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Supporting Child Welfare Reform in North Carolina

System of Care

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Our Focus Children involved with various public

child serving system/agencies have a variety of:

• Physical health needs• Emotional and mental health needs• Social needs• Educational needs• Developmental needs• Legal needs

Child serving professionals have worked for years with other agencies to piece together the available resources for these children and their families with limited success.

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Child/FamilyChild/Family Human ServicesHuman Services

DSSJJ

AOCPublic Schoo

ls

Health/

Mental Health, SA, DD

Treatment

Comm-unity Orgs.

Support

Extended Family

Neighborhoods, Friends

$ $ $ $ $

Protection Education

Correction

?? ?? ?? ?? ??

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Child/Family Human Services Child/Family Human Services ReformReform

Family-centered Practice, Child and Family Teams,Multiple Response System, System of Care

DSS

Restorative Justice, Comprehensive Strategy, ‘Blue Prints’

JJ

AOC

Positive Behavioral Supports (PBIS), Alternative Learning Programs

Public Schools

Health/MH,SA,

DD

MH Reform,Health Choice,

Smart Start, MAJORS, Person-

Centered Care

Comm-unity Orgs.

Faith/Church, Clubs,

Parks/Recreation

Housing, Advocacy, etc.

Extended Family

Neighborhoods, Friends

$ $ $ $ $

How can we Bridge the gap between families and services?

Through a System of

CareApproach

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Organizing and coordinating services and resources at the agency, community, and state level into a comprehensive and interconnected network

BY:

•developing PARTNERSHIPS with individuals and families who need services or resources and all the agencies, both formal and informal, who serve them.

•building on individual and community STRENGTHS and making the most of existing resources to help children and their families achieve better outcomes.

•Improving the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of frontline service providers toward more FAMILY- CENTERED practices.

System of Care refers to:A nationally recognized, proven

framework/approach for:

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Where does SOC fit into the NC FSCW System?

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System of Care Guiding Principles/Values ARE

NC Family Support & Child Welfare Principles/Values

• Intra/Interagency Collaboration

• Individualized Strengths-based Care for Families

• Cultural Competence

• Child and Family Partnership

• Community-based Services & supports

• Accountability to results

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North Carolina’s Family Support and Child Welfare System

Family-Centered Practice and System of Care is our Foundation

- Collaboration between Work First and Child Welfare - Redesign of in-home services which is needs driven

- Accountability - Child and Family Teams- Strengths-Based, Structured Intake - Cultural Competence- Choice of two approaches to reports of child - Shared Parenting Meetings abuse, neglect, and dependency - Community Based- Coordination between law enforcement agencies and CPS for the investigative assessment approach

Community Based Prevention

Work FirstCPS

Foster Care

Adoption

Safety PermanencyWell-Being Self-Sufficiency

MRS

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MRS is SOC in action at the

DSS agency level!

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System Of Care is NOT:

•A new initiative•A new “program”•A “practice” model•New or additional work

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System Of Care IS:

A catalyst for changing the way child and family service agencies:•organize, •fund, •purchase; and •provide services

for children and families with multiple needs.

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System of Care IS :

• A way to support and enhance the implementation of the 7 strategies of MRS

• A way to work more efficiently and effectively with families and agencies within the community

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System of Care Approach is:

• Being used to address needs identified by State’s CFSRs and improve outcomes for children and families involved with child welfare.

• One of the strategies named in NC’s program improvement plan for the new vision for Family Support and Child Welfare Services.

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System of Care History Approach was originally

created for children with serious emotional disturbances (MH)

In NC, began in 1994 with national System of Care grants through SAMHSA (Pen-Pal, NC FACES, SOC NET, Mecklenburg CARES)

2003 NCDSS received System of Care Grant from the Children’s Bureau to expand to other target populations including families in the child welfare system

System of Care

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Overall Goals of NCDSS Grant Project:

To show improved outcomes in safety, permanency, and well-being for children and families receiving child protective services and children in state custody through individualized and comprehensive systems of care within the context of the family’s home and communities.

To institutionalize a System of Care infrastructure of interagency collaboration, best practices for workers and culturally competent services for families with child and family involvement at all levels of designing, building and sustaining System of Care.

To evaluate the effectiveness of System of Care and establish a replicable model of organizational and programmatic transformations necessary for success at the practice, program and system levels.

