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18 Volume 18, Number 2
Features 10
Addressing Secondary Traumatic Stress Emerging approaches in child welfare.
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March/April 2009
Assessing Abandonment A decade after the first law, are safe havens solving problems or creating them?
Departments 5 Leadership Lens 6 Spotlight On 8 National Newswire 15 Down to Earth Dad A father’s financial stress can affect his children.
30 ‘They Are All Our Children’
17 Exceptional Children: Navigating Learning Differences and Special Education
How a worker’s dedication and agency’s flexibility can expand rural adoptions.
Parents can encourage social and emotional intelligence in children with learning differences.
34 CWLA Short Takes
ManagementMatters
36 End Notes 38 One On One
Supporting the Female Lead
A conversation with Nadine Harris, CWLA’s Chief Financial Officer
Lessons from and for CWLA agencies on helping the women on staff.
Advertisers Index 16
Association for Childhood Education International
25
Child Care Exchange
4 40
Child Welfare Journal Subscription
14
CWLA Management Consultation
33
CWLA Membership
39
CWLA White House Conference
29 2
page COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF STACY SILL
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Child Welfare Journal Special Issue
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Furniture Concepts Handel Information Technologies University of Virginia School of Nursing
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Children’s Voice Emily Shenk
Editor-in-Chief
Meghan Williams
Contributing Editor
Marlene Saulsbury
Art Director
Tim Murren
Graphic Designer
Karen Dunn
Advertising, 703-412-2416
By publishing a diverse range of views on a wide array of topics, Children’s Voice seeks to encourage public discussion and debate among those who are committed to helping children and families. Articles and advertising published in Children’s Voice do not necessarily reflect the views of CWLA or its member agencies and do not represent an endorsement of opinions, products, or services. Children’s Voice (ISSN 1057-736X) is published bimonthly by CWLA. Annual Subscriptions: US and Canada: $34.97; Single copies: $15. Foreign: $64.97; Single copies: $18. To subscribe: Call 800-407-6273 or 770-280-4164; fax 703-412-3194; e-mail order@cwla.org; order online at www.cwla.org/pubs; or mail to CWLA, PO Box 345, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-9834. Missing Issues: Nonreceipt of any issue of Children’s Voice must be reported within 12 months of publication or the single-copy price, plus postage, will be charged to replace the issue. Address Corrections: Send corrected address labels to Children’s Voice at the address below. Permissions: For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from Children’s Voice, contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers MA 01923; 978-750-8400; www.copyright.com. Copyright 2009 CWLA. All Rights Reserved. Children’s Voice is a registered trademark of CWLA. CWLA is the nation’s oldest and largest membershipbased child welfare organization. We are committed to engaging people everywhere in promoting the wellbeing of children, youth, and their families and protecting every child from harm.
CWLA 2345 Crystal Drive, Suite 250 Arlington VA 22202 Phone 703-412-2400 Fax 703-412-2401 E-mail voice@cwla.org Visit www.cwla.org ■
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Ross E. Wales
Board Chair
Christine James-Brown President and CEO Terri Braxton
Vice President of Business Development and Publications
A list of staff in CWLA service areas is available on the Internet at www.cwla.org/whowhat/serviceareas.asp.
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A special issue of Child Welfare: Mental Health Practice Guidelines for Child Welfare: Context for Reform Vol. 88, No. 1, 2009 The 2007 Guidelines for Mental Health in Child Welfare are published in this special issue of Child Welfare. Developed at the 2007 Best Practices for Mental Health in Child Welfare Consensus Conference, organized by The REACH Institute, with support from Casey Family Programs and The Annie E. Casey Foundation, these guidelines provide expert recommendations for child welfare stakeholders on mental health screening and assessment, psychosocial interventions, psychopharmacological interventions, parent support, and youth empowerment. Order now from CWLA at www.cwla.org/pubs or call 1-800-407-6237. $30.00
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LeadershipLens Christine James-Brown
hen I worked in Philadelphia, their jobs as well as they would like. I used to pass a hotel every According to a 2005 survey, the average day on my way to work. caseload size for a child protective Over the employee entrance, a sign worker was 26.3, more than twice the read: “Our most valuable assets pass CWLA-recommended 12 active cases through these doors every day.” In per month. The average minimum the child welfare system it is certainly salary for a caseworker was approxitrue that employees—particularly, mately $32,000 in 2004; the median caseworkers— are a very valuable income for a family of four in the U.S. asset. Our common sense tells us this was approximately $75,000. In a situais true, and research supports it. The tion where children need consistency in Child and Family Service Reviews the relationship with their caseworker, have demonstrated that the more time dangerous work environments, large a caseworker spends with a child and caseload sizes, low salaries, and other family, the better the outcomes. factors lead to high worker turnover Despite caseworkers’ role in helprates. This ultimately results in insuffiing our most vulnerable children and cient services for children and families. families, they are not fully appreciated. The article by Julie Collins Kathleen Belanger’s article (“They Are (“Addressing Secondary Traumatic All Our Children,” page 30) illustrates Stress,” page 10) highlights the trauma the critical role that that many casechild welfare workworkers face when We also have a responsibility they are exposed ers play in the lives of the families and to children and to improve the image of the children that they families in trauchild welfare system and to serve. Whenever ma. We have long increase the level of respect I hear current or recognized secand recognition for its most former foster youth ondary traumatic important asset — the child talk about their stress as it relates welfare worker. experiences in the to the medical child welfare sysprofession and tem, it is almost always a caseworker firefighters. It is time that this is recogwho made a lasting impact—good or nized and addressed as it relates to bad—on their lives. child welfare workers. Caseworkers, especially those responAn April 9, 2000, Washington Post sible for child protective services, frearticle by April Witt focused on the criquently go into dangerous situations, sis in child welfare hiring resulting from where they are all too often viewed the then-thriving economy. In the artias the enemy. These brave, caring peocle, Witt described the day-to-day danple are sometimes very young and ger and challenge of being a caseworker almost always underpaid and underand said “the result is a national shortage trained, without enough resources to do of child abuse investigators, exacerbated
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by a boom economy, that has left public agencies throughout the region scrambling to hire and keep skilled child welfare workers.” It seems that vulnerable children and families just can’t catch a break. Rather than a boom economy, we are experiencing a crisis economy that is also likely to have a negative impact on having enough well-paid, well-trained, well-supported caseworkers. As part of its advocacy agenda, CWLA clearly has the responsibility to enhance the public policy environment in support of positive outcomes for vulnerable children and families. But we also have a responsibility to improve the image of the child welfare system and to increase the level of respect and recognition for its most important asset—the child welfare worker. The community meetings held in connection with the planned White House Conference will provide an excellent opportunity to bring the nation’s attention to the critical role the child welfare worker plays. During this time of economic hardship, it is important to remember that our child welfare workers are experiencing even greater challenges and stress. Many of them are dealing with their own personal financial pressure at the same time that their agencies and clients are experiencing the same thing. We have to do all that we can to support child welfare workers. It is the right thing to do—for their own well-being, and because their well-being is a critical factor in advancing improved outcomes for our most vulnerable children and families.
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Our Kids
Caseworkers Go Digital in South Florida Throughout the process, Our Kids held a dozen focus n South Florida, the digital transition has already groups with social workers and supervisors to ensure the fibegun—in fact, in Miami-Dade and Monroe counnal product would fit their needs. The feedback opportunities ties, it’s already complete. But this digital transition doesn’t didn’t end there. With each scanned page of the report, the have anything to do with television broadcast signals; it’s all system included a button to click if the document was illegiabout helping caseworkers at CWLA member agency Our ble or misfiled. And after the system was set up and the OK Kids go paperless. Connect mobile devices were handed out, Our Kids planned Our Kids has put 250 mobile devices into the hands of ahead. “We had to augment the number of people we had caseworkers as part of OK Connect, one piece of a threeworking in our help desk section,” Allegra says. “We had to prong project. Each “device” is actually two things: a lightmake sure that there was enough support and connectivity.” weight Panasonic laptop and a Samsung BlackJack cell phone that together make social workers’ jobs more efficient. They can access all their case files and make updates from the field. Fran Allegra, executive director of Our Kids, explained the project began with “the desire to give caseworkers wireless, ubiquitous access to these files.” Our Kids wanted to put “21st Century, off-the-shelf technology in their hands.” An additional motive was to get all of Our Kids’ workers on the same page technologically. Our Kids is something of a supergroup agency, an umbrella organization that oversees several direct-service agencies in MiamiDade and Monroe counties. Each one had different policies: not all agencies provided phones for their caseworkers. The OK Connect initiative leveled the playing field. OK Connect was actually the second step of the project. Before social workers could access case files from the field, those files Icier Ladder and Keenan Knight, caseworkers from the Family Resource Center, one of Our Kids, had to be put in an online database. Allegra Inc.’s agencies. described the massive scope of that undertakThe laptops and phones are very secure: “They’re all ing, scanning 3.5 million pieces of paper. “That’s 15,000 volencrypted, all Lojacked, they can be remotely disabled,” umes of records in four different file rooms located across Allegra explained. Access to the online database of case files is two counties,” she says. “We scanned it and created a nice, password-protected for appropriate users, which has recently very friendly interface. Where you click on a child’s name, expanded to include the attorneys on staff at the Department you will see it all pathed and laid out like it was a paper file.” of Children and Families. Allegra continued that it took about two years to organize, With Xora software from AT&T, the network for the six months to scan, and three months to build the interface 3G wireless BlackJack phones, social workers can upload for the documents. 6
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF OUR KIDS, INC.
