Engaging Birth Parents, Family Caregivers and Youth in Child Welfare

1. Engaging Birth Parents,Family Caregivers and Youth in Child Welfare National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement Developed in partnership with National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning and National Resource Center for Youth Development

2. Involving • Parents and guardians • Kin • Youth • Foster parents • Adoptive parents

3. Roles • Planning committees • Monitoring and review teams • Collecting data • Interpreting data • Writing and editing • Training and educating • Lobbying • Advocacy and support for families

4. Child WelfareValues and Principles • Family-centered • Individualized for the children and family • Community-based • Strengthen parental capacity

5. Examples of Family Members:Shift in Roles and Expectations This slide was developed and used with permission from Sheila Pires, Human Service Collaborative, Washington, DC.

6. Resistance and System Barriers • Sources of colleague resistance • How the system creates barriers

7. Child WelfareSystems of Care Project • Infra-structure • Recruitment and selection • Conducive work environment • Assessment of Success

8. CACTI • El Paso County, Colorado • Consumers – parent partners • On-going council and training institute

9. Foster Care Lessons Learned • Family-focused: To be successful, foster care cannot be considered a service to the child, nor to his or her parents. Foster care services must be directed toward the family unit— parents and children considered as a system whose needs can be addressed as a whole.

10. Resource Family Perspectives on the Foster Care System • There is a fundamental lack of partnership/relationship between the resource family and the child welfare system which ultimately leads to disruption in placement.

11. Lack of Partnership/Relationship as Evidenced By • Not given enough information • Not treated as part of the professional team, not included in case planning, nor given a copy of plan. This precludes their ability to be a true resource to the birth family. • If they truly speak their minds, children in care will be removed and no new placements will be made. This leads to a child’s needs not being fully known and met.

12. Evidence Continued • Motives are questioned, especially when they try to maintain contact with child following reunification or adoption by others. • Calls not returned timely means small issues become crises. • Not enough in-home contact by worker. • No respite = burn out

13. Supporting Foster Parents - Appreciation • Respect • Care Giving Assistance • Crisis Services • Professional Development • Emotional Support • Personal Involvement- Involve them as stakeholders in policy development, recruitment efforts, training

14. Involving Foster Parents • Is another opportunity for relationship building and support • Says that foster parent is more than simply the temporary caregiver of their child. They are an integral part of the professional team and an ally in the process of helping child return home • Establishes the ability for continued contact following reunification or adoption, eliminating another loss for child and in reunification, provides an additional support for birth family

15. Kinship Care • Motivation is based on family obligation vs. altruistic desire • Are generally older, have more health needs, less income and less foster care experience • Have an established relationship with parents and are an excellent source of information • May be resentful of the agency’s need to approve them

16. Engagement of Foster Parents • Must be an agency wide/systemic strategy that goes beyond just involving them as stakeholders in CFSR/PIP teams but should also include the encouragement and support of a foster parent association, the provision of support groups, involvement in case planning for the children in their care and other forms of involvement, support and recognition.

17. Planning for Foster and Kin Parent Involvement in the CFSR/PIP Process • How many participants should we include based on the overall size and make up of the group. • What are the other ratio’s of types of participants? • Can we avoid the perception of token representation?

18. How Will We Decide Who to Invite? • Should the Foster Parent Association be the point of contact? • Should workers be asked to nominate foster/kin families they believe have a lot to offer? • Should a member of the agency administration present information and ask for volunteers at an association or support group meeting? • Should every foster/kin family be given the opportunity to apply through a mass mailing to all? • Are there foster parents who have previously been very active but are currently or about to take a break?

19. Orientation • Avoid intimidating stakeholders by providing an orientation session that provides written information regarding background, purpose and scope, including the necessary time commitment, ground rules and an explanation of often-used jargon and acronyms.

20. Orientation • Be respectful- treat foster and kin providers as you do any other professional from the way meeting times are agreed upon to the way people are addressed. • Consider providing child care as well as a stipend.

21. Orientation • Set the tone for the meetings as one of building on strengths and finding solutions, but be brave and include both parents who have had successful experiences as well as those who’s experiences were challenging as they may provide insight as to how things could have been handled better.

