Court-based Pilot Project: Multnomah Visitation Pilot (MVP) Martha Strawn Morris, Program Development Specialist for the Multnomah County Family Court & Amy Bertrand, Community Development Specialist, Department of Human Services

Goals Improve the frequency of visitation Improve the quality of contact –Visitation under the least restrictive circumstances –There are opportunities for parenting enrichment or bonding enrichment during visits Maximizing the use of paid (public) and non- paid (private) resources of the individual client Increase reunification

MVP Proposal Cases will be identified off the Tuesday and Thursday preliminary hearing docket produced each day at court. Between December 2006 and April 2007, 40 Cases will be chosen for the MVP. On Monday and Wednesday, “control” cases that match basic family structure of MVP cases will be identified Criteria: –Children have been removed Disqualifying Criteria: –Case will not be in posture where parent has already declined to take advantage of visitation over recent past months

MVP Services Generally 6 to 10 Hours of work with each family. Work done by a MSW Student interning with DHS Intense and thorough exploration of family and connected resources. Will produce a document that will go in the case file (The MVP Plan). Will help recommend a contact plan based on assessment and collaboration with the assigned case worker.

Up front MVP Services Contact CPS Worker to notify them their case has been selected Explain MVP to the caseworker and answer any questions Help set up initial visits –Help coordinate & prioritize immediate contact between parent and child. (Coordinate with FIT when case is also a FIT case). –Provide coordination for early supervised visits –Assist with the ongoing assessment of visitation unless a less restrictive approach is more appropriate.

MVP Resource Development Attend TDM, if applicable, to begin identifying any family members and individuals connected to and interested in the child Talk to potential resources present at court to gather contact information and their willingness to be a resource or help identify other potential resources. Complete MVP Assessment for determining supervision level

MVP Work Product Brian will complete a GENOGRAM and CONTACT/ROLE SHEET (CRS) for each MVP family. For each person connected to the child, various possible roles will be explored. The MVP Contact/Role Sheet will indicate whether they can fulfill that role now or may be able to sometime in the future. Where a person cannot fulfill a role, but could if a barrier were addressed, that barrier will be outlined in the Contact/Role Sheet.

MVP Plan to Maximize Resources that Might be Available to the Child Individuals will be asked if they can be any of the following for a child (now, or in the future, if not, why not?) »Transporter »Visit Supervisor »Facilitator Family Connections »Facilitator of Family Activities »Cultural Educator for Care Providers »Family Coach or Mentor »None

A Moment More on Tools Compiling practice-tools related to: –Assessing needed level of visitation –Communicating with interested persons –Connectedness Models

MVP Visitation Plan Brian will develop a visitation plan that will be submitted to the court and the worker. The visitation plan will be discussed at the Settlement Conference. Worker must justify the need for ongoing supervision of visits or a step-down in supervision level will be applied.

Pilot Evaluation Comparison of pilot group with control group. Findings will be presented to the Visitation Task Force in June 2007.

MVP Oversight Brian supervised by Carolyn Graf MVP Advisory Board (a subcommittee of the task force) to meet Monthly. MVP Advisory Board includes representatives from: –Court (Ref. Hughes/ Martha) –CRB (Benjamin Hazelton) –DHS (John Richmond/ Gabe Kieffer) –DAs Office (Michelle Des Brisay) –JRP (Lisa Kay) –VOA (Julie Granger) –Parent’s Attorney (TBD)

What do you think? We are interested in your feedback and thoughts. Please do not hesitate to contact us if there are things you would like us to consider. Martha Amy