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information directly into Florida’s statewide automatic child welfare information system (SACWIS). “We configured it to tie into our SACWIS system,” Allegra says. “When they go to take a picture of a child—which is required at certain intervals—the software will actually call up your client list.” The photo and information about it, including where and when it was taken, is automatically uploaded without any extra input from the caseworker. Linking to SACWIS has created some drawbacks, however. Allegra says that there are limitations on which material Florida’s SACWIS can accept electronically. “We want to take
this much farther with a lot of things,” she says. “We’re ready right now to go to electronic forms…the home visit form being one of them, the judicial review form being another. We would like to go to as much automation as possible.” The third part of the project, still ongoing, is called OK At Home. This provides personal computers to foster homes, complete with age-appropriate tutoring software from Houghton-Mifflin and high speed Internet connections through AT&T. Allegra is proud to be part of this multifaceted digital revolution, and hopes to take it further in southern Florida while inspiring others throughout the state and the rest of the country to take advantage of the available technology. “We just want to keep pushing the envelope to bring more technology into this field,” Allegra says. Governor Charlie Crist visited Our Kids to learn about the program, and in last year’s State of the State address he said that more nonrecurring state funds could be used for similar initiatives.
Learning to Heal
Recognizing Differences
Safe at HomeBase
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently highlighted CWLA member the Family Resource Center and its therapeutic preschool, which provides a place for young victims of abuse and neglect to heal and learn. In 2007, 40% of the 6, 576 children substantiated as abused or neglected in Missouri were under age 5. The 35-year-old school serves about a dozen of these children at a time, and four instructors and two therapists work with them for at least six months. Many are able to enroll in regular preschool or kindergarten after their time learning and playing. Visit www.frcmo.org for more information.
The Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network (JASMYN) planned a training session for Duval County, Florida, foster care workers to help understand young people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. JASMYN provides free health services to at-risk and homeless youth, ages 13 to 23; about 260 of 400 youth served by JASMYN reported having been in the child welfare system in the past. CWLA member Family Support Services of North Florida, Inc., a lead agency in Duval County, and other representatives of a task force were helping to organize the event.
HomeBase Youth Services in Phoenix recently underwent a $6 million renovation, updating an apartment complex turned into dorm-style housing for the area’s at-risk youth, The Arizona Republic reported. Volunteers from the nonprofit agency participate in a streetoutreach program and help homeless youth get set up at HomeBase. Funding for the program comes mostly from philanthropists and businesses. Founded in 1991, the agency serves 1,300 youth each year, teaching them strategies that help them shift from a day-to-day survivalist view to one that emphasizes education and work. Visit www.hbys.org or call 602-263-7773 to learn more about HomeBase. www.cwla.org
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NationalNewswire News Childrenʼs Issues in the News
Arkansas ACLU Continues Suit Against Act 1
PHOTO COURTESY OF ACLU
Arkansas Family Council drafted the ballot initiative, Last November, Arkansas voters were faced with revising it once to assure its certification. Proposed Initiative Act No. 1, the Unmarried Couple “This law hurts families and children in many Adoption Ban. The act, which provides “that an individways,” Rita Sklar, executive director of the Arkansas ual who is cohabiting outside of a valid marriage may chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), not adopt or be a foster parent of a child,” passed with said. “It takes away parents’ right to decide for them57% of the vote. Although the text of the act asserts that selves who will adopt their children if they die, it denies it applies equally to same-sex and heterosexual couples the many children in Arkansas state care a chance at living together outside of marriage, the Arkansas gay the largest possible pool of and lesbian community feels potential foster and adoptive particularly targeted. homes, and denies couples Single people who are not who are living together but living with a sexual partner unmarried the chance to are still allowed to adopt provide loving homes to and foster, and the prohibichildren who desperately tion does not apply to the need them.” guardianship of children. With a host of plaintiffs But there are no exceptions: from families who will be the law covers adoptions and affected by the law, the fostering through the state Arkansas ACLU brought suit and private agencies, prevents in Pulaski County Circuit second-parent adoption for Court on December 30 to the biological children of challenge the constitutionality LGBT parents, and does not of the law. The suit is Cole, favor kin caregivers if they are Sheila Cole, left, hopes to adopt her granddaughter with her partner et al. v. Arkansas, et al. On its part of an unmarried couple. Jennifer Owens. website, the ACLU profiles The new initiative’s history several of the families who hope that by sharing their traces back to a policy of the Arkansas Child Welfare stories, they will garner more support to overturn Act 1. Agency Review Board that prevented gay people from Sheila Cole, the lead plaintiff, lives in Tulsa, serving as foster parents. After seven years of fighting Oklahoma, with her partner. She would like to adopt through the courts, the state Supreme Court struck down her granddaughter, who is in the Arkansas foster the ban unanimously, writing, “There is no correlation care system, and has taken foster parent classes with between the health, welfare, and safety of foster chilOklahoma’s Department of Human Services and passed dren and the blanket exclusion of any individual who a home study. is a homosexual or who resides in a household with a Stephanie Huffman and Wendy Rickman are raising homosexual.” That decision prompted an unsuccessful attempt to ban same-sex adoption or fostering with a two sons together, one of whom is 7-year-old with spebill in the Arkansas legislature. Deciding to bypass the cial needs whom they adopted from the state system five legislature and put the question to the state’s voters, the years ago. They are interested in adopting more children.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ACLU
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Cary and Trina Kelley hoped to adopt as well, of Fayetteville have two but cannot because she daughters, ages 2 and 4. and Alan are not married. They live across the road The ACLU and two from Cary’s mother, other law firms are repVickie, and her partner, resenting the plaintiffs Sophia. The family has on behalf of the ACLU experienced loss: Cary Foundation of Arkansas. was a passenger in a car More information about accident that killed his the case and more detailed brother. Recognizing how profiles on the plaintiffs quickly circumstances can be found at www.aclu. can change, Cary and org/lgbt/parenting/38199 Trina would like the secures 20081230.html. rity of knowing Vickie The Arkansas Attorney and Sophia could adopt General’s office is defendCary and Trina Kelley, back, with their daughters and Cary’s mother Vickie, their daughters if anying Act 1 in court. The front left, and her partner, Sophia. Cary and Trina want Sophia and Vickie, thing happened to them. Arkansas Family Council, who live across the street, to be able to raise their daughters if they are Trina spent much of her who drafted the proposed unable to. childhood in state care initiative, recently joined and wants her daughters to be in a loving home with the defense with their Action Committee. To learn their grandmother. about the group, visit www.familycouncil.org. Kaytee Wright and Alan Leveritt live in Cabot and The Division of Children & Family Services in have been together five years, but do not want to marry. Arkansas’ Department of Human Services is a CWLA They both help raise Alan’s daughter from a previous member. For information about the division, visit marriage. Kaytee was adopted from state care, and had www.arkansas.gov/dhs/chilnfam/index.htm.
LOUISIANA
OHIO
SOUTH CAROLINA
A recent Associated Press report explores “some innovation” in Louisiana’s juvenile justice system. CWLA’s juvenile justice specialists have been working with Rapides and Jefferson parishes, where only a quarter of youth in the system face “true delinquent” charges, according to research from the University of New Orleans. The goal is to get truancy and other nonviolent offenses dealt with outside of the courtroom. A new Neighborhood Accountability Board in Alexandria (Rapides Parish) will replace judges for minor, firstoffense cases. This method could save the parish more than $3 million per offender, if it manages to lower the rate of subsequent offenses.
When Janice Taylor was reunified with her children, she was showered with confetti. The celebration was from Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court’s Family Drug Court, which helped her get sober after 20 years and regain custody of her six children. The program was highlighted in Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer. Participants are mostly single mothers who have lost custody of their children because of drug abuse. A team of social workers and lawyers choose participants who haven’t had success with more traditional child welfare services. The 10-year-old program is funded with a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The Young Lawyers Division of the South Carolina Bar is increasing adoption awareness with the Families Forever Project. So far this year, the YLD has held two “Family Fairs” to educate families about foster care and adoption, and encourage them to participate. The group, composed of lawyers under 36, helps children in other ways as part of their service to the public: the Cinderella Project solicits donations of gently worn formal gowns for economically disadvantaged high school students; a credit education course teaches students basic principles of money management; and a backpack drive donates school supplies to needy children.
