,205 • Adoption - 306 • Legal Guardianship - 604 • Number of Subsidized guardianships - 231

10. Santa Clara County DDTC Movie

11. The Drug Court Team • Judge Len Edwards, Department 67 • Parent’s Attorneys • Associate Dependency Attorneys • Dependency Legal Services • Child’s Attorney, District Attorney • County Council • Social Workers • Drug and Alcohol Assessor • Other professionals on the team • Public Health Nurse • Mental Health Assessor • Domestic Violence Advocate • Cal-Works • Community Based Agency Representatives such as Friends Outside

12. Getting into Drug Court 1. The client’s Attorney interviews their client and completes a referral packet 2. Client obtains a substance abuse assessment. 3. Attorney presents the client’s packet to the drug court team. 4. Client is accepted or rejected by the team. 5. If accepted the Drug Court Team creates a case plan for the Client. 6. The client meets the team and signs a contract.

13. Client Responsibility • Obtain a substance abuse assessment. • Follow the case plan created by the Drug Court Team • Remain Drug and Alcohol Free • If a relapse occurs; • Report to the Treatment Provider • Report to the Social Worker • Talk about it in Drug Court • You may have to be re-assessed.

14. Client Responsibility • Be on time for all required meetings. • Attend AA/NA or Health Realization (HR) meeting on a regular basis. • Provide sign-in sheets from AA/NA/HR meetings as requested. • Report any changes in living arrangements, employment or school to Social Worker.

15. Role of the Social Worker in Drug Court • Collect information from treatment provider and all other parties involved in the clients drug court case plan and report information to Drug Court. • Present client information to the Drug Court Team at the Drug Court Team meeting. • Participates in a weekly case planning meeting prior to clients appearing in Drug Court. (A copy of the agenda is attached in your handouts.)

16. Difference between Drug Court and Dependency Court • Parent focused: Only the issues pertaining to the drug court case plan are discussed; • Non Adversarial: Attorney’s are team members. • Therapeutic: Goal is to assist the parent through recovery, which may aid in the return of the children. • Decisions are made and agreed upon by the Drug Court Team.

17. Key Components of Drug Court • Integrates the Child Welfare Services and Alcohol and Drug Services • Non adversarial approach • Early identification through early assessment • Early access to AOD services • Coordinated response to client compliance • On-going judicial interaction • Intense monitoring and evaluation of client participation.

18. Completed 12 months Consistent attendance Complied with drug court case plan. 6 consecutive months clean tests, prior to graduation. Complete an Exit Plan In agreement with the permanent plan Attended 12 months. Had intermittent relapses. Is no longer in Family Reunification or Family Maintenance and not in agreement with the permanent plan. Graduation vs. Completion

19. Philosophical Shift in FTDC Model

20. Philosophical Shift in FTDC Model • Why the children should be the primary focus? • Why assessments of children should occur early on? • Why school readiness needs to be addressed prior to age five? • Why the Head Start Model? • Why address parenting skills of parents? • Do you have better outcomes for the children are involved in the classes? • Why address medical needs of parents?

21. Santa Clara County Family Treatment Drug Court (FTDC)Head Start Grant • Serves 60 parents and 125 children annually. • It is a holistic approach to court mandated treatment plan for reunification. • Parents will receive parent training and modeling in a child-centered supervised visitation program based on a research based curriculum known as ‘Celebrating Families’. • Children receive with extensive medical screening and assessments. • This pilot program will help parents improve their parenting capabilities.

22. Why a Holistic Approach? • Many of the FTDC parents have not received sufficient parenting themselves. • Because of their substance abuse, a court mandated holistic and culturally competent parent training and child-centered Head Start Program with medical screening, assessments, and supervised visitations can improve the parenting capabilities of these parents. • This historic groundbreaking pilot program will serve as a model to help families in other court systems obtain appropriate medical evaluations for themselves, their children, and receive parent education training.

23. Why a Holistic Approach? • A child-centered Head Start Program can strengthen the county’s options for families who have lost custody, or at risk of losing custody of their children due to inadequate parenting capabilities and insufficient community-wide support channels to deter domestic violence.

24. Goals and Objectives • To adequately assess parents’ medical needs and their children’s medical, developmental, and academic readiness for success in school; • To help parents develop the culturally competent critical life skills for supporting the development of their children’s health, including children with neurological damage from prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol; • To train parents on how to adequately support their children’s academic readiness for school success; and • To provide recovering parents and their children with ongoing culturally competent support and life skills reinforcement beyond the program cycle.

25. Goals and Objectives (con’t) • 95% of the participating parents will complete medical exams • 95% of the children will undergo medical, developmental, and academic screening and assessments. This will help parents and their children achieve health and academic success as demonstrated by assessment results, increased statements of feeling healthy, and increased academic performance. • In addition, 80% of the participating parents will demonstrate increased life skills in supporting the development of the children’s health, as observed by increased confidence in their ability to manage stress.

