1 foster care redesign a plan for a radical change in the foster care system a new direction in...

1

Foster Care Redesign

A PLAN FOR A RADICAL CHANGE IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM

A New Direction in Foster Care

2

Bottom Line…

Eliminate foster care as we know it in the State of Florida


3

Radical Change

Incremental Change


Performance

4

Guiding Principle: Protect the safety and well-being of

Florida’s children & families


5

At-risk children who remain with their families do better than children in foster care.


Fact

6

Facts…Children Who Stayed with Families

Children in Foster Care

Arrested at least once 14% 44%Became a teen mother 33% 56%Held a job at least 3 months

33% 20%

*MIT’s Sloan School of Management


7

Minnesota StudyMinnesota Study shows: “children placed into unfamiliar foster care showed higher levels of internalizing problems compared with children reared by maltreating caregivers, children in familia care, and children who received adequate care giving.”


8

Chapin Hall/Jim CaseyChapin Hall: The 500,000 children in foster care are more likely than other kids to drop out of school, commit crimes, abuse drugs and become teen parents.

Jim Casey: Confirms what experience and observations tell us: Kids who can remain in their homes do better than in foster care…Some kids, for their own safety, need to be removed from their families, but in marginal cases of abuse, more should be done to keep them together.


9

Ulrich Group Focus Group Comments

“Clients expressed remorse and frustration at being removed from their home to foster care.”

“Many clients were defensive of their own parents’ lack of parenting skills, claiming they would never neglect or abuse their own children.”

“A lot of the time it makes things worse for the kids than the situation they were pulled out of.”


10

Out of Home Rate Per 1000 Children

CACA

CA

CANY

NY

NY

NY

FLFL

FL FLIL

IL

IL IL

OH

OHOH OH

TX TXTX

TX

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

2002 2003 2004 2005

Year

Rate

Per

1000

CA NY FL IL OH TX


11

Foster Care Redesign Goals

• Safely reduce the number of children in foster care through intensive family support

• Meet or exceed the State of Florida’s goal of a 50% reduction of Children in Care by 2012


12

• Assure a safe and permanent home for every child who comes to the attention of the child welfare system

• Align Results with the Casey Family Programs 2020 Vision on foster care reduction and addressing diversity disproportionality


Foster Care Redesign Goals

13

• Change the culture of removal to a culture of safe services

• Expedite permanency and reduce time in care by identifying where existing services and protocols can be augmented or changed


Foster Care Redesign Strategy

14

• Introduce preventative services to divert children from coming into care and supporting a family in crisis

• Focus on timely permanency for the child


15

• Use results analysis and “best practice” reviews as a catalyst for change and as a measurement of success


Foster Care Redesign Strategy

• Develop a community consensus to support family-based prevention services

16

Funding• Other than start-up, Title IVE Waiver

would support this initiative• Florida is only state with this ability


17

Building Sustainable Change

• Change the culture of the Child Protection Workers– Offer support in decision making– More team decisions on removals

– Provide Master Level Social Workers to staff• Develop training on new system utilizing

a practice model with real cases


18

Sustainable Partnerships

• Rocket Docket: Specialized staffing to ensure permanency achieved as quickly as possible

• Increased Expedited Termination of Parental Rights (TPR)

• Shorter case plans


Specialized Judicial Interventions

19

• Introduced Mediation Process to Expedite Reunification

• Create special supports for Domestic Violence cases– Intensive Training– Specialized CPI “experts”– DV Advocate funded through Auditor General’s Office

• Create special supports for Substance Abuse Cases– Family Intervention Specialists conduct assessments


20

• Offer alternatives to families in crisis to ensure child safety– Enhanced VPS (Voluntary Protective

Services)– STEPS (Strengthening Ties and

Empowering Parents)• Co-located with Child Protective

Investigators• Trained in Family Team Conferencing


21

Phase IDo everything possible to safely

reduce the number of children in foster

care!


22

Cultural Change• Make it Unacceptable for a child to grow up in

Foster Care• Do what ever it takes to keep a child safely

with their family


23

Cultural Change• Training

• Team-Based Decision making

• Neighborhood Centers


24

Phase I - Diversion Co-locate CPI & Prevention Staff

Drug Court on every case involving drugs

Increase service offerings

(Alternative Response Pilot/ARS, Enhanced Voluntary Protective Services/VPS, STEPS Diversion)

Casey Peer TA

Domestic Violence Advocate

Domestic Violence Specialists

Casey Specialists – Master Level Social Workers

Florida State University MSW (Social Work Program)

Mediation

Develop additional Neighborhood Centers (Cassat House)

Revise Assessment Tools


25

Reduce Caseloads/Speed Permanency

• Rocket Docket

• Expedited TPR

• Aggressively Adopt

• Relative Searches

• Relative Caregiver Supports

• Shortened case plans

• Youth Villages Program

• Substance Abuse Protocol

• Domestic Violence Protocol


26

Phase I – Project Organization

• Project Manager• Project Plan• Metrics• Outside Evaluation


2727

Phase 1 - Marketing

• Media Plan• Community Meetings• Monthly Communiqué• Internal Communications


2828

We’re Already Making a Difference

We’ve reduced the number of children

coming into care…


2929

We’re Already Making a DifferenceWe’ve reduced the number of children coming into care…..

30

GETTING STARTED


31

Do Your Homework

• Get Your Facts Straight• Review Data Trends• Review Secondary Research


32

Create Teams and Work Groups

• Executive Oversight Committee• Steering Committee• Core Management Working Committee• Field Staff Advisory Committee


33

Clear The Deck

• Solicit The Community• Review ALL Current Processes• Select Project Manager• Identify Key Barriers• Partition The Project


34

Initial Strategy

• Change Management Project• Change the Culture-”Out of the Box, Means Out Of The

Box”• Train Everyone On Culture Change• Audit Everything: Reinforce The Message• Communicate At All Levels All The Time• Develop Processes For Change• Determine Measurements


35

Examples Of Change Management

• Co-located Investigative and Prevention Staff• Created Neighborhood Center• Joint Training of Staff• Non-Judgmental Process Change• Look At Everything That Affects TIME IN CARE

and REMOVALS


36

Engage the Community

• Develop A Marketing Plan• Communicate Early and Often• Be Transparent• Emphasize the Success Stories


37

Look For Funding

• Casey Family Programs• VOCA• TANF• Title IV Waiver• Medicaid


38

Phase IIRedesigning The Foster Care System!


39

Next StepsSystem Redesign

• Implement comprehensive changes based upon Phase 1 experience

• Licensed Foster Care is eliminated and replaced with short term professional Respite Homes

• A single, comprehensive service plan is immediately available to protect the child and support the family through reinvestment in resources from deep end to preservation services


40

Next Steps• Comprehensive programs are available for

Domestic Violence, Substance Abuse and Mental and Physical Health issues

• The Child Welfare Worker is viewed as an asset to the family in crisis, not someone to be feared


1 foster care redesign a plan for a radical change in the foster care system a new direction in...

Documents

foster care slide

foster care system

foster care reduction

unfamiliar foster care

foster care fact

foster care performance

familia care

adequate care