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Addressing Secondary
Traumatic Stress Emerging approaches in child welfare By Julie Collins
thought I was doing well as a child welfare supervisor of one of the highest-risk areas in Ottawa, Canada. But that changed when I began having dreams—nightmares, really. As a manger for a unit of 10 child and family workers, I was struggling with cases that I could not assign. The workers had at least 30 cases already, many of which were extremely challenging. As I began having the repeating nightmare, I took it as a warning sign to get the cases assigned and badgered my director to get other units to take the cases. But every night for two weeks, I had the same nightmare. I would see a young child around age 2 being sexually abused. It made me feel incompetent, because I could not stop it from happening. I would wake myself up, and then sit for hours with the images repeating in my mind. I did not share them with anyone, as I felt they were a reflection of weakness and inability to cope. Shaken by the nightmares and the intense situation at work, I found it difficult to stay focused. When I finally transferred the last case, I thought the nightmare would end, but it happened again that night. When I went to work the next morning, I found out that a toddler had been brutally abused and murdered, then placed in a trash bin. The victim was part of an open case in another unit, but was the biological child of a mother in an open case in our unit—one that we had been intensely monitoring. What followed was an extremely difficult period of time for the already overwhelmed staff. As I have become familiar with literature on the effects of exposure to traumatic stress, I wish I would have known about it at that time. This situation had a significant impact on me, particularly because it touched my own early traumatic experiences. Many years later,
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I still cannot speak about the circumstances of the death of this child without my eyes welling up. But I am not alone. While there has been little research of the effects of exposure to trauma specifically on the population of child welfare workers, a recent survey was done with a sample of workers in the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) office in New York City as part of a collaboration between ACS and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM). The study found that one week after what workers identified as their most distressing work-related event, 60% reported clinically significant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Of that 60%, half the workers continued to experience clinically significant PTSD symptoms an average of 2.15 years later. The study demonstrated that exposure to traumatic stressors is frequent for CPS workers and can cause persistent distress.
Learning More About Secondary Traumatic Stress Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) is the result of exposure to trauma experienced by others, generally within a workplace context. Symptoms of STS are often indistinguishable from
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those found in individuals as a response to a traumatic event they experienced directly. Listening to stories or reading documents describing a traumatic event can have an impact. According to Chris Siegfried, Network Liaison at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network-UCLA, symptoms of STS include “fatigue or illness, cynicism, irritability, reduced productivity, feelings of hopelessness, anger, despair, sadness, feelings of re-experiencing the event, nightmares, anxiety, avoidance of people and activities, or persistent anger and sadness.” First responders from other fields, such as firefighters and emergency response workers, have been shown to experience STS as a result of their work. “Such experts as [Brian] Bride view STS as an occupational hazard of providing direct services to traumatized populations,” says Siegfried. Through the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the federal government has been putting resources into the study of the impact of trauma and treatment modalities that work. The NCTSN has a wealth of information and resources that could be helpful to the child welfare field on evidence-based and promising treatment approaches for traumatized children. A core component of these approaches is building the resilience of the child. This same concept of building resilience skills is being used to help those experiencing STS.
and to create lower morale and less effective workers, which can then result in poorer outcomes for children and families,” says Erika Tullberg, Assistant Commissioner for the New York City ACS, a CWLA member agency, and Children’s Trauma Institute Co-Director. “One of the reasons child case workers prematurely leave their jobs is thought to be exposure to STS,” says Siegfried. “As Beth Hudnell-Stamm has pointed out, feelings of professional isolation, larger case loads, and frequent contact with traumatized people can exacerbate effects of STS.” Professional isolation has been identified as a major risk factor for developing STS. “Traumatic stress can make staff ashamed about their strong reactions and uncomfortable about burdening colleagues or loved ones with their pain,” says Siegfried. While the workforce crisis has prompted much study about issues such as recruitment and retention, burnout, lack of supervisory support, workload, and training, less attention has been given to STS and its impact on the workforce and the organization as a whole. This is changing slowly, however, as exciting work has begun to address this gap.
What Is Needed?
CWLA recently reached out to a sample of public child welfare agencies to obtain a better understanding of what they are doing regarding STS. Of the 25 states responding, there seemed to be a growing recognition among them that STS is “STS is one of the most pervasive and influential factors in an issue, but there is a definite gap between this recognition child welfare, and yet few recognize its impact on the nature and what is being done of the work, the ability in practice. Of the small of people to stay and group of states doing prosper in the field, and Current Practices STS-related work, most the world view of the focus on providing crisis people who labor every CWLA recently reached out to 32 states about the importance response and debriefday to serve this nation’s of addressing secondary trauma among their workers. ings after a major event, children,” says Charles ■ Most states reported that they have no protocol to address such as the death of a Wilson, Director at the this issue, and are only providing debriefings after major worker or a death on Chadwick Center for crisis events and/or offering Employee Assistance an open case, or offering Children and Families Programs (EAPs). Employee Assistance in San Diego, California, ■ Some states reported that they provide one-time trainings Programs (EAPs). An which is part of the to caseworkers on what secondary trauma is, how to even smaller number NCTSN. “Child welfare recognize it, and prevention tools for individuals to use. indicated they were prois in the business of ■ Few states reported a multileveled systems change viding a one-time traintrauma and needs to be approach that included numerous supervisory and ing on what STS is and taking care of its workcaseworker trainings, ongoing support groups, debriefings how to recognize it, force to address this.” after major crisis events, and individual supports such as along with prevention Child welfare workEAPs and one-on-one supervisory support. tools. There were only a ers are particularly at few that indicated they risk for developing STS, were providing support since they are exposed groups or working towards a multileveled systemic approach. daily to people who have experienced trauma while trying to In reaching out to some of the key individuals delivering meet the often onerous administrative requirements of their training and providing consultation to public agencies job. “STS is believed to lead workers to use more sick leave,
Why This Matters for Child Welfare
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around STS, it is clear that training, or having an EAP program and crisis debriefing, is not enough. The solutions need to be more systemic, with leadership and organizational support. “It needs to be a multileveled response that addresses the physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological wellbeing of the staff,” says Michael Schultz, Director of Special Review and Staff Support at the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. Tullberg echoes these sentiments. “The agencies need to take ownership of addressing the impact and equipping the workers to be able to effectively manage, given the reality of the exposure to STS. This should not be an issue that an individual worker needs to solve themselves,” she says.
What Is Being Done? The Resilience Alliance Project
Claude Chemtob, CTI Co-Director and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at MSSM. The average person does not get exposed to traumatic circumstances as frequently as child welfare workers. “Such toxic levels of exposure are considered the nature of their work and an occupational stress,” Chemtob says. The approach focuses on preventing the effects of STS by building on the resilience of workers. The skills-focused resilience intervention, developed by Chemtob and his colleagues, uses three prisms to view CPS work. The first is optimism, where workers are provided with skills to focus on the best possible outcomes and reframe challenging situations positively. Increasing optimism offsets negativity associated with recurrent trauma exposure. The second prism, mastery, focuses skills to regulate negative emotions associated with child protection work and promotes self-care. The third prism, collaboration, encourages mutual support between workers, supervisors, and clients together toward the best interest of the child. Tullberg emphasizes that the resilience approach provides workers with the skills to deal with job-related stress proactively. “The project is helpful because it lets you know that you are not the only one dealing with stressful situations pertaining to the job,” says one participant. “It gives the person hope that maybe things will improve because someone else has experienced it and they are still here.”
The ACS-MSSM Children’s Trauma Institute (CTI) has been working to develop a comprehensive response to appropriately address STS in child welfare workers. A recent NCTSN grant through SAMHSA, as well as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Programs, and ACS, has enabled CTI to build on previous work regarding the impact of trauma from the events of September 11, 2001, on New York City’s child welfare staff. CTI has developed resilience-focused interventions integrated into child welfare practice, while scientifically evaluating their effectiveness. “The Resilience Alliance Project was developed to address STS and reduce attrition among Child Get Involved Protective Services staff,” says Tullberg. “What The Resilience Alliance we have found is that child welfare is a stressed Project is currently looking system—staff stress, client stress, and managefor other sites willing ment stress—all related to trauma.” They found to rigorously test and workers were impacted on many levels, such as implement their approach. an overall loss of perspective, impacting the For more information, ability of workers to assess safety and risk, discontact Claude Chemtob trust among colleagues and supervisors, increased at claude.chemtob@ absenteeism, decreased motivation, and increased exchange.mssm.edu or attrition. Tullberg indicated that systemic presErika Tullberg at erika. sures can exacerbate these responses, resulting tullberg@dfa.state.ny.us. in a negative feedback loop. “Often the proposed solutions to poor casework practice such as training, new protocols, and increased oversight exacerbate the problem as much as they “The impact of STS over time tends to break down the help,” she says. ability of workers to collaborate and work together. People To address these issues, the Resilience Alliance Project exposed to trauma have a harder time coming together focuses on decreasing stress on the worker through enhancfor a common purpose in the face of stress and danger,” ing resilience skills and increasing social support. “Our Chemtob says. The results from this pilot indicate that parintervention seeks to provide skills that have the effect of ticipating staff had significantly greater optimism, more a ‘psychological Hazmat suit’ for child welfare staff,” says job satisfaction, were better able to handle stress, had less 12
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burnout, decreased attrition among new workers, and had fewer overdue cases. Anecdotal feedback from supervisors indicates that workers who had done the intervention had a higher quality of work than those who had not. The intervention was done as a parallel process for new workers and supervisors. Supervisors received the same materials and sessions as the workers, but practiced the skill-building activities in relation to their supervisory work. “We found that supervisors had similar levels of distress as the workers,” says Rohini Luthra, a Psychologist and Clinical Instructor at the Child and Family Resilience Program at MSSM. This project indicates that targeted interventions can reduce STS effects on individual and occupational dimensions, but interventions require administrative and leadership-level support as well as staff-level buy-in. From CTI’s post-September 11 work, they learned that doing three to four trauma sessions without providing skills and follow-up was not enough. As a result, the Resilience Alliance Project includes 12 sessions of prevention intervention, and workers are provided with booster sessions as a follow-up. According to Tullberg, the Resilience Alliance has become part of their office and way of working. There has been such a positive response from participants in the pilot program that workers throughout the department have asked to receive the prevention intervention. “[The project] has taught me to deal constructively with daily challenges as an ACS worker, to be more flexible and open to change,” says one participant. The current goal is to make this available to all ACS workers.
