Parent Engagement in Alameda County
In February 2005, Alameda County began an effort to engage birth parents in new and exciting ways. It all started with a focus group of parents who had successfully reunified with their children recruited from a parent support group offered through Alameda County’s Family Preservation Program. From that effort, a Parent Leadership Team was convened. This Parent Leadership Team has about ten core Parent Leaders and several other parents that participate and receive ongoing training. These Parent Leaders have attended Departmental Meetings and conferences to help inform our practices to become more family-friendly. Parent leaders have also been available to speak on panels for new Child Welfare Workers, new Resource Families, and for our Faith-based Initiative. Many have been consistently co-facilitating Parent Orientation Meetings held for all newly incoming parents to the Child Welfare System. We hope that these parent engagement efforts will translate into better services for our newly incoming parents, earlier engagement in services and quicker times to reunification or an alternative permanent plan.
In September 2005, after a lot of planning by child welfare staff and parent leaders, Alameda County started offering a series of classes to orient parents to the Child Welfare System. These Parent Orientation Classes occur in a series of three classes, each lasting about 2 hours. Parents whose children have just been removed are invited to attend if the decision is made to file a petition. The classes that are co-facilitated by a child welfare staff and a parent leader teach the new parents about the Child Welfare System, the Juvenile Court System, how to work with your worker/attorney, and how to access chain of command if your needs are not being met. It allows parents a place to “vent” and receive support and encouragement from the parent leaders who have survived what they are going through. They also learn about resources in the community that can help them get their life back on track and their children returned. These classes have been very successful in that all evaluations have been positive and parents typically want more time, information. Once they attend the first meeting, there is about a 95% retention rate through to the third meeting.
In June 2006, Parent Advocates will begin working with newly incoming parents to the Child Welfare System more intensively. Parent Advocates have been chosen from our parent leader team and they are parents who have successfully reunified with their children and had their cases closed. The first priority for Parent Advocates assignments will be for Family Reunification cases that have families that are in the child welfare system for the first time and have at least one child under 3 years of age. This target population was chosen primary due to the shortened time lines they have for reunification. Other cases will be considered on a case-by-case basis and as resources are available. Parent Advocates will be available to support newly incoming parents in their case plan activities such as accessing resources, attending appointments, helping with housing resources, and encouraging regular visitation with their children. This is a very exciting program and has shown positive results in Contra Costa County and other parts of the country.
In the near future, Icebreaker meetings will be implemented. These meetings will be held with the biological parent, the resource parent, and a facilitator to discuss the child’s needs while in foster care. The goal of this meeting will be to help transition the child into out-of-home care while minimizing the trauma of being removed from their birth families. It is hoped that Icebreaker meetings will help dispel myths that resource parents have about birth parents and vice versa so they can create a team-approach to meet the needs of the children in foster care.
Alameda County Social Services Agency, Department of Children and Family Services, hope for better outcomes in implementing the above Parent Engagement Efforts. Some of these outcomes include the birth parent’s earlier engagement in services, quicker time to reunification, and if reunification can not occur, quicker time to an alternative permanent plan.
Posted June 1st, 2006 at 1:24 pm by Lynlee.
Filed under General.
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Parent Engagement in Alameda County
In February 2005, Alameda County began an effort to engage birth parents in new and exciting ways. It all started with a focus group of parents who had successfully reunified with their children recruited from a parent support group offered through Alameda County’s Family Preservation Program. From that effort, a Parent Leadership Team was convened. This Parent Leadership Team has about ten core Parent Leaders and several other parents that participate and receive ongoing training. These Parent Leaders have attended Departmental Meetings and conferences to help inform our practices to become more family-friendly. Parent leaders have also been available to speak on panels for new Child Welfare Workers, new Resource Families, and for our Faith-based Initiative. Many have been consistently co-facilitating Parent Orientation Meetings held for all newly incoming parents to the Child Welfare System. We hope that these parent engagement efforts will translate into better services for our newly incoming parents, earlier engagement in services and quicker times to reunification or an alternative permanent plan.
In September 2005, after a lot of planning by child welfare staff and parent leaders, Alameda County started offering a series of classes to orient parents to the Child Welfare System. These Parent Orientation Classes occur in a series of three classes, each lasting about 2 hours. Parents whose children have just been removed are invited to attend if the decision is made to file a petition. The classes that are co-facilitated by a child welfare staff and a parent leader teach the new parents about the Child Welfare System, the Juvenile Court System, how to work with your worker/attorney, and how to access chain of command if your needs are not being met. It allows parents a place to “vent” and receive support and encouragement from the parent leaders who have survived what they are going through. They also learn about resources in the community that can help them get their life back on track and their children returned. These classes have been very successful in that all evaluations have been positive and parents typically want more time, information. Once they attend the first meeting, there is about a 95% retention rate through to the third meeting.
In June 2006, Parent Advocates will begin working with newly incoming parents to the Child Welfare System more intensively. Parent Advocates have been chosen from our parent leader team and they are parents who have successfully reunified with their children and had their cases closed. The first priority for Parent Advocates assignments will be for Family Reunification cases that have families that are in the child welfare system for the first time and have at least one child under 3 years of age. This target population was chosen primary due to the shortened time lines they have for reunification. Other cases will be considered on a case-by-case basis and as resources are available. Parent Advocates will be available to support newly incoming parents in their case plan activities such as accessing resources, attending appointments, helping with housing resources, and encouraging regular visitation with their children. This is a very exciting program and has shown positive results in Contra Costa County and other parts of the country.
In the near future, Icebreaker meetings will be implemented. These meetings will be held with the biological parent, the resource parent, and a facilitator to discuss the child’s needs while in foster care. The goal of this meeting will be to help transition the child into out-of-home care while minimizing the trauma of being removed from their birth families. It is hoped that Icebreaker meetings will help dispel myths that resource parents have about birth parents and vice versa so they can create a team-approach to meet the needs of the children in foster care.
Alameda County Social Services Agency, Department of Children and Family Services, hope for better outcomes in implementing the above Parent Engagement Efforts. Some of these outcomes include the birth parent’s earlier engagement in services, quicker time to reunification, and if reunification can not occur, quicker time to an alternative permanent plan.
Posted June 1st, 2006 at 1:24 pm by Lynlee.
Filed under General.
Comments RSS
| Trackback