1. Youth Advisory Council
A Program funded through a five-year cooperative agreement with
Department of Health and Human Services,
Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau in partnership with:
Spaulding for Children,
The University of Texas at Austin,
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Youth Advisory Council

2. QIC-ag Leadership team
QIC-AG is funded through a five year cooperative agreement with Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau.
Spaulding for Children
University of Texas at Austin
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Entering year 5 of the 5 year project this September.

3. Partnership
The QIC-AG will work in partnership with 8 sites (state, county or tribal child welfare systems), to develop system capacity and implement and evaluate interventions that promote and support adoption and guardianship. The sites that have been selected include:
Illinois
Catawba County, North Carolina
New Jersey
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Wisconsin
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
Wisconsin is one of 8 sites participating.

4. Qic-ag goal
QIC-AG will develop evidence-based models of support and intervention that can be replicated or adapted by other child welfare systems across the country to achieve long-term, stable permanency in adoptive and guardianship homes for waiting children as well as for children and families after adoption or guardianship has been finalized.

5. Continuum of Services: A PREVENTION STRATEGY
Post-Permanence
Pre-Permanence F I N AL Z A T O
Prevention
Stage Setting
Preparation
Focused Services
Universal
Selective
Indicated
Intensive Services
Maintenance
Explain how WI selected Indicated Level
Stages that are capacity building only are in grey.
Areas where the QIC-AG will build capacity AND implement and evaluate interventions are blue (pre-permanence) and green (post-permanence).

6. INDICATED INTERVAL
Characteristics:
Families identified through outreach or have contacted agency directly.
Families asking for help as problems have become evident.
Currently experiencing issues that put them at heightened risk of discontinuity of instability.

7. Discontinuity
Instability that occurs after an adoption or guardianship has been finalized
The situation in which an adoption or guardianship ends after being legally finalized.

8. GOALS OF INDICATED INTERVENTIONs
Prevent escalation to crisis
Reduce family stress, promote stability
Increase caregiver skills
Strengthen caregiver commitment
Stabilize behaviors
Strengthen social support

9. ADOPTION and GUARDIANSHIP Enhanced Support (AGES)
Wisconsin’s QIC-AG project developed the Adoption and Guardianship Enhanced Support (AGES) Program
Based on similar programs in Pennsylvania (Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network Case Advocacy) and North Carolina (Success Coach)
Supported by feedback from adoptive and guardianship families in Wisconsin
AGES offers families:
individualized assessment of emerging needs and their strengths,
identification of family-specific goals,
personalized assistance with navigation of pre-existing resources and services, and
targeted advocacy in the areas as requested by the family
The Wisconsin QIC-AG project will develop and implement the Adoption and Guardianship Enhanced Support (AGES) Program. AGES is based on similar programs serving post-adoption and guardianship families in Pennsylvania ( and North Carolina ( ). The program is also informed by adoptive and guardianship families in Wisconsin who stated that they would welcome help with the day-to-day challenges they face parenting children with significant trauma and abuse histories.
Wisconsin’s Theory of Change states that adoptive parents and guardians felt “ill-equipped and unsupported because there are emerging issues that, at the time of finalization may have been within the caregiver’s capacity to address, were not present, or were not causing familial stress.” The AGES Program recognizes that families formed through adoption and guardianship have unique challenges and needs. The intervention seeks to serve as an adoption and guardianship competent, trauma-informed support for families facing emerging needs post-permanence. AGES will offer families an individualized plan with specific goals, needed supports and targeted advocacy based on the assessment of the child and family’s needs and strengths. The AGES worker will work with the family to increase the their capacity to manage stressors by offering support, resources, and advocacy.
AGES is designed to help families in the Indicated Prevention Interval. Families in this interval reach out for help due to the emergence of challenging issues or behaviors. These emerging issues may be triggered by a change in the family as a result of the child's age or behaviors, a change in family functioning, or a parent's weakened commitment to permanence. Services delivered to families in the Indicated Interval seek to support the family, reduce family stress, stabilize the placement and increase the family's skills in managing challenging behaviors.

10. Program Eligibility Eligibility criteria Exclusionary criteria
Lives in NE Region of WI
Has adopted or assumed guardianship of a child
Meets criteria based on referral questions (indicated level)
Exclusionary criteria
Child is in OHC or not living in the home
Family has open child welfare case and receiving services
Family has open CPS or YJ case
Licensed Foster Parent
Expressing the child must be moved or placed in OHC
Discuss reasons for NE region selection

11. Program entry Referral and Screening process (3 days)
Family contacts an Entry Point
Foster Care and Adoption Resource Center,
DCF Central Office,
NE Region Post Adoption Resource Center
AGES Referral Tool completed
Obtain consent to proceed with evaluation
Screened by Regional Permanency Supervisor
AGES worker is assigned within 3 days of the call and begins offering services
Discuss entry point selection
Discuss

12. Who are the AGES workers? What does the AGES workers do?

13. Ages worker
“AGES workers are certified Social Workers that are assigned to a family once the screening process is complete and the family meets eligibility requirements. An AGES worker will discuss the components of AGES and gather necessary information to best support the family driven plan. The AGES worker will offer support in assessing the family needs and strengths, navigating and coordinating services that could benefit the family, as well as assisting the family in building a network of formal and informal supports.”

