Bringing Protective Factors to Life in the Child Welfare System

New Hampshire

Risk Factors

Protective and Promotive

Factors

Protective Factors: conditions or attributes of individuals, families, communities, or the larger society that mitigate or eliminate risk

Promotive Factors: conditions or attributes of individuals, families, communities, or the larger society that actively enhance well-being

Big Idea 1: Protective and Promotive Factors

the protective factors framework

Parental Resilience

Social Connections

Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development

Concrete Support in Times of Need

Social and Emotional Development

Implementation in Child Welfare

Implementation in Child Welfare

Training for child welfare

workers

Training for foster

parents

Child welfare practice model

Assessment tools Differential response

New partnerships

with ECE programs

14 10 12 9 6 16

What does the research indicate?• PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT, STRONG FAMILIES

AND OPTIMAL CHILD DEVELOPMENT ARE ALL TIED TOGETHER.

• RISK IS NOT THE SOLE PREDICTOR OF CHILD MALTREATMENT SINCE PROTECTIVE FACTORS AND CAPACITIES WHEN ENHANCED, CAN MITIGATE THE OCCURRENCE OF CHILD ABUSE/NEGLECT.

• FIVE SPECIFIC PROTECTIVE FACTORS ARE LINKED TO PREVENTING CA/N, STRONG FAMILIES AND OPTIMAL CHILD DEVELOPMENT

• THESE PROTECTIVE FACTORS CAN BE BUILT INTO MANY DIFFERENT SETTINGS.

What we know about the developmental needs of children in Child Welfare

• Childhood trauma can have a cascading impact on ongoing development

• Protective factors are important and can buffer and mitigate the impacts of trauma

• For optimal development these children need parents and caregivers (birth, foster and adoptive) who exhibit the factors and have the capacity to support the development of protective factors in their children’s lives

Therefore…..• Children in families involved with child welfare

need particular focus on their developmental needs

• Developmental supports for these children must be informed by an understanding of the impact of trauma on development

• There must also be intentionality about how to support the capacity of families and caregivers to keep children safe and support their early development

• Fundamental shift in worker family relationship• Protective factors at the heart of a family-

centered, strength-based practice approach• Applying the new brain science to create a

developmentally informed model• Moving from risk mitigation to well-being

promotion

A Strengthening Families Paradigm for Child Welfare

A five point agenda1. Ensure that children in CW are connected to quality

developmental supports

2. Support those who work with and support children to understand how to recognize and address trauma

3. Support child welfare staff to recognize and respond to the developmental needs of children and youth

4. Build partnerships focused around the protective factors

5. Support parents-birth, foster, and adoptive in their role as protective factor builders for themselves and their children

Applying a Protective Factors Framework Across the Child Welfare Continuum

Prevention/diversion

Intake/Investigation

Case Planning

In-home care

Out-of-home care

Permanency, Exit and After Care

System

s Infrastructure

Promoting Well-being through the Community

• Use the protective factors as a framework for new partnerships

• Expand definition of CAN prevention to include building protective factors

• Use PF as a frame for the prevention activities funded by the CW system

AND…

• Engage partners with specific expertise in child development in prevention work

Pre

vent

ion

Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice

• Assess not just around risk, but around protective factors

• Use the protective factors to inform planning around differential response or other diversion activities

AND…

• Ensure that developmental progress is assessed as part of early assessments

Inta

ke a

nd In

vest

igat

ion

Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice

• Include specific objectives around protective factors within case plans

• Develop case planning tools that include an orientation around building protective factors

• Engage partners that can support the building of protective factors in family team meetings and other case planning processes

AND…

• Ensure that developmental supports are included as part of the case plan

Cas

e P

lann

ing

Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice

• Use the protective factors as a frame for child welfare practice to build capacity of families

• Infuse a focus on building protective factors into contracts for those working with families (family preservation, in-home services)

• Use the protective factors as a lens to help determine readiness for case closing

AND…

• Help families understand how and why to access quality developmental supports

• Ensure that providers working with these children understand how trauma impacts development

In-H

ome

Car

e

Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice

• Use the protective factors as a frame for child welfare practice to build capacity of birth families and foster families and support their capacity to work together

• Use the protective factors as a lens for determining readiness for return home

• Use the protective factors as lens for developing a course of action for supporting pregnant and parenting teens while in care and transitioning to independent living

AND…• Ensure that all children in care are connected to quality

developmental supports• Ensure that providers working with these children

understand how trauma impacts development

Out

-of-

hom

e C

are

• Use the protective factors as a frame to connect families to after care services

• Integrate protective factors into contracts for youth aging out of care

• Use protective factors as a frame to construct ongoing support for adoptive families

AND…• Ensure that adoptive and reunifying families

understand the importance of quality developmental supports, how to access developmental services, and the impact of trauma on development

Per

man

ency

, Exi

t and

Afte

r C

are Protective & Promotive Factors in

Practice

Quality Improvement Processes

• Quality case reviews• New initiatives• Program improvement Plans• Data collection, analysis and reporting

Sys

tem

s In

fras

truc

ture

• Ensure workers have understanding of development stages and needs of children

• Realign training to include protective and promotive factors as a part of family centered, trauma informed practice.

• Create opportunities for cross training of child welfare staff with ece, family support and staffs from other disciplines.

• Support training of contract and service agency partners

Professional Development systemS

yste

ms

Infr

astr

uctu

re

Connecting Results to Financing

• Purchase of service and contracting • Use factors to inform results expectations • Construct performance monitoring elements

based on the factors

Sys

tem

s In

fras

truc

ture

Making small but significant shifts in Practice

Prac

tice

Skills, Tools, Processes, Resources

Engaging

Assessing

Decision makingPlanning

Intervening

Traumatic Stress