Connecticut Department of Children and Families The Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) is another CWLA member agency addressing STS among child welfare staff, with the help of a Children’s Bureau workforce grant the department received around retention. According to DCF’s Schultz, a licensed psychologist, DCF has focused its efforts on both training and organizational-level infrastructure that provide supports to address the impact of STS. The DCF Training Academy and the Division of Special Reviews and Staff Support have teamed to put together a training and support package to deal with work-related stress for child welfare workers, supervisors, and support staff. “We focus our training on helping workers know what [work-related stress resulting from STS] is, and what the signs are and effective ways to protect themselves,” Schultz says. He points out that they use the language of work-related stress rather than trauma, as workers respond better. He reports that the approach focuses on empowerment
and wellness to reduce the effects of STS, burnout, and compassion fatigue. By drawing on the research and learning from participants, they have developed an approach that teaches strategies on three levels: professional, personal, and organizational. The key professional strategies are described as the “ABCs”: awareness, balance, and connection. Participants learn to recognize STS as an occupational hazard; focus their empathy on strengths and resilience; fully utilize supervision; build an internal support team; limit exposure to traumatic material outside of work; and acknowledge the importance of aligning their choice of workplace with their professional values. Personal strategies include nurturing healthy relationships outside of work; seeking activities that instill beauty, comfort, hope, meaning, and joy; being aware of the individual’s threshold; learning to respond rather than react; and focusing on self-care and self-nurturing activities. Organizational strategies require management and leadership buy-in, which sends the message that the agency recognizes the hazards of the job. Organizational strategies reflective of this are having balanced caseloads for workers; cultivating a team-oriented working environment of competency, safety,
Guardians of children of parental homicide If you are taking care of children after the homicide of one of their parents by the other, you may be able to participate in our research study. Nurses at the University of Virginia, School of Nursing are conducting a study to test a support and information website for guardians of children following the homicide of one parent by the other parent. People who participate in the study will answer questions about themselves and one of the children in their care three times over four months. In addition, they will receive information about internet resources for guardians and possibly participate in internet activities over a period of 4 months. Some people will also take part in telephone interviews. All information obtained will be confidential. Everyone who participate will receive up to $120 (total amount varies). For more information, contact the Kathryn Laughon Barbara Parker or Richard Steeves by toll free phone: 866-934-3386 or by email: guardianhelp@virginia.edu. SBS Approval Number: # 2008-0130-00
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and trust; providing effective and respectful supervision and consultation; cultivating healthy community partnerships and joining in actions to prevent abuse and neglect; and offering access to flexible scheduling and adequate vacation, sick time, and personal leave for workers to deal with stress. The department already has many of these strategies in place. Schultz reports that they have been conducting qualitative analysis, which they use to revise their overall approach. As in an effective therapeutic intervention, DCF has participants evaluate as they go along to make sure that what is being provided is addressing their needs. They use this feedback and qualitative analysis to refine what is being done and inform senior leadership regarding organizational supports needed. Supervisory staff receive summary reports of the feedback, detailing recommended actions that participants believe would enhance the working environment. The Connecticut DCF has been building a multileveled systemic approach to addressing STS through such efforts as adding materials on STS to the pre-service training for all new staff, team-building forums, special training for supervisory staff, special sessions for past and present military and a DCF Military Impact Awareness Team that offers support and education, mentoring programs for new staff, and a statewide Worker Support and Threat Assessment Team.
Going Forward As initiatives like these take hold within each child welfare system, it will be interesting to see what the overall impact will be for retaining their workforce and how that might improve outcomes for children and families. With this national focus of the importance of addressing STS, there is greater potential for the broader child welfare field to realize the importance of a multileveled systemic approach towards building a resilient workforce. Jaime Dohn, a former CWLA intern, contributed to this article. Julie Collins is CWLA’s Director of Practice Excellence.
Additional Resources The NCTSN website has many helpful resources and can be found at http://www.nctsn.org/nccts/ nav.do?pid=hom_main. The Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit (2008) can be found at http://www. nctsn.org/nccts/nav. do?pid=ctr_cwtool.
CWLA MANAGEMENT CONSULTATION When you need expert guidance and support in the areas of communication, group facilitation, planning, program administration, research design, or analysis, call CWLA, the nation’s leading child welfare organization. Our diverse team of experts has the resources and know-how you need as a CEO or manager. With decades of experience as direct-service social workers, administrators and CEOs, planners, and researchers, CWLA consultants draw on our vast resources to stay abreast of practice innovations, legislative changes, and promising program and management models. CWLA provides in-person and over-the-phone consultation in areas like
When Experience Matters
• crisis management; • developing and implementing program improvement plans; • implementing and evaluating practice decisionmaking tools; • evaluating programs, agencies, and systems; • facilitating systems integration; • marketing and customer service; • strategic planning; • fundraising; • board orientation and development; • leadership development; and • continuous quality improvement. As a benefit of membership, CWLA private and public agency members, except Supporting Advocates, are eligible for 24 hours of consultation annually. Additional consultation is available at a discount. For information on becoming a member, go to www.cwla.org/members.
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For more information, contact CWLA at www.cwla.org/consultation. 703-412-2400 • Fax 703-412-2401 • 2345 Crystal Drive, Suite 250 • Arlington, VA 22202
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DownToEarthDad Patrick Mitchell
Downturn Dads
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he depressed economy has not only let the air out of family bank accounts, dads’ and moms’ paychecks, and people’s financial outlook on the near future; in fact, it has just plain depressed many parents. That, in turn, means more children than usual are vulnerable to feeling blue, since stress in families tends to roll downhill—from parents to their kids—if left unchecked. Lawrence Balter PhD, professor in the department of applied psychology at New York University, spoke to me recently about the potential effects of the recession on children and families: “Financial stress can result in some anxiety, and in some people, more than anxiety; it can lead to depression and despondency.” Then he told me something less obvious which, as a dad who had begun feeling a twinge of the financial blues himself, I really needed to hear: “One thing to watch out for is how your own distress, when there are financial problems, causes you to behave around your family. Feeling anxious, feeling blue, feeling down— that will effect your interaction with the people around you. If you’re feeling blue, your mood may tend to be un-engaging…and you’re not going to be much fun to be around.” Yes, feeling down about the economy may be a very natural response to a bad situation, but at the same time, a parent mustn’t overlook the impact that their blue financial mood may have on their kids, he said. Child-and-family-serving program practitioners interact with a
good number of struggling children and families on a regular basis. Now, however, with the changing economic landscape, some program directors and staffs are having to redefine who their at-risk population of parents and children is, due to rapidly changing income demographics. More than ever, families need help from caring professionals who can provide good information, including information on how to shield one’s children from adult financial stressors. “Parents want to do their best, but they need reliable information and support to do so,” says Balter, who suggests that parents remind their children they are valued by spending ample time with them during times of stress, resisting the urge to withdraw. “If kids see their fathers being grouchy and wanting to be left alone, one of the potential trouble spots would be that [your children] are feeling rejected— that you’re not interested in them— and this can make them feel insecure,” he says. He suggests telling parents to talk openly with their children— within reason, and only providing age-appropriate information—about the family’s financial situation. How much should a parent tell their kids about their financial worries? The best plan is to tell the truth, giving only as much information as they need in order to understand how they’ll be personally affected. “The way you convey the information has to be tailored to their age,” says Balter. “Younger children sometimes look at family spending cutbacks as punishment. [Younger children] didn’t do anything wrong, and now they feel they’re being deprived of
something they want. Older children will understand the fact that everybody has to tighten their belts.” Elementary and middle school children “understand what’s going on. They might start to wonder, ‘What’s going to happen to me?’ ‘Are we going to have to move?’ ‘Are my parents going to sell the house?’ Older teenagers might be asked to pitch in a little bit…perhaps they can pick up a part-time job. It depends on how dire the circumstances are. You don’t want to upset the kids needlessly; it’s not their responsibility to support the family,” says Balter. “Let the children know what steps you’re taking to remedy what the problems are, and keep them apprised of activities as you try to piece together solutions to the problem.” And above all, notes Balter, parents need to remember this: “Those are your [financial] problems and you need to deal with them as best you can.” Otherwise, he cautions, “Your children might inherit your stress.” regular contributor to Children’s Voice, Patrick Mitchell publishes a monthly newsletter, The Down to Earth Dad, and facilitates the National Dads Matter!™ Project for child- and family-serving organizations. He provides keynote addresses and trainings, and conducts Family Storytelling Night™ events for programs and schools. To reserve Patrick Mitchell for speaking engagements, or to implement the National Dads Matter!™ Project for your families and community partners, call him toll-free at 877-282-DADS, or e-mail him at patrick@downtoearthdad.org. Website: www.DownToEarthDad.org.
