Northeast & Caribbean Child Welfare Implementation Center ncic.muskiem.maine

1. Northeast & Caribbean Child Welfare Implementation Centerhttp://ncic.muskie.usm.maine.edu Presentation to Children’s Bureau September 14, 2009

2. Agenda • Who We Serve • Our Key Strategies • Accomplishments To Date • Building Relationships • Regional Forum • RFA & Project Selection • Peer Networking • Relationships with the Tribes • Evaluation

3. Region 1 & 2 States & Territories

4. Implementation Center Project Team • Susan Kanak, Project Director • skanak@usm.maine.edu • 207-780-5840 • Susan Maciolek, Principal Investigator • Kris Sahonchik, Principal Investigator • David Lambert, Project Evaluator • Penthea Burns, State & Tribal Liaison • Julie Atkins, State & Tribal Liaison • Tammy Richards, Evaluation Coordinator • Melissa Locke, Project Assistant

5. Our Key Strategies • Let the States’ strengths and needs guide our work • Build relationships with states, tribes and regional offices through early, pro-active outreach • For Tribes, Y1 is devoted to building relationships, to support full engagement in Y2 and beyond • NCIC State / Tribal Liaisons • Provide support for and connection to NCIC activities during the entire five year period • Point person for any/all requests from their State and will motivate States to engage in NCIC activities with their State/Tribe colleagues

6. Early and On-going Outreach • NCIC team Grand Rounds to learn about each state • Initial outreach calls • Site Visits to all mainland states • During initial outreach calls and subsequent on-site visits, States shared their strengths and challenges in implementing significant systemic change

7. Common Themes Learned During Outreach : Case Practice Model • Implementing Now…. In Design /Development … Future Initiative • Reconfiguring the Front Door • Differential Response • Prevention / The Front Porch • Family Team Meetings • Facilitated by caseworkers as part of their job or in a dedicated non-case-carrying position • Facilitated by a contracted agency

8. Common Themes Learned During Outreach: Case Practice Model • Transforming practice with youth involved in the Juvenile Justice system • Some CW agencies have close links to JJ - under the same umbrella or direct reports • Bringing family-centered practice into JJ settings • Improving the permanency outcomes for youth

9. Common Themes Learned During Outreach: Supervisory Practice • Supervisors as instrumental leaders in organizational change • Articulate a supervisory practice • Standardize processes and expectations • Help supervisors be more than a “super caseworker”

10. Common Themes Learned During Outreach: Working with Providers • Aligning Provider practice and performance requirements with Agency’s internal practice • Performance Management & Monitoring • Doing more with less – using technology and reports in a more sophisticated way

11. Common Themes Learned During Outreach : Building the Bench • Workforce development at all levels of the agency • Recruitment /retention is not the same issue across states • Some have very low turnover… others are making supervisory promotions despite minimal years of experience • Potential for forced /early retirements because of budget cuts

12. Common Themes Learned During Outreach : NCIC Services • Define Integration • How to communicate an integrated vision to frontline staff? • How to sequence change initiatives in a meaningful way? • Project Management • Tools, skills, processes

13. Regional Forum Growing Stronger: Creating Sustainable Change in Child WelfareMay 6-8, Boston, MA • Expert-led discussions: • Tony Hemmelgarn, Organizational Culture & Climate • Jeff Lawrence, Leading in the Public Sector • Workgroup discussions on engaging families throughout the life of a case, enhancing supervision, supporting emerging leaders / building the bench, working with the provider community. • Child welfare leaders from all 10 States/Territories attended and shared successes. • The RFA process, Peer Networking Opportunities and CB T/TA network resources were discussed.

14. RFA & Project Selection • RFA issued in April 2009 and reviewed at our regional forum. • Multi-step, multi-participant process to review and select applications to recommend to the CB for final approval • Three person Review Committee, comprised of individuals who brought diverse expertise, met together in Portland, Maine from June 8 to 11. • Input from a variety of important sources: The Regional Office Liaisons (ROLs), the ACF Regional Office child welfare specialists assigned to the states submitting applications, T/TA members currently working in the state or potentially needed to support the project, the NCIC FPO, and CFSR Team members. • Telephone interviews with each of the states to clarify specific questions about their application.

15. NCIC Implementation Projects / Sites

16. Project Themes • Shared focus on practice models and supervision across projects as well as the project timelines = a unique opportunity not only for each state but also for NCIC to evaluate different strategies for accomplishing the same goals. • Tremendous opportunities for synergy, peer learning, and the shared and efficient use of resources among the states. • All four projects are statewide initiatives and central to the agencies’ strategic plans (as reported by both the states and the ACF specialists).

17. Supporting Projects • NCIC State Liaisons integral to project planning, tracking progress with the state project manager, and will make monthly visits • PD / PI – make site visits monthly to launch the project, quarterly to monitor • State Project Managers – in each state’s resource request, to be located in the agency, full-time • Local evaluators, supported by NCIC evaluation team

18. Peer Networks • Peer Networks • Planned topics include project management, leadership in the public sector, and systems integration. • Peer Network for the State project managers – to support collaborative learning and to provide mutual aid and problem-solving • September 24: Jeff Lawrence, “Managing Conflict” • Next topic requested by the States: Reports from the States with intensive implementation projects • Cross-IC opportunities based on projects with similar focus as well as peer learning beyond specific projects

19. State & Federally Recognized Tribes

20. Working with the IV-B Funded Tribes • Outreach calls to Tribal human services leaders with PD / PI, tribal liaisons, and NCIC’s tribal consultant – April and May 2009 • On-site visits to each Tribe – Summer 2009 • Tribal Gathering – Portland, ME, November 2009

21. Evaluation Overview • Formative; provide timely, ongoing feedback • Congruent with project logic model; recognize dynamic environment • Review logic model and evaluation plan annually; revise as necessary • 3 Components….

22. Three Levels of Evaluation • Have the States/Tribes been effective in developing and executing successful implementation projects? • Has the NCIC built the capacity of the States/Tribes to implement and sustain organizational / systems change? • A cross site evaluation of the entire Children’s Bureau T/TA network, led by JBA.

23. Evaluation Accomplishments • States / Territories evaluated NCIC’s outreach efforts and the Regional Forum • Evaluation team conducted a focus group with the ACF child welfare specialists in Regions 1 and 2 • Evaluation team interviewed NCIC team members individually to reflect on the team’s development and performance during initial start-up and to build a chronicle of NCIC’s work

24. Looking Forward • Launching our Projects: on-site work planning, identifying project managers, establishing contracts, working out logistics • Tribal Gathering: November 2009 • Next RFA issuance to States: January 2010 • Peer Networking • Outreach to states/ territories without projects continues….