Racial Disproportionality and Disparity Fresno County Department of Children and Family Services April 2008

The Family to Family Process in Fresno County 2002 Family to Family begins 2003 (4) Family to Family Task Groups get underway Educating Community Supports and Leadership Disproportionality Committee begins

Development/Evolution of RDD Work  Development of Transparent System -TDM community reps -Neighborhood collaboratives -Cultural Brokers -Constant self-evaluation and use of data -Forums with five Tribes/DCFS Administration

RDD work cont.  Systems Changes: Formation of RDD committee Formation of RDD committee Staff and community partners includedStaff and community partners included Developed Key Result Areas (KRAs) to incorporate fairness and equity within practice expectations Developed Key Result Areas (KRAs) to incorporate fairness and equity within practice expectations Hired RDD Coordinator Hired RDD Coordinator Engaged Line Supervisors in discussions on RDD Engaged Line Supervisors in discussions on RDD ICWA PPG’s (don’t know what this is?) ICWA PPG’s (don’t know what this is?) Established ? ICWA training-unit staff Established ? ICWA training-unit staff

RDD work cont.  Practice Changes: Front door engagement with families Front door engagement with families African American Facilitator with African American families African American Facilitator with African American families Ongoing fairness and equity training Ongoing fairness and equity training “Undoing Racism” for staff“Undoing Racism” for staff Brown-bag lunches/videos and speakers dealing with fairness and equity issuesBrown-bag lunches/videos and speakers dealing with fairness and equity issues Established “Cultural Brokers” Established “Cultural Brokers”

Who are Fresno County’s Cultural Brokers?  Community members that have received extensive training: Child welfare system Family to Family Initiative  Consistently attend one or more of the F2F collaboratives, and have served as a TDM representative for more than 6 months  Ideally (but not always), of the same culture as the family or have an extensive knowledge of the family’s culture Some also have extensive knowledge in specialized topic areas such as substance abuse, domestic violence, ICWA, and immigration

Role of the Cultural Broker  Increase the quality of the relationship between DCFS and the families it serves: Helps the agency work with the family and the family work with the agency Cultural brokers are trained in DCFS program activities and purposes, child welfare mandates, and how to work with the court.

Why care

What do we need to support this work  Training and education -university and academy -community agencies -judicial system  Funding that supports ancillary services  Begin RDD discussion with other community partners i.e. education, mental health, criminal justice, probation