October 2008Vol. 9, No. 8Print issueSpotlight on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare

Children's Bureau Express has been a trusted source of news from the Children's Bureau for more than 8 years. While we've periodically updated our "look" during that time, this latest version qualifies as more than just a facelift.

The new Children's Bureau Express (or CBX, for short) features more content reflecting Children's Bureau priorities, including a message from the Children's Bureau Associate Commissioner with each issue. You'll also find more prominent placement of news from the Children's Bureau Training and Technical Assistance Network, Quality Improvement Centers, and grantees, as well as other Federal Government child welfare news.

Still, we've kept many of the features that our readers have come to rely on, such as news on practical tools and strategies, the latest research, and many other resources to help child welfare professionals in their work. Other useful features on the CBX website include:

• Easy access to articles from past issues through our keyword "Search"
• An attractive printable version, for taking CBX on the road
• The ability to easily share CBX with colleagues, through the "Email this issue" function
• Opportunities to provide feedback or story ideas by clicking on "Make a suggestion"

So, welcome to the new CBX! We hope you'll find it more readable, more attractive, and easier to navigate than ever, and we invite you to let us know what you think. (Email us at cb_express@childwelfare.gov or click on the "Make a suggestion" link in the left navigation bar.) We welcome your comments and ideas and look forward to providing you with child welfare news from the Children's Bureau and around the country in the months and years to come.

This is the first in a series of occasional articles highlighting the work and achievements of one of the Regions.

Region 2 reports news this month from New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico.

New York: Bridges to Health

New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) submitted three Home and Community Based Medicaid Waivers to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services in April 2007 and received approval for Bridges to Health (B2H), with a 3-year phase-in that started in January 2008. The three waivers have been implemented as a single program to serve children in foster care with serious emotional disturbances, developmental disabilities, and medical fragility. Each waiver addresses a subset of children and youth in foster care, with B2H services following the children upon discharge from foster care.

OCFS and the New York State Department of Health are responsible for the operation and oversight of the B2H waivers. The B2H program was designed with considerable input from providers; local social services districts; clinicians; biological, foster, and adoptive parents; and children themselves. For more information, visit the B2H website:
www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/b2h/

New Jersey: Differential Response

The New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) implemented its Differential Response pilot in four South Jersey counties (Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem) and is being expanded to Middlesex and Union counties. The program is designed to allow access to support services to strengthen families and help prevent child abuse and neglect when children may be at risk. These efforts help to establish a more coordinated continuum of services for children and families.

The Division of Prevention and Community Partnership (DPCP) within DCF has assumed oversight of the Differential Response pilot. This placement of Differential Response under the DPCP umbrella provides DPCP an important component for the planned integration of primary and tertiary prevention services that will effectively strengthen families and keep them from entering the child protective services system. The sites are fully operational and are now responsive on a 24 hour/7 day basis, receiving referrals from the State Central Registry. A total of 442 families have been referred to the Differential Response programs.

For more information, please contact:
Darrell.Armstrong@dcf.state.nj.us

Puerto Rico: School for Healthy Living and Parenting Program

The School for Healthy Living and Parenting provides primary prevention educational services for Puerto Rico's adults, adolescents, and children to promote a culture of peace, nonviolent family and community relations, positive parenting skills, management of sexuality in youth, prevention of child abuse, and leadership development in the community. The program uses seven modules:

1. Working for Family Peace workshops promote a culture of peace within the context of the community.
2. "SIEMBRA" workshops for adults cover self-development, family communication, management of emotions, nonviolent discipline, and sexual education.
3. The Strengthening Community Leaders module is designed to develop residents' commitment, group organization, and other leadership skills.
4. Neighbors Working With Neighbors is a self-development course for adults that uses train-the-trainers, peer education, and intervention approaches.
5. Prevention workshops for youth focus on identifying and controlling aggression and violence in the home, among young couples, and in the community.
6. Sexuality Among Youth workshops cover factual information, attitudes, consequences, and decision-making for youth.
7. Prevention of Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse is a module for children on self-identification of abuse, positive and negative touching, and what to do in situations of potential abuse or neglect.

