1. A CHILD IS BEST SERVED IN A FAMILY OF THEIR OWN…..
………A FAMILY OF ONE’S OWN IS FORMED NOT BY BLOOD, BUT BY ATTACHMENT……….
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2. ATTACHMENT IS THE BASIS FOR MENTAL HEALTH (and lots of other things we need in life).
Learn what attachment is, how it’s formed, how it’s damaged, how it can be nurtured back to life.
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3. CHILD MENTAL HEALTH
LOVE, PRODUCTIVITY, SERVICE, MORALITY, SELF ESTEEM, SELF CONTROL, BALANCE, SACRIFICE, JOY, ACCEPTANCE, COMMITMENT………
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4. CHILD WELFARE WORK IS AN ART & A SCIENCE
Checklists/forms/regs - AND - Intuitive wisdom
Accountability of staff - AND - Support/comfort
Laws - AND - Case specific exceptions
Minimum standards - AND - Truly good work
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5. Implementation Challenges for all Alternative Care Work
RESISTANCE
- Culture wide biases (don’t forget yourself!)
What’s being threatened?
What will be lost to that particular stakeholder?
Can losses be replaced or mitigated?
WHEN WE KNOW BETTER, WE DO BETTER
THE SKILL LEVEL OF STAFF
- Minimum standards vs. great work
- Onboarding, base line training based on the Guiding Principles
- Continuing education
- Support, supervise, support, supervise
- Retention, benefits, compensation
STAFF IS YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET
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6. CHALLENGES OF REINTEGRATION
Skilled investigative work to find both suitable kinship AND fictive kin options
Assessing the motivation
Proper, thorough CHILD assessments
Proper, thorough FAMILY assessments and support
Managing/supporting the TRAUMA of the move, both to the child and the receiving family
Socio-economic-culture gaps
Supporting re-attachment from both directions
2/23/2019

7. CHALLENGES WITH FOSTER CARE
Creating systems with transparency, accountability and educational requirements
Enforcing the above
Understanding the motivation of fostering parents and SUPPORTING them in getting their needs met
Recruitment and retention of foster homes
Ongoing training and support of fostering parents
Understanding how ATTACHMENT is affected by non- permanent relationships
Dreamland and Aarambh making good progress towards becoming a Partner in 2016
New Life – No JJA and 80G license - Won’t move them into Partnership until then. Working with Vinay to help him mobilize funds in the local area.
Gokul – Working on organizations structure – hiring CEO, clarifying roles and responsibilities, etc.
Chirag & Sparc – Working closely with the accountant at both homes to help prepare annual cash flow and annual budget for entire organization.
Strengthen Partnership interventions to ensure improvement in both Partner homes
Mukta & HMM – Close mentoring and guidance being provided as their progress is slower than expected.
Mukta: Training new social worker, not a very active in charge, staff needs more clarity on roles and responsibilities, need more attachment between house mothers and children, no JJA license
HMM: Too many staff members (at the leadership level (board)) involved in the daily tasks of the home, role clarity, social worker left, delay in implementation of activities, rehabilitation procedures need to be improved (sending kids home after 10th standard not always in their best interest)
2/23/2019

8. …………and just to reiterate………….
Proper, thorough CHILD assessments
Proper, thorough FAMILY assessments AND SUPPORT
Managing/supporting the TRAUMA of moving, both to the child and the receiving family
2/23/2019

9. CHALLENGES WITH ADOPTION
ALMOST ALL CHILDREN ARE ADOPTABLE (the challenge is overcoming culture wide bias and individual biases, including yours)
Myths about adoptees and adoption built families
Federal & state laws that impede, rather than facilitate adoptions
RED TAPE – daunting paperwork, procedures and other BARRIERS
Equipping workers to make good assessments
Adoptive parent education & support (including post placement and attachment based support)
Child and family matching
2/23/2019

10. …………and just to reiterate………….
Proper, thorough CHILD assessments
Proper, thorough FAMILY assessments AND SUPPORT
Managing/supporting the TRAUMA of moving, both to the child and the receiving family
2/23/2019

11. CHALLENGES WITH GROUP HOMES
ATTACHMENT and the lack thereof
Little understanding of Child Protection (policy AND practice)
Staffing and the retention of good staff
Lack of training and support for all staff
Nurturing connections to the child’s “life before” including people
No social worker or poorly trained ones
Aging out issues (i.e. young adults who do not know how to live in the outside world; lack of family-clan help; societal bias)
Misconduct, abuse, and misuse of children
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12. CHALLENGES IN AFTERCARE
WE ALL HAVE A LOT TO LEARN – Start with the RIGHT questions!
--what do functional adults have? [LOVE/WORK/SERVICE….] -- what are the basic needs of the 20s? The 30s?
YOU ARE IN A LEADERSHIP POSITION TO TEACH THE WORLD HOW TO BETTER ADDRESS AGING OUT
Aging out is complicated by: - Laws; Resources, especially money;
- 17 to 24 year old psychology and cognitive development (do not underestimate this one)
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13. THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD is a hollow, meaningless phrase if one does not know how to define and measure this concept in the practical world. Let’s get to it!
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14. Thank you!
2/23/2019