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ExceptionalChildren Navigating Learning Differences & Special Education Ellen Notbohm
Encouraging Social and Emotional Intelligence
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ould that there were a better way, but before a child receives services related to his learning difference through the public school system or other social service agencies, he or she is subjected to a barrage of evaluations that will include an intelligence quotient (IQ) test. This test of cognitive and verbal IQ is not standardized to any type of
learning disability. Many parents, caregivers, and service providers will find the results to be a wildly inaccurate reflection of the actual abilities the child demonstrates in “real life.” This is only the beginning; throughout a child’s education, he will be tested to gnat’s eye on reading, writing, math, and other supposedly
measurable gauges of his learning and growth. But it’s likely that much less emphasis will be placed on his social and emotional intelligence. And social and emotional intelligence is very possibly a bigger determinant in a child’s long-term success in life than cognitive intelligence. Many children with learning differences experience significant deficits in the skills embodied in what is called Theory of Mind: executive function (time management, planning, ability to focus and attend, memory management); critical thinking (sorting, comparing/contrasting, applying concepts, information, and ideas); and social pragmatics (ability to take the perspective of another person, initiate and sustain interactions, problemsolve interpersonal disagreements). Lack of these skills is more likely to get us fired from a job or evicted from an apartment than is an average IQ. We’ve come a long way from just a few decades ago, when it was thought that many children with learning differences were “retarded.” Now it is time to take the position that teaching social and emotional skills is as much a priority as is cognitive learning. We begin by defining the components of socialemotional intelligence:
Perspective-taking means being able to identify feelings in both himself and others, understanding and managing the link between his feelings and his words and actions, and experiencing empathy as both the ability to care about another and being able to demonstrate that caring in an appropriate manner. Forming and sustaining relationships requires understanding the context of different relationships and recognizing that all relationships are matters of degree. It includes the skills needed to be able to learn and work as part of a group. Managing feelings and moods, especially negative ones, means being able to deal with anger, jealousy, grief, hatred, embarrassment, resentment, boredom, or fear proactively, and learning to recognize and control impulsivity. Opportunities to teach children to develop social and emotional intelligence are all around, all the time. They come from our own personal experiences and from the events that unfold in our community and the world at large. They can be gleaned from stories and books we read and from movies, TV shows, and commercials. It is never too soon to start; in fact, teaching social competence from as early an age as possible is imperative. There are many ways to weave social-emotional awareness into everyday life in a manner that is natural and doesn’t come off as “instruction.” It starts with our own commitment to being a positive role model. Modeling empathy, friendship, continued on page 24
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Assessing
Abandonment A decade after the first law, are safe havens solving problems or creating them? PHOTO COURTESY OF PATSY SUMMEY
By Meghan Williams
Firefighters affix a sign from Baby Moses Dallas, a volunteer group raising awareness of safe haven sites, outside a fire station in Irving, Texas.
t starts with horror stories. Construction workers in Rockville, Maryland, in 2003 heard cries and found a newborn tucked away in the bushes. In Tuskegee, Alabama, in 2006, a baby’s body was found in a roadside trash bag. A few months ago, a 16-year-old in Washington state—reportedly impregnated by a 30-something sex offender—was charged with first-degree murder after giving birth, drowning the baby, and putting her son’s body in the trash. These events grab headlines—and attention—in the communities where they happen and beyond. There are many ways to respond. But the trend among state legislatures is passing “safe haven” or “Baby Moses” laws, which establish locations where unharmed babies can be left with anonymity and without legal consequences. Texas passed the first law in 1999 after 13 babies were reported abandoned within a 10-month period. Last year, Alaska and Nebraska became the last two states to enact laws. The laws differ across the country: which locations are designated safe havens, what ages of babies are accepted, how parents are legally protected, and whether they are asked to provide health information. Many of the early laws do not provide funding for awareness campaigns, and are only mentioned in coverage of stories like those above. Most of the groundwork is done by volunteer groups, like Baby Moses Dallas, formed by members of a Christian drama troupe. “We didn’t see anything being done in the area to advertise the law, there were still babies’ bodies being found,” explains Patsy Summey, the group’s program coordinator. Baby Moses Dallas’s first move was to get signs
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made for hospitals and fire stations to identify them as safe haven locations; more than 220 have been posted. The group has also prepared information sessions and public service announcements. “The information needs to be out there, but getting it out there is so piecemeal,” says Summey. Their material has trickled across the state, and requests for more signs keep coming in. Summey recognizes that with no guarantee all unsafely abandoned babies are being found, and no reliable way to keep track of the numbers of those who are found, it’s impossible to judge whether the law and their publicity efforts are effective. But her impression is that things are getting better. “I feel like the law is working, I feel like more people are knowing about it,” she says. “Fewer bodies are being found.”
Unintended Consequences? For Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, impressions are not enough. He decries the lack of research on infant abandonment as a critical failure that precludes a positive conclusion about safe haven laws’ efficacy. He also believes the laws miss the target population, encourage women to anonymously abandon their babies, and create a structure outside the established adoption system. “There’s not a woman in America who is about to put her baby in a Dumpster or in a toilet who is not disturbed in some way,” Pertman asserts. “Women who are in such a horrible place [psychologically] are not likely to be making plans
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to drop off the kid at a safe haven instead of in a Dumpster.” He would like to train people to look for hidden pregnancies, and provide counseling and medical care for these women. The new mothers who do take advantage of safe haven laws, Pertman says, are women drawn by the promise of anonymity. He suspects that safe haven babies would not otherwise have been killed, but would have been adopted through the regular process: their mothers are not avoiding committing murder, but only avoiding completing paperwork. Pertman says there have always been women who give birth in hospitals—where they receive medical care and give medical information—and leave the babies there. When these children move into the adoption system, they go with a background of medical records that help their future families care for them. Although in most states people bringing babies to safe haven sites are asked to answer questions or fill out forms about the child’s medical history, the information is not required, and there’s no chance to get more information later. “This anonymity is not good for anyone in the long run,” Pertman says. The lack of information about the baby’s family also takes a number of better practice options from “normal child welfare” off the table. What if the baby’s father or other kin could raise the child, Pertman wonders? Why are they ignored? Safe havens inadvertently, Pertman thinks, create a parallel adoption system. “In every other realm of practice, we have tried to have more information, more counseling, more background,” he says. “If what we’re trying to do is reinvent the child welfare system, let’s get Evan B. Donaldson and CWLA and others at the table.” Summey contends that safe haven is not a replacement for adoption, but another choice for mothers. Baby Moses Dallas brochures appeal: “If you cannot care for your baby, please consider confidential placement through an adoption agency. If not, please take advantage of the protections of this law.”
The Age Debate Safe haven laws were made for parents who feel they cannot care for their children. Last fall, it became obvious that it’s not only parents of newborns who may feel this way. Nebraska’s LB 157 became effective July 18, and did not include an age limit. In 10 weeks, 36 children were brought to Nebraska hospitals; the youngest was a 1-year-old girl, and the average age was 12.8 years. In response, Governor Dave Heineman called a special session of the legislature, which convened November 14, 2008; a week later he signed LB 1, which set Nebraska’s safe haven age limit at 30 days. Pertman thinks covering children past the newborn stage is inappropriate.