For more information, contact:
IColon@adfan.gobierno.pr

To respond to the unique needs of the growing Hispanic population, partners in two States used Children's Bureau funding to develop a multifaceted cultural competency training for child welfare professionals. The centerpiece of the series is a simulation titled "El Jardin: Latino Families' Experiences With Community-Based Services" and a companion workshop, "Foundations of Effective Child Welfare Practice with Latino Families." The Child Welfare Resource Network at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare and the Butler Institute for Families at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work used input from a national advisory board as well as local advisory boards in their States to develop cultural competency training geared toward working with the Hispanic population. The training consists of six elements:

• Pretraining assessment of individual, agency, and community culturally competent practices
• "El Jardin" community simulation, in which project staff recreate a Hispanic community and ask participants to use props and costumes to experience life from another's perspective
• A 2-day training, "Core Elements of Culturally Responsive Practice With Latino Families"
• A half day of collaborative sessions between child welfare supervisors and community partner agencies titled "Building Culturally Responsive Teams"
• Three advanced topic video productions used for in-service, classroom, or "brown bag" presentations
• Adaptable curriculum modules that can be incorporated into courses at schools of social work

Trainings were held in seven communities in Kansas and Colorado, involving more than 300 participants. Participants reported that the El Jardin simulation made them more aware of the strengths and needs of the Hispanic population and taught them valuable lessons about how to provide services more effectively. Project staff conducted posttraining surveys and focus groups and used the results to adapt and improve subsequent trainings. Each element of the training involved action planning based on the insights and understandings gained during the event.

Several aspects of the training promote long-term sustainability for the project. Through pretraining assessments of the individual, organization, and community, participants were able to identify systemic policy and practice areas needing improvement as well as tools for self-reflection and dialog upon which to build sustainable partnerships throughout the community. Administrators and staff at all levels are included in the training, and community partners are encouraged to attend as a way to facilitate relationships that can lead to improved service coordination. The curriculum modules allow agencies to incorporate lessons learned into their long-term staff development efforts.

Several resources were developed and disseminated, including a training brochure of effective practices, a resource guide, and a self-reflection assessment for cultural competencies. In addition, elements of the training were adapted for use in selected Kansas university social work classes. A handbook has been created so that individual States wanting to create their own simulation may do so with guidance and support. Project staff hope that these steps will help ensure that the training's positive effects endure long after the project ends.

For more information, contact the principal investigator:
Bethany Roberts, J.D., M.S.W.
The University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare
1545 Lilac Lane
Lawrence, KS 66044
785.864.0252
bethanyr@ku.edu

Effective Child Welfare Practice With Hispanic Children and Families is funded by the Children's Bureau, Grant 90CT0130, under the Children's Bureau Priority Area: Field Initiated Training Projects for Effective Child Welfare Practice With Hispanic Children and Families. This article is part of a series highlighting successful Children's Bureau grant-funded projects around the country, emerging from Children's Bureau site visits.

The Children's Bureau Training and Technical Assistance Network (T&TA) helps build the capacity of State, local, Tribal, and other public child welfare agencies and family and juvenile courts through training, technical assistance, research, and consultation. Find out more on the T&TA Network webpage:

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/tta/index.htm#national

• Practice Model Framework Series—The National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement and National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning have partnered to develop a Practice Model Framework series to help agencies create or modify child welfare practice models.
  http://tatis.muskie.usm.maine.edu/pubs/pubdetailWtemp.asp?PUB_ID=B060067
• Tribal Services Website—The National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development (NCWRCYD) launched a new website to help Tribes and child welfare professionals enhance services for Tribal youth. The website provides information on how NCWRCYD staff can support Tribes, facilitate collaboration between States and Tribes, promote youth development activities in Tribal communities, engage youth in their communities, and enhance the capacity of Tribes to provide transition services that demonstrate cultural competence.
  www.nrcys.ou.edu/yd/tribal/ts2.html
• Permanency Planning Today—The National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning recently published the summer 2008 issue of its online newsletter, which focuses on caseworker-child visiting strategies, findings from the Child and Family Services Reviews on visits, and an interview with Dr. Peg Hess, a leading expert on visiting.
  www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/downloads/newsletter/ppt-summer-2008.pdf (1,302 - KB)

High turnover in the child welfare workforce can increase the work overload for those left behind and lead to frequent changes in caseworkers for children and families in the child welfare system. In 2003, the Children's Bureau funded eight projects around the country to study, develop, implement, and evaluate recruitment and retention strategies for the child welfare workforce. Using the "Developing Models of Effective Child Welfare Staff Recruitment and Retention Training" grants, the 5-year projects set out to address the difficulties that agencies face in recruiting new child welfare workers, screening and selecting those who will best fit the job requirements, and retaining good workers.