26. Program Objectives • The participating parents will overcome conflict with their children, as demonstrated through parents’ classroom observations, homework behavior logs, feedback from teachers and social workers, and knowledge based surveys. • Furthermore, 80% of the participating parents will adequately support their children’s academic readiness for school success as demonstrated through parents’ classroom observations, homework behavior logs, feedback from teachers and social workers, and knowledge based surveys. • Ultimately, we estimate by September 30 of each program year, 50% of the recovering parents and their children will continue to participate in ongoing support and life skills reinforcement activities beyond the program cycle.

27. Major Components of the Grant • Initial Screening and Assessment of Children • Medical Assessment of Parents • Integration of Head Start Program into FTDC Model • Family Night Component

28. Initial Screening and Assessment of Children • The child development-screening specialist who administers the FASNET screening tool documents each child’s results based on the following skill categories: physical findings, communication/language, socialization, behavior, AD/HD, and cognition. • For each client, the professional documents areas of concern and strength, as well as a written summary and recommendations. • Additionally, based on the screening results, children were referred to a variety of diverse programs geared to meet their needs. • In the scoring of the Neurological Impairment Characteristic of Fetal Alcohol and Drug Exposure, if more than 50% of the items in any one category were marked true (positive result), then that category was considered a “high score” and is “flagged” for further assessment.

29. Medical Assessment of Parents • Each parent is given a health screening questionnaire during the family night parenting class and are given medical resources in the community. • In addition, all parents who reside in the transitional housing receives services from the public health nursing and are given medical resources in the community.

30. Integration of Head Start Program into FTDC Model • Basic Principles of Head Start Program • Consistent with Child Welfare Outcomes • Early Acquisition of School Readiness Skills • Parent Involvement on all levels • Strengthen the relationship between children and their parents by providing a holistic, culturally competent program by the integration of both models.

31. Head Start Program • Head Start/Early Head Start is a federally funded child development program for very low-income young children and their families. • Since its inception in 1965, more than 20 million children and families nationally have benefited from Head Start’s comprehensive services. • Statewide, this number is estimated to be in excess of 1,000,000 children and families. • The primary target population for Project Head Start/ Early Head Start is children between the ages of 0-5 and pregnant women from families living below the federal poverty line.

32. Head Start Program • Head Start/Early Head Start programs are funded by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services directly to local community agencies. • The Head Start/Early Head Start program is based on the premise that all children share certain needs, and that children from low-income families, in particular, can benefit from a comprehensive developmental program to meet those needs. • Head Start/Early Head Start is a family-oriented, comprehensive, and community-based program to address developmental goals for children, support for parents in their work and child-rearing roles, and linkage with other service delivery systems.

33. Four Basic Principles of Head Start • A child can benefit most from a comprehensive, interdisciplinary program to foster normal development and remedy problems. • Parents are the primary educators of their children and must be directly involved in the program. • The well-being of children is inextricably linked to the well-being of the entire family. • Partnerships with other agencies and organizations in the community are essential to meeting family needs.

34. Family Night Component

35. Welcome to

36. Celebrating Families!A 15 session education-support group for families in early recovery • Increases successful family reunification. • Increases successful completion of Drug Court.

37. History Of Celebrating Families!

38. Research Foundations Of Celebrating Families!

39. Research Foundations CF! Incorporates current research on: • Brain chemistry. • Healthy living skills. • Risk and resiliency factors. • Asset development.

40. CF! Program Foundations • Life Skills • Family System • Support Group

41. The Sessions Of Celebrating Families!

42. Topics: • Healthy Living • Nutrition • Communication • Feelings • Anger Management • Facts about Alcohol/Tobacco and Other Drugs • The Disease of Chemical Dependency • How Chemical Dependency Affects the Whole Family

43. Topics: con’t • Goal Setting • Decision Making • Boundaries • Healthy Relationships • Uniqueness

44. A Word About Homework! • Acts of Kindness • WOW Moments • Children’s Affirmations • One-on-One Time with Kids • Goal Setting

45. This group is different – this is not another parenting class. This is a class on being a family.”From Parent Focus Group

46. “I now call my son twice a day. I used to think of calling him once a week. Now when I start to call a friend, I call him instead.” Celebrating Families!

47. Celebrating Families! Teaches • Skill Building • Stress Reduction • Helping Others • Awareness of the World • Value of spending1-on-1 time with each child • Telling children “I love you”.

48. Rosemary Tisch 408-406-0467 rstisch@aol.com Deborah Dohse 408-829-1390 dohse2001@yahoo.com Celebrating Families!Contacts www.preventionpartnership.us

49. Medical and Health Screening Results

50. Medical and Health Screening Results For all of the mothers and children who reside in Transitional Housing Units (THU), a health screening questionnaire is given to the parents. • The questionnaire is used to assist in assessing their medical needs. The Child Health Disability Program (CHDP) follows up medical needs of the children under the foster care system. • This health screen is a special project under the Public Health division. The services ensure children receive immunizations, assistance with TB testing for mothers, provide planning information and health related referrals for the mother and child.