Because many laws were passed after specific incidents of infanticide or unsafe abandonment, the ages of the children involved affected the age limits of the laws. As an example, Ohio revised its law in December, extending the age limit from 3 days to 30 days, partially in response to a mother killing her 28-day-old daughter. A total of 13 states have 3-day (72-hour) limits, while 22 have limits of 30 days or more. Older-limited laws are “not focused any longer on the kids who are at risk,” Pertman says, explaining that babies found abandoned unsafely are almost all newborns. Arnie Stuthman, the state senator from Nebraska’s 22nd district, introduced Nebraska’s original bill, which set an age limit at 3 days. Like others who push for these laws, he was affected by a story of unsafe abandonment. “I have a real interest in these infants and children,” he says. “We had one instance, about 40 miles north of where I live, a baby was left off in a creek bed.” As his bill moved through the legislative process, an amendment changed it, taking out the age limit. There had been discussion about how to determine whether a baby was 72-hours- or 80-hours-old, and a feeling that including any limit might send a message that Nebraska legislators stopped caring about children after a certain age. “The bill that we did pass wasn’t what I really intended it to be,” Stuthman admits, adding that the situation highlighted a need for greater access to services. “It was a blessing that it turned out the way it did,” he says. “It has made the whole United States aware of a problem.” Stuthman points out that the lesson wasn’t applicable only to Nebraska; seven of the children brought to hospitals were from other states. “People will drive 12 hours to drive to get help,” he says. “That state needs to look in the mirror.” Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Matrix of Commonalities of the safe haven cases. Besides having been brought to Nebraska safe haven hospitals, there is only one single characteristic that all 36 children share: all were assessed safe from immediate harm.
Nebraska State Senator Arnie Stuthman.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF TONI HOY
for as long as you need us to be,’” she says. They adopted the Pertman views this as proof for his argument that parents boys after two years. who use safe haven laws would not otherwise hurt their chilChip’s rages got worse as he aged, and doctors’ visits and dren. “Nebraska shows us vividly that there are lots of other tests didn’t uncover any answers. After six years, seeing the reasons why parents drop off their kids,” he says. While it may be impossible to discover all those reasons, regularity of the rages, doctors did more intensive neurologiexamining the characteristics from HHS’s matrix is illumical testing. Although he didn’t fit all the criteria, Chip was nating. There were prior allegations of abuse or neglect for diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Medication stabilized Chip; 34 of the 36 children. The same number had received mental his rages became milder, and disappeared with a higher dose. health services, with 12 receiving Meanwhile, Dan’s tantrums, treatment higher than outpatient which were irregular and unprelevel. All but three youth resided dictable, had also gotten worse. in or near an urban community; He got off the school bus one all but four were in single-parent day and ripped the family’s mailhouseholds. Twenty youth had box off its post. On a vacation, been, or were at the time they he punched his mother in the were left, wards of the state; 26 face. He had frequent stays at were Medicaid-eligible. psychiatric hospitals; two refused Todd Landry, the outgoing to take him back. “Every time head of the Department of he went into the hospital we Children and Family Services got another therapy,” Hoy within Nebraska’s HHS, thinks recalls, from music therapy to that once the media started covEye Movement Desensitization ering the reports of children and Reprocessing. Diagnoses dropped off at safe haven hospicovered a range of disorders, tals, it made the option more including bipolar, attention palatable for other families. deficit-hyperactivity, oppositionToni Hoy and her son Dan, 14. Toni and her husband Jim decided “When these first two [children] al defiant, and post-traumatic to leave Dan at a psychiatric hospital and face neglect charges in came on, and they were obviously order to get him the care he needed. stress. Dan didn’t seem to have not newborns and infants…I all the symptoms of any one illthink that generated a lot of media attention—locally and ness, and Hoy traces that to her and her husband’s parenting. regionally,” he says. “It did really raise the issue in [other par“We did spend so much time with him,” she says. “Maybe he ents’] minds of, ‘Well, if that’s what can happen, then maybe would meet all that criteria if we didn’t work with him as that’s something I should consider.’” extensively as we did.” The last three hospitalizations were after serious violent incidents: Dan pulled a knife on his siblings and threatened to kill them, he threw a book at his sister’s head, and he Still, even if they were able to do it, why would parents give threw his brother down the stairs and beat him. When they up their family? Toni Hoy, an Illinois mother of four, may hospitalized Dan for the last time, Hoy and her husband have the answer. knew their whole family’s safety was at risk. They planned to Two weeks after receiving their foster care license, Hoy split their family, with one parent staying with Dan at home, and her husband Jim—who already had a son and daughter and the other taking the three other children to live in a conby birth—were introduced to Chip, 4, and Dan, 2. They were do, switching off. “Our suitcases were in the car, we were half-brothers who had been drug- and alcohol-exposed at packed up,” Hoy says. But they decided to speak to one more birth, and had suffered severe abuse and neglect. Such trauma therapist to get a fresh opinion. The therapist told them they early in life was bound to have an effect: “When you become had two options: bring Dan home and get charged with child a foster parent, you know going in that the kids are going to endangerment if something happened to one of their other have problems,” Hoy says. Once a month, Chip would go children, or leave Dan at the hospital and be charged with into a three-hour rage, screaming, kicking, and hitting, and child neglect. finally crying and shaking. Dan had unpredictable, violent “We drew the line at safety, and that’s what it really came tantrums. But Hoy was sympathetic: her mother was mentally down to,” Hoy says. They chose the latter option, hoping that ill, and walked out on her five children when Hoy was 10. if the state took charge of Dan’s care, he’d get the treatment he Hoy knew Chip and Dan needed a stable family. “We had needed. The hardest part was explaining it to Dan. “We went told them from the very beginning: ‘We will be your parents
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to the hospital, and continuum of care we just sat him that moves from Learn More down, and we said home-based pre■ Many of Adam Pertman’s criticisms are reinforced in a report pub‘It’s going to look vention services to lished by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in a 2003 report like we’re leaving residential interwhose title says it all; it’s called Unintended Consequences: ‘Safe you, but we’re vention services. Haven’ Laws Are Causing Problems, Not Solving Them. Visit www.adoptioninstitute.org/whowe/lastreport_coverpage.html. not,’” Hoy says. “We “The average age explained everything of admission is in ■ CWLA also published a report on the topic in 2003. Baby that we had tried to the 14’s, 14-andAbandonment: The Role of Child Welfare Systems, recognizes that do to get this care a-half,” Dan Daly, safe haven laws only address half the problem and preventive actions are needed. Visit www.cwla.org/programs/baby. for him…. He did Director of Youth understand it, but it Care, says. “We ■ The last issue of Children’s Voice examined the Nebraska’s first safe was hard, it was terfeel if we got in haven law, and the decision to revise it, in a “National Newswire” rible for all of us.” item. Visit www.cwla.org/voice. there before those The Hoys were kids were in the ■ Toni Hoy wrote two articles for Rise Magazine, a publication by and indeed charged with second and third for parents in the child welfare system, about her family’s experience neglect, which was grades, we could and her views on Nebraska’s first safe haven law. Visit www. later amended to risemagazine.org/featured_stories/Out_of_our_league.html. accomplish a lot.” no-fault dependency. Accordingly, Boys Legally they are still Town—which Dan’s parents, but the state of Illinois is his guardian. Dan is serves over 51,000 boys and girls—is increasing its in-home in a private psychiatric hospital; he still has violent outbursts, component. After speaking with children who still have a but the staff is equipped to handle the behavior. Hoy and her fierce love for their abusive parents, Executive Director Father husband drive an hour each way to see their son at least once Steven Boes’s goal is to ensure families are worthy of that a week. “They have a whole program, he understands the love. “I really want to get rid of the term ‘dysfunctional famprogram he’s in and what he needs to accomplish,” Hoy says. ily’; I want it to be gone from our lexicon,” Boes says. Boes backed these words with action as the first few safe Dan has had home visits, and the hospital staff knows that haven youth were getting attention in Nebraska; he stood his parents’ involvement helps him. next to Governor Heineman at an early press conference. “The reason I got up with the governor at the beginning is that I thought we could head off a lot of these problems,” Hoy can’t imagine not being involved in her son’s life. She Boes says. “I think we may have been part of diverting some has limited empathy for the parents who left their children folks—I know we were.” Boys Town’s 800-number crisis line at Nebraska hospitals. “I can understand why a parent would became a resource for families considering using the law. feel like they need to do that, but I think that it’s wrong to Focusing on preventive measures is a welcome shift, as cut the family off completely.” safe haven laws are meant to help at-risk children and famiNebraska officials echo this sentiment. “We want the parlies, without helping others avoid becoming at-risk. How— ents involved, and they want to be,” Senator Stuthman says. and even whether—safe haven laws fit in among other services “When [the children] get their situations under control, after their first decade is a continuing question. they’re still a member of the family.” Landry points out that although safe haven is new, “there were, however—and Meghan Williams is a Contributing Editor to Childrenʼs Voice. remain—options that are available for families to work with their various county attorney offices, to relinquish their child voluntarily, or make their child a ward of the state.” Stuthman hopes his fellow legislators will be able to look What Do You Think? more closely at preventive care. “This is something that I’m How have safe haven laws affected your state and still trying to investigate,” he says. “If [the children] were 13 your agency? Have you worked to place safe haven years old when they dropped them off, what happened when babies into adoptive families? Should the laws be they were 2, 3, 4, 5 years old? If we can spend a little money revised? Send letters to the editor with your response to prevent something, it’ll save money in the long run.” to this or any other story to voice@cwla.org. The concept isn’t new to Boys Town, a national service agency founded and based in Nebraska. They’ve designed a
Working with Families