As these projects draw to a close, preliminary evaluation data and anecdotal evidence from supervisors and workers trained through the projects shed light on some of the broad systemic changes that can improve workforce recruitment and retention and combat high turnover. These fall into five areas:

• The hiring process
• Improvements in the workplace culture
• Training
• Technology optimization
• Customized solutions

A new resource paper on the eight projects funded by Children's Bureau grants for "Developing Models of Effective Child Welfare Staff Recruitment and Retention Training" is now available. Visit the Children's Bureau Discretionary Grant Library online to view the report, Grant Projects Focus on Workforce Recruitment and Retention:

http://basis.caliber.com/cbgrants/ws/library/docs/cb_grants/Blob/64435.pdf?w=NATIVE%28%27docs_de+ph+is+%27%27developing+models%27%27%27%29&upp=0&rpp=25&r=1&m=20

Visit the Children's Bureau Discretionary Grant Library to find out information about other Children's Bureau grant projects:

http://basis.caliber.com/cbgrants/ws/library/docs/cb_grants/GrantHome

For more information, see the July/August 2008 issue of Children's Bureau Express for "Developing Models for Workforce Recruitment and Retention." Also, visit Information Gateway's site visit reports on this Children's Bureau grant cluster:

www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/funding/funding_sources/cbreports.cfm

The Children's Bureau has announced the winners of the 2008 Adoption Excellence Awards. The award recipients include individuals and organizations that have made key contributions in 10 categories toward increasing the number of children adopted from foster care. The Adoption Excellence Awards affirm the Children's Bureau's commitment to helping the 510,000 children in foster care across the country, including the 129,000 children awaiting adoption.

Recipients will receive their awards at a ceremony at the Children's Bureau in Washington, DC, in October. To view the complete list of award winners and read about their accomplishments that merited these awards, visit the Children's Bureau website:

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/current_initiatives/aeawards08.htm

Dear Colleague:

I thank you for your interest in the work of the Children's Bureau and your commitment to improving the lives of at-risk children and families. The Children's Bureau is pleased to announce that we have awarded grants in nine priority areas for fiscal year (FY) 2008. The areas, the number of projects, and the funding provided for these projects for FY 2008 are:

• Abandoned Infants Assistance: Comprehensive Support Services for Families Affected by Substance Abuse and/or HIV/AIDS—9 projects totaling $4.3 million
• Adoption Opportunities: Diligent Recruitment of Families for Children in the Foster Care System—5 projects totaling $3.5 million
• Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: National Quality Improvement Center on Preventing the Abuse and Neglect of Infants and Young Children—1 project at $1.7 million
• Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services—1 project at $1.7 million
• Child Welfare Technical Assistance Implementation Centers—5 projects totaling $6.7 million
• Child Welfare Training: Curriculum Development and Evaluation for Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education—1 project at $250,000
• Child Welfare Training: National Child Welfare Workforce Initiatives—6 projects totaling $5.8 million
• Grants to Tribes, Tribal Organizations, and Migrant Programs for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention Programs—3 projects totaling $413,000
• Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visitation Programs to Prevent Child Maltreatment—17 projects totaling $8 million

The FY 2008 funding opportunities are intended to focus resources in those areas identified by States, Tribes, and local communities as critical to ensuring the safety, permanency, and well-being of children. For a list of individual projects awarded, please visit the Children's Bureau website:

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/programs_fund/discretionary/2008.htm

I'd like to thank all of you for the time and resources you may have devoted in pursuit of these funding opportunities. The Children's Bureau is currently forecasting 12 funding opportunities in FY 2009. These funding opportunities will focus primarily on the competition for 10 National Resource and Technical Assistance Centers. We also anticipate announcing the availability of funds for the Evaluation of Existing Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Programs and for Abandoned Infants Assistance Comprehensive Programs. Information about planned FY 2009 funding opportunity announcements is now available on the Department of Health and Human Services Grants Forecast website:

https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/hhsgrantsforecast/

To find the Children's Bureau's planned announcements, select "Browse by Category," then select "Income Security and Social Services/Family and Child Welfare Services."

The National Resource and Technical Assistance Centers, a vital part of the Children's Bureau's overall Training and Technical Assistance Network, are designed to improve child welfare systems by helping States and Tribes achieve sustainable, systemic change resulting in better lives for children, youth, and families. The professionals in each Resource Center bring specialized knowledge to multiple aspects of child welfare systems and practice. And when they combine forces with other members of the Training and Technical Assistance Network, positive things happen for our clients.

I encourage all interested parties to visit the above website and to give serious consideration to applying for any and all funding opportunities of interest. At the Children's Bureau, we believe that competition is the lifeblood of innovation. Without new ideas, we cannot make progress. We welcome applications not only from the fine organizations that have won grants in the past, but also from those that may have competed unsuccessfully before and those that have yet to submit applications.

The Children's Bureau relies on professionals in the field to help us carry out our mission of safety, permanency, and well-being for every child. We need your experience, your energy, and your proposals to move the system forward.