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What does System of Care infrastructure look like in NC?Three main areas:

• State

• Community

• Family

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State Level

System of Care grants in NC State collaborative for

children and families Legislation

• Governor’s School-based Child and Family Support Team Initiative in 100 schools

• NC MH/DD/SAS commitment of a state coordinator position and a full time person for each LME dedicated solely to SOC

• NCDSS Multiple Response System Reform incorporates CFT’s statewide, family centered practices, system of care service delivery

• SL 2005-276, created the Children’s Services Work Group and directed that the group address 7 legislative responsibility areas around coordination and collaboration

North Carolina is Building a SOC Infrastructure

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New Legislation

Establish “Children Services Work Group”

• Identify common outcomes• Identify strategies for flexible funding• Develop common service terminology• Study the creation of a shared database• Develop mechanisms to share information

across agencies• Study training needs to increase

collaboration• Study other issues that increase

collaboration and coordination among child-serving agencies

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The State Collaborativefor Children and Families

A Forum:• for the discussion of System of Care development

and issues regarding how agencies, community partners, and families can work together to better meet the needs of children and families which results in better outcomes.

• where recommendations are made to promote the coordination of services, funding, training, and local reporting requirements to eliminate duplication and make the system more child and family friendly.

• that provides support for Community Collaborative groups and Child and Family Teams.

Meeting dates and times: Second Friday 9-11 NC Child Advocacy Institute

Fourth Friday 9-11 Governor’s Crime Commission

State Collaborative for Children and Families

Recent Activities

• Cross system child and family team curriculum with blended funds

• Website • Charter• Cross agency Committees including

technical assistance • System of Care Conferences/Training

Events

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Community

Local Collaborative groups

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Communities Caring for their OwnOn a local level you can findmultiple problem solving groupsthat are working together withfamilies to achieve safety,permanence and well-being for children.

Some examples of these groups are • Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils (JCPC), • Community Child Protection Teams (CCPT), • Local Community Collaboratives

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Local Community Collaborative

• A diverse governance team that brings together decision-makers (people responsible for services) and stakeholders (people using the services) to “drive”, manage, and monitor the local System of Care.

• Promote teamwork and change in the broader community that is necessary for Child and Family Teams to succeed in their work with children and families.

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Child Serving Agencies , Community Resources and Families

One Unified Approach

Community CollaborativesIntegrating Resources &

Response*

Maximizing Resources for a Comprehensive System of Services/Supports:

Braided Funding & Blended ServicesFamily, Neighborhood & Community Involvement

Better outcomes

for families

and communit

ies

* John Franz, 1999

Local Collaborative$ $ $ $ $

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Family Driven

Child and Family Teams Partnership Advocacy

Why Family Driven care?

• Families know what works for them• Families know what their limitations are• Families can keep track of services and change• Families and youth comfort and buy in are

necessary for success• Families face the challenges all day and every

day• Families are passionate and will not give up• Families have the most to lose and the most to

gainLibby Jones-Family Advocate-NC Families United

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Child and Family Teams:

A group of persons (professionals, family members, friends and community supports) selected by the family to assist them in developing a plan to address the significant issues in their family. This group can be called together as needed, by the family or anyone involved with the family.

Child & Family Teams: who’s in the car?Child & Family Teams: who’s in the car?

Job Coach

DSSProfessional

Housing Authority

MH /DD/SA Professional

Friends

Parks/Rec

CourtsJJ Professional

Primary Care Phy.Health Dept. Nurse

Consumer Credit

LEATeacher

Child and Family Team

Family is central; with facilitator organizing the

meetingNeighbors

Pastor

Advocate

1 Family/1 Team/1 Plan

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Why System of Care?Duplication is reduced by:

- pooling resources & unifying services

- encourages private/public partnerships

Keeps children and families together by: - Reduces costly out-of-home placement for treatment

or incarceration, unnecessary custody relinquishment

- reduces trauma to child and their family due to separation

- reduces the number of moves a child in placement experiences

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More Results

Provides incentives for communities to engineer enduring positive change by:

- increasing school attendance and performance

- decreasing instances of abuse, neglect, and juvenile justice involvement

- increasing family involvement and satisfaction in meeting the behavioral, mental, physical, educational and safety needs of their

children

Establishes a system that promotes :–family strengths, –greater self-reliance, and –children who will grow up in success

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Don’t miss the bus!!!! You are a CRITICAL

part of System of Care development

and success in your community and

state!

How can I become more involved?

• Advocate for system of care development within counties across the state

• Advocate for family participation whenever you can on boards, policy groups and other decision making groups

• Participate as a member on local community collaboratives

• Learn all that you can about implementing a system of care from the grant counties