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kinds of communications when they occur, both in his daily routine and in television or movies. Help him build a vocabulary of words describing emotions and feelings so he can not only recognize those feelings in others, but also advocate for himself. When your child tells you he is feeling bad, probe deeper. He’s taken a great first step in selfadvocacy, but it is even more helpful if he can tell you that “bad” means confused, angry, hungry, frustrated, physically unwell, sad, or anxious. Acknowledge and reward progress and effort, however small the increment. Tell him, “I like how you let Evan go first,” even if he did it under duress and complained for a full 10 minutes without taking a breath. Offer more than just discussion by looking for graphic materials that promote social competence. These might include computer games, board Children’s VOICE
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and anger management through your own behavior gives the child something concrete to emulate. Talk about feelings in your daily life by telling him how you feel and asking how he feels. Ask him how he thinks others might feel in given situations. Talk about how facial expressions and body language convey feelings, and call attention to these
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games, DVDs, books, or children’s museum exhibits. Being able to come back to the material again and again, having it be the same each time, and being able to keep it in front of him for as long as he needs to study it can enhance learning. Encourage your child or student to keep a feelings journal, even if he isn’t writing yet. He can dictate to you, talk into a recording device, or even just paste facial expression stickers on a blank calendar. One sentence or drawing a day, or even a few times a week, is enough to start. Part of the journal might be a running list of people, places, and activities that inspire positive emotions in him. He might also include a list of people, places, and activities that provoke negative emotions in him. This list can be a good starting point for a discussion of how to avoid or cope with troubling people or situations. Incorporate a focus on giving compliments into everyday life at home or in the classroom. Provide a bulletin board or large jar where classmates or family members can offer compliments. Set time aside each classroom day to read and applaud the comments. Many educators and psychologists today advocate an 8-to1 praise-to-criticize ratio as necessary for encouraging children to change a behavior. Impose an informal praise quota on yourself, and if you find yourself criticizing more than you compliment, try to shift your focus. Actively looking for things about the child to compliment will only increase your awareness of
all that is admirable in him, despite his struggles. And finally, remember that the most important tool you can give a child in the long process of learning empathy and self-regulation is strong, stable relationships with the key adults in his life. His needs can seem like a vice of minute-by-minute management: engineering the strict structure he needs, visiting professionals whose expertise we need, and monitoring our own need to feel that we are doing enough. Structure, professional help, and self-evaluation are necessary, but not to a slavish degree. Do you live by the clock? If so, it’s important to take a step back and reflect upon how this child learns and grows. Yes, he learns by doing— but long before he can do that, he learns and responds to his environment in the context of how it feels to him. We all know from personal experience that emotions can and do sometimes overtake logical thought or action. All the education and therapy we layer on a child will not make a difference if the key adults in his life are not there emotionally. The five most important words you can say to him: “I am here for you.” In the midst of all that doing for him, make time for just being with him. © 2009 Ellen Notbohm
hree-time ForeWord Book of the Year finalist Ellen Notbohm is author of Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew and three other award-winning books on autism. She is a columnist for Autism Asperger’s Digest and Children’s Voice and a contributor to numerous publications and websites around the world. For book excerpts or to explore her work, visit www.ellennotbohm.com.
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Supporting the Female Lead Lessons from and for CWLA agencies on helping the women on staff
PHOTO BY RONA TALCOTT
By Diana Warth
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ManagementMatters hough women lead just 2.6% of Fortune 500 companies, the number of CWLA member agencies led by women is 47.6%. “It’s moving in the right direction, but its not there,” says Donna Pressma, President and CEO of CWLA member The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey. Though gender equality in the child welfare field appears to be better than the national statistics, there is still work to do. According to a 2003 Washington Post article, “15 to 35 percent of nonprofit executives plan to leave their jobs within two years and 61 to 78 percent are planning to leave within five years.” These projections reflect what the child welfare field is now feeling—as the field changes, especially with the baby boomer generation entering retirement, it becomes increasingly important to think about how to attract “new blood,” particularly women, into leadership roles. Yet, how can child welfare agencies continue to cultivate female leaders? The challenge faced by many child welfare organizations encompasses more than placement of women in these leadership roles. Once they’re on staff, how do organizations keep women from leaving?
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What Leaders Can Do “The most important thing women should do is to mentor the younger staff,” says Pressma. Because mentoring costs little financially and can be set up quickly, it is an easy way to affect positive change. “Having mentors was very important in getting to where I am,” Pressma continues. “My commissioner gave me what was the equivalent of a master’s in business.” As the child welfare field continues to grow and diversify its operations, it is necessary that those who run the agencies are well-versed in a slew of professional skills. From learning advanced computer skills and how to create and implement programs, to learning how to deal with board members and the ins-and-outs of raising agency funds, CEOs are required to possess many talents. Few people come into the field instinctively knowing all these skills, and giving young women the opportunities to learn from mentors helps propel them into competent, productive leadership roles. While mentoring is an important component to fostering women in leadership, it is only one step among many to creating a more egalitarian workforce. Shelley Duncan, President and CEO of Youthville, Inc., in Kansas, emphasizes networking opportunities as a way to make female leaders comfortable in leadership positions. “I also think that women need affinity opportunities with other CEOs,” says Duncan. “I find it a very lonely place in my position. I have few other women to talk to and commiserate with. Sometimes we just need to be able to share things that men just wouldn’t understand.” Ellen Katz Johnson, President and CEO of The Children’s Home of Cincinnati, shares these sentiments. At a retirement party for Donna Pressma, President and CEO of The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey, stresses mentoring as a way to cultivate female leaders.
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her predecessor, she noted that while her male colleagues got together for golf outings, there wasn’t an equivalent activity for the female leaders in her community. “So we have a women’s CEO group in the community where quarterly we take turns organizing a dinner,” says Katz Johnson. “We do a little formal structure around it in that we will pause after dinner and just sit around in a circle and just kind of talk about challenges related to our work at any given time…. It’s become a really nice network for a group of 15 to 20 women.”
What Agencies Can Do Between the demands of the field, the demands within an agency, and the demands of their own families, it is no surprise that many female CEOs feel their biggest challenge is finding a balance between work and their personal lives. In order to help women leaders maintain these two aspects of their lives, many child welfare organizations are creating more family-friendly office policies, from flexible work hours to onsite day care facilities.
community atmosphere conducive to helping women succeed may create a chain reaction that will reach the child welfare field and others. The city of Cincinnati sets a good example. According to Katz Johnson, in addition to the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the city has a program through the chamber called We Lead, which is a leadership development program just for women. Through We Lead, women learn many of the skills necessary to become successful professionals. Similar programs could be implemented in other communities and used by child welfare organizations as training for potential female leaders. Such community initiatives are useless to agencies, however, unless the agency takes the first step to seek them out.
Academic Resources
Some child welfare organizations are looking to academia for inspiration. From reimbursing women for educational classes to partnering with local universities and colleges, the field can take advantage of academic opportunities for women. “We really try to focus on our employee’s Community Resources professional developCommunity outreach programs ment and leadership and initiatives can benefit emerging development for leaders. “Our local community those we deem as foundation, the Greater Cincinnati potential leaders,” Foundation, did a study on the status says Katz Johnson. of women and girls in the greater “I think that univerCincinnati area, called PULSE,” says sities don’t do a good Katz Johnson. “As a result of that job of offering inforstudy, there’s been a lot put into mation or classes about such things as balancing a family and being a leader. They don’t even tackle balancing a family—or even life in general— with work.” While many universities have missed the mark Delores Dunn (far left), CEO of the Center for Child on this, there are and Family Enrichment, stands with a mother and her adoptive and biological children. some that have begun Shelley Duncan (above, right), President and CEO to help women balof Youthville, Inc., presents the keys to a donated ance family and career car to one of Youthville’s families. responsibilities. Harvard University has created a Women’s Initiative in the community to support and promote women, but it’s Leadership. According to the initiative’s website, the program not exclusive to this field—it’s broad.” Bringing community “was created to address the interest and importance of female attention to the challenges that professional women face, even students at Harvard in developing leadership skills.” if it’s not specific to the child welfare field, will nonetheless Agencies can also cultivate young leaders through internbenefit agencies. When women professionals in one area are doing well, it inspires them to help other women. Creating a ship programs. As featured in the last issue of Children’s 28
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Voice, some agencies are finding interns by using organizations like American Humanics to form partnerships with universities. Internships foster relationships with young people entering the workforce, and also help identify those who would be positive additions to the agency as full-time employees.
Agency Policies
staff to telecommute periodically, such as on parent-teacher conference days. Dunn stresses that it’s “in the hands of the present CEO to bring that atmosphere.” As the child welfare field continues to change, facing both economic difficulties and a workforce crisis, the atmosphere these women describe could be an extra benefit for women who are considering joining or continuing in the child welfare field. Agencies who help women will find that women help them. Whatever choices may be right for a particular agency, it is essential to develop new ways of thinking about women in leadership roles. Success stories like these should be studied, and mirrored, as much as possible.