I look forward to a large and enthusiastic response to the FY 2009 program announcements.

Sincerely,
Christine M. Calpin
Associate Commissioner
Children's Bureau

Since 2003, the Recruiting Rural Parents for Indian Children (RRPIC) project has been building relationships with Tribes, Indian families, counties, and courts in California in an effort to identify foster and permanent families for Indian children in foster care. The project's approach is based on the premise that Tribes and families know best about what they and their children need. By building relationships with Tribes and those who work with them, project staff have been able to learn about the foster care needs of specific Tribes and families and to provide support by recruiting Indian resource families.

Funded by the Children's Bureau, the 5-year project began with a full year of relationship building, information sharing, and outreach by RRPIC staff. Family recruitment, which began in the second year, was tailored for each Tribal community and included:

• Attendance at social events
• Presentations at Tribal councils
• Direct contact with families referred by Tribes, self-referred, or known to the recruiter

Two Native American recruiters—one Native American serving the northern counties and one who was part of the Native community for many years in the southern counties served by the project—conducted outreach and recruitment tasks. They also served as important allies for interested parents before, during, and after placement of a child. In the past, Indian families usually had not been asked to serve as resource families for children in foster care, so few families knew about the licensing requirements or process. The RRPIC recruiters were able to explain issues such as fingerprinting for background checks and the type of agency available to work with the family (e.g., Tribal, county, or a private agency). In addition, the project was able to fund some needed items that, in the past, might have prevented a family from receiving a license. For instance, some families needed a State waiver to serve their foster child the wild game and fish that are traditional fare for their family and Tribe.

The RRPIC project faced a number of larger challenges in finding foster and permanent families for Indian children in California. These included:

• The unique circumstances and requirements of specific Tribes
• The rural location of many Tribes, Rancherias, and reservations
• Inadequate funding and dedicated programming for family recruitment
• Historical mistrust between Tribes and outside agencies

The project's deliberate focus on building relationships and persistence in following up with contacts helped to resolve some of these issues. Other helpful project components included:

• Staff who were dedicated solely to family recruitment, licensing/certification, and placement support
• The creation of advisory boards composed of Native American members
• Using recruiters to collect information needed by evaluators
• Careful tracking of families and alerts to recruiters when a family needed contact

As the RRPIC project draws to a close, early results support the project's relationship-building approach. As of March 2008, 16 families had been certified/licensed, and 33 children had been placed. More than 60 families consented to move forward with licensing/certification, and more are still in process. Also, a number of steps have been taken to ensure the sustainability of this recruitment approach. In northern California, the RRPIC worked with a foster family agency that will continue this work. In southern California, the Indian Tribe consortium that served as the advisory board is in the process of becoming a foster family agency and, in the meantime, is affiliated with an agency that will continue recruitment.

Reflecting on the project's progress during the last 5 years, Project Director Susan Quash-Mah commented, "We feel that it's respectful to put forth a large effort with families because we're asking them to make a large commitment when they take in a child. And while our model takes time, we get results!"

For more information, contact rrpic@qwestoffice.net.

Many thanks to Susan Quash-Mah, M.A., Project Director, and Deb Johnson-Shelton, Ph.D., Project Evaluator, for providing the information for this article.

The Children's Bureau website carries information on child welfare programs, funding, monitoring, training and technical assistance, laws, statistics, research, Federal reporting, and much more. The "New on Site" section includes grant announcements, policy announcements, agency information, and recently released publications.

Recent additions to the site include:

• Adoption Excellence Awardees for 2008
• Updated Program Improvement Plan Completion Status Chart
• Updated Trends in Adoption and Foster Care
• Cumulative Adoption Incentive Earning History by State

Visit the Children's Bureau website often to see what's new!

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/

Child Welfare Information Gateway, in partnership with the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids, recently launched the website for National Adoption Month 2008. The early launch of the website allows adoption professionals, families, and advocates to access materials and post events well in advance of the month-long celebration in November.

Recognized by Presidential Proclamation, National Adoption Month is a time set aside to raise awareness about the need for adoptive parents for children and youth in foster care. Under the leadership of the Children's Bureau, National Adoption Month focuses the nation's attention on the 496,000 children in foster care across the country, including the 130,000 children awaiting adoption.

The National Adoption Month website features a number of resources, including:

• Calendar of activities for November, available in both English and Spanish
• Presidential Proclamation
• Enhanced search results for the Spanish version of the National Foster Care and Adoption Directory
• Targeted resources for professionals, families, and teachers
• Resources from AdoptUsKids

Visit the website to access resources and learn more about National Adoption Month:

www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/nam