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October 2010Vol. 11, No. 8The Northeast and Caribbean Child Welfare Implementation Center

The mission of the Northeast and Caribbean Implementation Center (NCIC) is to facilitate communication and networking across public child welfare systems, to offer guidance and tools identifying sustainable system change strategies, and to provide resources to support intensive implementation projects that improve the quality and effectiveness of services for children, youth, and families. The NCIC serves States, territories, and title IV-B funded Tribes in ACF Region I (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) and Region II (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands).

The primary work of NCIC is to provide technical assistance focused not simply on a discreet problem or issue but on topics that are substantial enough to create sustainable systemic change. To carry out our work, NCIC offers a range of activities and resources to the States and Tribes in ACF Regions I and II, including:

  • Peer Networking: NCIC supports regional peer networks that share implementation experiences and provide mutual aid and problem-solving. Recent network opportunities have focused on public sector leadership strategies, coaching models, and starting up implementation projects.
  • Intensive Implementation Projects: As of June 2010, the NCIC is providing training and technical assistance resources to six State child welfare agencies to support projects that focus on improving child welfare practice and enhancing the skills of supervisors. The following are the current NCIC implementation projects:
    • Connecticut Department of Children and Families: Advancing Child and Family Outcomes through Integrated Practice and Contracted Program Improvement Initiatives
    • Massachusetts Department of Children and Families: Enhancing Supervisory Capacity to Support and Sustain the New DCF Integrated Casework Practice Model
    • New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families: Designing and Implementing a Statewide Family-Centered Practice Model for Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
    • New Jersey Department of Children and Families: Managing With Data to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families
    • New York State Office of Children and Family Services: Building a System of Sustainable Supports for Child Welfare Supervisors
    • Vermont Department for Children and Families, Family Services Division: Implementing a Comprehensive Statewide Practice Model Implementation

From engaging with these States to implement their projects, NCIC is learning many lessons about what it takes to implement large-scale system reform in public child welfare agencies. These early lessons and full descriptions of these projects can be found on the NCIC website. 

  • Evaluation and Dissemination of Learning
  • The NCIC website offers audio files of NCIC peer networking calls, information about NCIC services, links to other sites of interest to those in child welfare, and recent NCIC publications, including:
    • Basics of Coaching: A Brief Review of Recent Literature
    • New Jersey Department of Children and Families “Manage by Data” National Promising Practice Findings
    • Supervisory Models in Child Welfare

For further information, contact Susan Kanak, Project Director:
skanak@usm.maine.edu

Or visit the NCIC website:
http://ncic.muskie.usm.maine.edu

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