Exploring the Role of the Specialist in Child Welfare

Transcription

1 Exploring the Role of the Specialist in Child Welfare Nancy Young, Ph.D., Director Shellie Taggart, B.A., Independent Consultant

2 Substance Abuse Specialists in Child Welfare Agencies and Dependency Courts: Considerations for Program Designers and Evaluators

3 Methodology Qualitative interviews with 8 programs that place substance abuse specialists in child welfare or dependency courts Key informants were those responsible for managing substance abuse specialist programs Semi-structured 1-hour phone interview Open-ended questions related to programmatic and collaborative structures; funding; staff development, training and supervision; joint accountability and lessons learned

4 Dropoff Points 1,000 Children 750 Parents 60% of Parents Need Assessment % Go for Assessment % Need Treatment % Go to First Session 90 30% Complete 90 Days % Reunify - 15 TEXT PAGE

5 Purpose of the Substance Abuse Specialist Reduce costs of out-of-home placements and/or reduce time of children in foster care Remove barriers and improve linkages between CWS and treatment to better serve clients Improve the capacity of CWS to serve parents with substance use disorders Increase collaboration between agencies TEXT PAGE 5

6 Roles and Responsibilities Case management Screening, assessment, referral, and engagement into Treatment Support to parents while in treatment Conduct home visits (CT, DE, IL, Sacramento) Urine testing (CT, DE, IL, Sacramento, San Diego) Consultation and Information sharing with CW and/or courts Training to CW and potentially the court Develop and implement substance abuse capacity building plans for CW (MA) TEXT PAGE 6

7 Training and Supervision Licensed/certified addiction counselor Licensed clinical SW with addiction certification (CT) Supervised by child welfare (CT, NH, WA) Supervised by contracted service provider (IL, Sacramento, San Diego) Dual supervision (DE, MA) Regular meetings to maintain program purpose and/or foster collaborative relationships Receives CW New Worker Training (DE, MA, NH) Participates in cross training 7

8 Location and Settings Employed by state, county CW agency, community-based AOD treatment agency, contracted service provider or Self-employed and contracted by CW Area/regional/county/district CW offices (CT, DE, MA, NH, WA) Contracted service provider s office, near to juvenile court (IL, Sacramento, San Diego) 8

9 Underlying Values and Agreements MOU or other agreement formally outlines joint values and principles for the program (Sacramento, WA) MOU or other agreement outlining joint values influences the implementation of program, but was not developed for the program, specifically (Sacramento, MA) MOU or other agreement outlines systems and or other programs roles in program implementation (CT, DE, IL, San Diego) 9

10 Funding State funds CT, DE, MA Federal funds (i.e., Title IV-E, IV-B) IL and NH Multiple sources (i.e., partial state funding, tobacco settlement, agency budget reallocation) Sacramento, San Diego and Washington 10

11 Substance Abuse Specialists TEXT PAGE

12 Substance Abuse Specialists TEXT PAGE

13 Substance Abuse Specialists TEXT PAGE

14 Substance Abuse Specialists TEXT PAGE

15 Outcomes and Evaluation Regularly collects data (CT, DE, IL, NH, Sacramento, San Diego) Collects standardized data (IL, NH, Sacramento, San Diego) Regularly analyzes data (IL, Sacramento, San Diego) 15

16 Questions

17 Domestic Violence Specialists in Child Welfare Agencies and Dependency Courts

18 Information Gathering National conference: Exploring the Role of Specialized Positions in Child Welfare and Domestic Violence Collaborations (July 2006) CPS administrators, DV programs, DV Specialists Lessons from Greenbook demonstration sites and other states MA, VT, OH, NY, MO, CA (2), CO, NH, OR

19 Purpose of the Domestic Violence Specialist Provide direct support and advocacy to battered women Improve the response of CW system to families in which children and women are at risk from the same perpetrator of violence Improve the capacity of the CW system to work with perpetrators of DV Facilitate working relationships between CW and DV programs

20 Purpose of the Domestic Violence Specialist Improve response of CW system Identify domestic violence Assess danger and risk to mothers and children Improve capacity to engage both parents Hold perpetrators accountable Create individualized responses to families Coordinate inter-system safety strategies Coordinate cases among courts Provide appropriate service referrals

21 Roles and Responsibilities Consultation with CW and courts Accompany workers on home visits Support to battered mothers and CW workers Systems advocacy to create safety and accountability Training to CW, courts, and DV programs Develop and implement DV capacity building plans for CW

22 Location and Settings DV programs (NJ, OH, NH, CA, OR, MO) CW agencies (MA, (VT) ) Courts (BI specialists--or, MO, CO); BW advocate (Santa Clara, CA) Contracted agency (NYC)

23 Funding Federal Violence Against Women Act (DOJ) Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment (CAPTA: HHS) Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA: HHS) Court Improvement Program (HHS) (Joint DOJ/HHS $ funded Greenbook sites) State CW operating funds

24 Outcomes and Evaluation Limited evaluation Qualitative review of impact of consultations (MA) Greenbook Local Evaluations (CO, MO)

25 Critical Factors for Success Cross training and training on how to use the specialist Specialists background and expertise Location of specialist Specialist works with client throughout length of case Collaborative relationship and constant communication Buy-in from different systems Integrative practice Sustainable funding TEXT PAGE

26 Important Lessons Train CWWs on how to use specialists Having resources/capacity to handle increased caseload Addressing clients ancillary needs Flexibility to meet the (changing) needs of systems Planning and budgeting for ongoing data collection/evaluation of program is important Importance of collecting standardized data

27 Develop leadership at all levels Deal with confidentiality issues early Develop systems advocacy strategies Lessons of DV Specialization Work at front door, include supervisors, use power of CPS system with other systems Develop practices for working with perpetrator Organizational culture shift is difficult Deeper race-class-gender analyses are indicated Evaluation needed for sustainability

28 Considerations How does consultation fit into the mission of the two fields? Do SA specialists see themselves as change agents in Child Welfare the same way DV specialists do? How do the respective specialist fields measure success? How do DV and SA specialists manage genderbased differences on the cases in which they consult? What do specialists experience as their greatest challenge/opportunity in impacting practice? TEXT PAGE

29 Questions and Discussion