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 A New Direction in Foster Care

3 Radical ChangeIncremental Change A New Direction in Foster Care Performance

4 Guiding Principle: Protect the safety and well-being of Florida’s children & families A New Direction in Foster Care

5 At-risk children who remain with their families do better than children in foster care. A New Direction 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 A New Direction in Foster Care

7 Minnesota Study Minnesota 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.” A New Direction in Foster Care

8 Chapin Hall/Jim Casey Chapin 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. A New Direction in Foster Care

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.” A New Direction in Foster Care

10 A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care 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 A New Direction in Foster Care 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 A New Direction in Foster Care

15 Use results analysis and “best practice” reviews as a catalyst for change and as a measurement of success A New Direction in Foster Care 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 A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care 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 A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care

21 Phase I Do everything possible to safely reduce the number of children in foster care! A New Direction 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 A New Direction in Foster Care

23 Cultural Change Training Team-Based Decision making Neighborhood Centers A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care

26 Phase I – Project Organization Project Manager Project Plan Metrics Outside Evaluation A New Direction in Foster Care

27 Phase 1 - Marketing Media Plan Community Meetings Monthly Communiqué Internal Communications A New Direction in Foster Care

28 We’re Already Making a Difference We’ve reduced the number of children coming into care… A New Direction in Foster Care

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

30 GETTING STARTED A New Direction in Foster Care

31 Do Your Homework Get Your Facts Straight Review Data Trends Review Secondary Research A New Direction in Foster Care

32 Create Teams and Work Groups Executive Oversight Committee Steering Committee Core Management Working Committee Field Staff Advisory Committee A New Direction in Foster Care

33 Clear The Deck Solicit The Community Review ALL Current Processes Select Project Manager Identify Key Barriers Partition The Project A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care

36 Engage the Community Develop A Marketing Plan Communicate Early and Often Be Transparent Emphasize the Success Stories A New Direction in Foster Care

37 Look For Funding Casey Family Programs VOCA TANF Title IV Waiver Medicaid A New Direction in Foster Care

38 Phase II Redesigning The Foster Care System! A New Direction in Foster Care

39 Next Steps System 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 A New Direction in Foster Care

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 A New Direction in Foster Care

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