22. Involving Foster/Kin Parent Stakeholders in the Statewide Assessment, Onsite Review, and the PIP Development, Implementation and Monitoring • Establish a core group of team members that has been oriented and trained • Reinforce the commitment of valuing their continued involvement through the monitoring phase

23. Statewide Assessment • Who better to engage foster/kin parents than themselves? • Use them as the leaders in the development and conducting of focus groups and other surveys to elicit feedback from the larger foster/kin provider network. • A joint invitation from the agency and the local Foster Parent Association is more likely to be inviting to other foster parents then one solely generated by the agency. • Personal invitations may make the difference in someone’s attendance.

24. Onsite Review • Foster/kin stakeholders can be invaluable in developing and conducting interviews with other foster/kin stakeholders. • They should also be considered for conducting interviews with the broader stakeholder community where they may have more credibility than agency personnel, such as with youth or birth parents. • They should also be included in the exit conference.

25. PIP Development and Implementation • Foster/kin stakeholders can play valuable roles on the PIP Team and workgroups as their input relates to many of the desired outcomes of the CFSR. • The common expectation is to look at their participation in the areas of Permanency Outcomes and the Systemic Factor of Foster and Adoptive Parenting Licensing, Recruitment and Retention. • However, based on typical examples of successful placement cases, we know that foster/kin providers have experience with at least 12 of the 23 Outcome Items and 8 of the 22 systemic factor items, in addition to the obvious ones.

26. PIP Monitoring Tasks and assignments similar to the ones they performed in the other stages: interviewing conducting and attending focus groups developing surveys soliciting feedback from others Having committees or work groups that begin during the self-assessment and stay together during the entire process usually ensures the continued involvement of family caregivers as well as other collaborators.

27. PIP Monitoring • Their involvement provides a message to other family caregivers that it is important for them to continue giving their input by filling out regular surveys, attending both policy and case specific meetings and remaining committed to the over all mission and improvement of the agency.

28. PIP Monitoring • Family caregivers can use their unique perspective to help interpret information gained during monitoring activities, including the annual PIP review, and therefore effect how practice will be modified.

29. Resources • CWLA Press, Toolboxes For Permanency Series, Toolbox # 2, Expanding the Role of Foster Parents in Achieving Permanency, by Susan Dougherty (2001) www.cwla.org • The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Family To Family; Tools for Rebuilding Foster Care, Recruitment, Training and Support, The Essential Tools of Foster Carewww.aecf.org • The National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning, Preventing the Triangulation of the Triangle of Support, by Lorrie Lutz, MPP www.nrcfcppp.org

30. intro benefits opportunities strategies resources q+a National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development Positively Engaging Youth in the CFSR

31. intro benefits opportunities strategies resources q+a Benefits To Engaging Youth In The CFSR Process: National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development • Unique perspective of how services can best be provided • System change • What works, what does not, and their service needs • Opportunity to consider new strategies • Empowerment • Speak on behalf of Agency

32. intro benefits opportunities strategies resources q+a State child welfare agencies can engage youth currently being or those that have been served by the child welfare system National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development Engaging Youth in The CFSR Process: by identifying and then working with existing youth organizations and advisory boards

33. intro benefits opportunities strategies resources q+a States can engage youth in the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development Statewide Assessment process by: • Identify existing statewide youth organizations willing to assist with youth engagement • Work with State or local foster youth ombudspersons • Train staff on working collaboratively with youth

34. intro benefits opportunities strategies resources q+a States can engage youth in the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development Onsite Review process by: • Prep youth to participate • Conduct stakeholder interviews with youth • Invite youth to the State’s exit conference

35. intro benefits opportunities strategies resources q+a States can engage youth in the PIP or National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development Program Improvement Plan process by: • Include on the PIP team & work groups • Invite youth from Chafee State Plan team to participate in PIP to address overlapping areas of improvement • Engage in reviewing PIP progress quarterly

36. intro benefits opportunities strategies resources q+a Web Resources National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development California Youth Connectionwww.calyouthconn.org Youth Leadership Advisory Team – Mainewww.ylat.org FosterClubwww.fosterclub.org Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative –Michigan Recommendationshttp://www.jimcaseyyouth.org/docs/michigan_voice.pdf National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Developmenthttp://www.nrcys.ou.edu/nrcyd Foster Care Alumni of America http://fostercarealumni.org