14. Information gathering
The AGES worker gathers:
Relevant and significant information
Circumstances surrounding request for AGES
Family’s story
Child’s history
Family’s trauma history
Collateral information
Observations of interaction with client

15. Assessment tools and purpose
Measures frequency of behaviors and captures change over time
Behavior Problem Index (BPI):
Assesses child’s belonging to family
Belonging and Emotional Security Tool (BEST):
Assesses cohesion and flexibility
Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES):
Measures strength of family’s social supports
Duke Functional Social Support Questionnaire:
Measures caregiver stress
Caregiver Strain Questions
Identifies strengths and needs
Wisconsin CANS:

16. Support types Social Support
Supportive emotional, information, relational resources.
Social Support
Navigation and coordination of supports.
Case Management
Support to develop strategies and skills to enhance attachment, empathy, and communication.
Parenting Services/Education
Support and advocate for families with school challenges and questions.
Educational/School

17. Risk and Protective Factors

18. Child factors for discontinuity
Age of the child at time of placement
Behavioral issues
Number of prior placements
Length in out of home care
Prior maltreatment
Attachment
Race
Sibling placement

19. Family Factors for discontinuity
Caregiver demographics
Marital status
Relationship to the child (relative caregiver)
Higher education
Employment status
Caregivers age

20. Caregiver Characteristics for discontinuity
New placement
Unrealistic expectations
Lack of caregiver commitment
Lack of parental sensitivity
Placement with relative

21. Agency factors for discontinuity
Inadequate subsidy
Inadequate child information provided
Inadequate preparation and training before and after legal finalization
Inadequate support
Availability of pre adoption and post adoption services

22. Common Themes Found 8-15 year olds, older children
Ineffective parenting responses
Lack of knowledge regarding child development
Lack of trauma informed parenting
Frustration with the system and ineffective services
Feelings of being misunderstood and helpless
Inflexibility
Lacking maintenance (always in crisis mode)

23. Common Themes Found Strong commitment level
Willingness to reach out for help and feel a sense of relief
They “show up”
Passionate about the adoptive process
They want kids to be the best they believe their kids can be

24. Wisconsin AGES Data (March 13, 2017 – July 24, 2018)
56 calls from families
30 referred
25 screened in
22 currently open
3 closed
5 screened out
26 not referred*
3 family wants child to move
7 open case (CW, JJ, CPS)
10 foster parent license**
3 other reasons***
9 child living away
Not referred:
* Reasons for not referring are not mutually exclusive; there can be multiple reasons for one family
** Foster parent license was the only reason for not referring in one family
*** Other reasons included: 1 was involved in stakeholder group and did not feel it was appropriate to participate; 2 felt that AGES was not what they needed

25. QIC-AG Project Status:
Call sources:
15/56 (27%) DCF Central Office
4/56 (7%) FCARC
37/56 (66%) PARC
Adoption/Guardianship Type Referred:
35 public adoptions
3 private domestic infant adoption
5 international adoption
6 private guardianship
2 public guardianship
5 tribal (private/public adoption and guardianship)
Adoption/Guardianship Type Not Referred:
17 public adoptions
1 private domestic adoption
2 international adoptions
12 unknown

26. QIC-AG Project Status:
Parents are saying:
“At the time, we were under so much stress that it helped tremendously that she [AGES worker] came here… we could not go places without him having a severe meltdown…It also has been helpful for her to see his behaviors…he is cute as button until he is raging. She got to see that because she was in the home. Now that we have everything under control, I go there [to the office]…”
“When we first contacted AGES we were in a valley. Since then, we are back on a mountaintop…”
“I can see the stress is less…Things have improved in the family in general. I don’t feel so overwhelmed. I feel like I have help.”
“We have a whole list of resources, but we will use them when and if we need them. Right now, we are on a mountaintop so we don’t need them. We know that things can change anytime. It is comforting to know that we have them should we need them.”
“This program is absolutely necessary!”
“AGES is needed. I can tell you, it is needed!”
“Also thanks for allowing us to participate in the AGES program.  Finding out our son has Asperger's on top of everything else we went through this Spring with him would have been unbearable without our AGES worker helping us through it.” 

27. AGES Family Voice
What would or should have been done differently prior to your family achieving permanency through adoption or guardianship?
What caused you to reach out to the AGES program and what has been the most helpful to you while AGES has been involved?
What do you need more of to assist your family moving forward?

28. QUESTIONS Additional Information on the QIC-AG can be found at:
Funded through the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau, Grant #90CO The contents of this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the funders, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This information is in the public domain. Readers are encouraged to copy and share it, but please credit Spaulding for Children.