October 2010Vol. 11, No. 8The Atlantic Coast Child Welfare Implementation Center

The Atlantic Coast Child Welfare Implementation Center (ACCWIC) partners with State and Tribal child welfare agencies in ACF Regions III and IV, serving 13 States, the District of Columbia, and 6 Tribes. ACCWIC provides long-term consultation and support to facilitate sustainable systems change. Using a systems of care framework and applying Child and Family Services Review principles, the Center:

Provides implementation knowledge to coach and facilitate successful individualized implementation projects
Fosters systemic and lasting improvements in child welfare agencies
Convenes regional forums
Supports peer-to-peer networking
Generates toolkits, resource manuals, and other products to document "what works"
Engages evaluation techniques and employs "lessons learned"

ACCWIC is currently supporting five individualized implementation projects:

Mississippi Department of Human Services: Statewide Implementation of a Family Centered Practice Model: Increasing Readiness and Managing Change
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Social Services Division: An Initiative to Create a Technical Assistance Program in North Carolina's Child Welfare System
Tennessee Department of Children's Services: Strengthening In-Home Services Through the Utilization of Service Array in Individualized Case Planning
West Virginia Bureau of Children and Families: Implementing West Virginia's Safety Assessment Management System
Maryland Department of Human Resources, Social Services Administration: Youth Engagement in Planning for Self-Sufficiency

ACCWIC chartered the Learning Leaders Council (LLC) as a foundation for its peer-to-peer network. The LLC includes one representative from each State and Tribe with a depth of understanding of their child welfare programs and resources. The LLC exchanges information around the successes and challenges to implementation of sustainable systems change. It serves as a vehicle to assist in the development of the ACCWIC Learning Community by recommending structure and content for the peer-to-peer network. Members of the LLC assist with the development of strategies to target the dissemination of implementation resource information to best support each State and Tribe. Council members also provide valuable input to the planning of future ACCWIC forums.

The ACCWIC website offers a number of resources, including:

Materials (handouts and video presentations) from the ACCWIC 2010 Annapolis, MD, conference (http://www.accwic.org/news_events/accwic_10_conference_materials.htm)
Materials from the 2009 Atlanta, GA, conference (http://w ww.accwic.org/news_events/accwic_09_conference_materials.htm)
Toolkits and resources (http://w ww.accwic.org/lc/tools.html)
A PowerPoint presentation: What Child Welfare Agencies in Regions III and IV Are Most Proud Of (http://w ww.accwic.org/states_tribes/States%20and%20Tribes%20poster.pdf) (1,334 KB)

For more information about ACCWIC, contact Cathy Fisher, Project Director:
cfisher@ssw.umaryland.edu

Or visit the ACCWIC website:
http://w ww.accwic.org