PHOTO BY STACY SILL
Speaking from personal experience, Pressma knows that the demands of work life all too often negatively affect one’s personal life. After coming home very late due to an emergency at the office, her daughter said she had almost called an abuse hotline that day, Ellen Katz Johnson, President and CEO of The because she was feeling neglected with Children’s Home of Cinncinnati, with a participant in Camp-I-Can, a 10-week summer day program for all the time Pressma was spending at vulnerable children. the office. “What she was telling me was ‘Get your life in balance, Mom, there is too much work Diana Warth is a legislative assistant in Washington, DC. She majored in women’s studies at Allegheny College. and not enough about us,’” says Pressma. “And I did change a few things in my schedule to just be more with the kids. It was time to rebalance.” Learning her lesson the hard way, Pressma has made it a point in her agency to give those who work for her the necessary tools to balance personal and professional responsibilities. “I make the rules in my agency very supportive towards the women who are going through their early parenting years,” she says. “I’ve found…for whatever leeway I’ve given them to be good mothers, I get it back threefold in a loyal, dedicated employee who gives me their very best at work, so it creates a stronger agency.” Duncan suggests providing complimentary on-site yoga classes and massages for women. “We offer on-site chair massages and we pay for them. It is a great way to relieve stress,” she says. In the same vein, Duncan believes another key to stress management is allowing oneself a break from work. “I preach to my staff [about] work-life balance and basically force them to take time off. I made a requirement to them that when they take vacation they are not to work, not to get on e-mail,” she says. “If I find out they’ve been working they will get a lecture. Same thing if they continually work over 50 to 60 hours a week.” Delores Dunn, CEO of the Center for Child and Family Enrichment in Miami, Florida, has also made a push for more family-friendly office policies at her organization. She allows her staff to flex their hours in order to meet the demands of their children’s school schedules. Many of her employees come in later in the morning in exchange for working later into the evening. Similarly, she also allows her
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‘They Are All Our Children’ How a worker’s dedication and agency’s flexibility can expand rural adoptions Susan Ramsey at her desk, shortly after winning CWLA’s Outstanding Service Award in 2000. Ramsey helped dozens of children in Texas’s foster care system find families in the Bennett Chapel community.
The last issue of Children’s Voice profiled the Possum Trot, Texas, community in their journey to adopt more than 70 children. That article only touched on the other important members of the story: the social worker, her supervisor, and the program director of Child Protective Services in East Texas. Their dedication, trustworthiness, and devotion to these courageous families, as well as their flexibility, provided the agency support necessary for the families to put their faith into action. As the late Paul Harvey would have said, here’s the rest of the story. n 1996 Joyce James, now Deputy Commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, made a decision to aggressively address the disproportionate number of African American children in East Texas. She partnered with Stephen F. Austin State University to study the issue, suggest solutions, and assist in assets-based community engagement to tackle the underlying issues and help families keep their children safely. At the same time, she became acutely aware of the many children free for adoption across the state, and opened East Texas to receive children from other areas. “If we have families in Region 05, and there are children waiting for adoption anywhere in the
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state, the boundaries shouldn’t matter,” says James. “They are all our children.” Recruiting, training, placing, and supervising adoptions, however, took time and staff that the small rural region did not have. The solution? “If you can give us resources, we can give you families,” James told Region 06. Rural East Texas entered into an agreement with Houston to transfer two of their allotted positions for the purpose of securing, training, and overseeing adoptions. What ensued was a model for rural adoption, particularly of African American children, that other communities can learn from. “I am particularly impressed by what [James] did to aggressively address the needs of African American children in East Texas,” says Jerry W. Friedman, Executive Director of the American Public Human Services Association. “Her work and leadership could serve as a model for other jurisdictions facing similar challenges.” One of the positions added in East Texas was given to Susan Ramsey, a generic worker from San Augustine, Texas. She had begun working with two families from the rural Bennett Chapel Missionary Baptist Church to help them adopt, only to find that many more families wanted to care for the children most in need.
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Building Trust
the church, expecting a few families, and were overwhelmed by the response. “We didn’t hold back,” says Bowman. Ramsey was 45 years old when she first met Donna Martin “We told them about the children most in and Diann Sparks, women in Possum Trot, need, some drug addicted, Texas, who were midway through their some with mental, physiadoption training. Ramsey was cal, and emotional chalawestruck; the women were drivlenges, sibling groups ing an hour each way to attend that needed to be placed trainings for six weeks to adopt together. Most of the people children most in need. “She just there already had children; pitched in and helped me with they didn’t really need more. whatever I was doing,” says Sparks They just understood that about Ramsey’s guidance immediatemany children were waiting ly following placement. “I trusted her. to be adopted, and at the end I wasn’t afraid to tell her anything. of the meeting asked, ‘When Instead of telling me all the things I do we start?’” According to was doing wrong, she always gave me Bowman, 18 families graduated encouraging words. And she always, from the first PRIDE class offered always told me that if I couldn’t handle at the church. it, to let her know.” “[Susan] was a great listener, Children who were “One thing about Susan, there not as a skill, but because she was adopted with Ramsey’s help recently had was absolutely no pretense. What you the opportunity to write letters about her during an really interested. She remembered afterschool program in Possum Trot, Texas. saw was what you got,” recalls Judy everyone’s name, how they’re related,” Morgan, Executive Director of says Morgan. Ramsey’s ability to Buckner Children and Family Services in Deep East Texas, listen and her understanding of rural relationships enabled and then Program Director for Purchased Social Services her to get to know the children and families with whom she for Region 05. “Susan was plain spoken. People trusted worked. “Susan knew who baked the best cakes, and whose her—she had such an ability to connect.” That trust, that confidence, and the understanding that it was always her choice, helped Sparks become a mother. “I can remember when Susan came and placed [my son] Nino,” says Sparks. “She just blended. She had such a heart that everyone just opened their homes.” Ramsey’s trusting relationship with the community contributed to the events that followed. When she met with Sparks and the Martins, other church members dropped in and began to think that they wanted to adopt as well.
Bringing Training to Rural Families “Susan came back and said, ‘I’m going to license all these families!’” remembers Judy Bowman, Ramsey’s supervisor at the time and the current Regional Director of the Department of Family and Protective Services. When Ramsey told her supervisor her intentions, Bowman thought about the logistics. The closest PRIDE training was in Lufkin, 60 miles away from them. Even the closest CPS office was 30 miles away from the community. Where could they train all those families? Bowman made the decision that if 10 families were interested enough to come to an informational meeting, they would hold PRIDE classes at Bennett Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. Bowman and Ramsey went to a meeting at
Theresa Lathan (seated) and Donna Martin both adopted children from the Texas foster care system.
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mother made the best dressing,” Bowman says. “When four sisters adopted, she knew which one had the firmest hand, and would tell the others to talk with her when their little one acted up.”
Understanding Wealth in Rural Relationships In the case of the Bennett Chapel community, CPS did everything it could to help the families from the start. “Bennett Chapel Missionary Baptist Church was provided excellent
Pastor W.C. Martin with his wife, Donna, at a recent service at Bennett Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. In 1996, Donna encouraged the families in her community to learn more about adoption. Since then, families in Possum Trot, Texas, have adopted 72 children from the foster care system.
support by CPS: adoption classes provided on site, a rurally competent worker designated specifically for the community and sensitive to African Americans in deep East Texas,” says Ruth McRoy, Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professor Emerita and Senior Research Fellow of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. “We can all learn much from Possum Trot.” The agency provided adoption subsidies, arranged for counseling services, and did in-service training with counselors and schools about the difficulties the children and families faced. But the real togetherness started with the families. With 72 children adopted in less than a decade, the families experienced many of the same challenges and helped each other. If a child needed to stay after school, she could stay with a grandma or sister down the street. According to Bowman, some adoptive families can isolate themselves, but the children and families of Bennett Chapel were not isolated. “The kids who came got moms, dads, uncles, aunts, cousins, sisters, and brothers,” says Bowman. “And Susan Ramsey was part of the whole community.” 32
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One Woman’s Impact Some of my fondest memories of Ramsey involve her visits to our Child Welfare Library at Stephen F. Austin State University. The library provided a distance-lending program for foster and adoptive parents, staff, and students, and Ramsey came to gather training materials to take to Bennett Chapel. As she picked out books and tapes, she described the challenges the children and families faced with awe and admiration. These were the families who had stepped up and taken the challenge, and she was going to help them in any way she could. “If someone sneezes,” she would say, “I’m there with the Kleenex.” She was there for parent/teacher conferences if the parents wanted her there. She was there for great events, including Oprah Winfrey’s generous donation of Christmas presents, and for difficult days, including the deaths of Joe and Molly Brown, adoptive parents of three. She was there for the community, for the friends and neighbors, and most of all for the children, including Lucky Brown. And she was there just to answer questions over the phone. Bowman recounts a Christmas when Ramsey wanted to do something for Donna Martin, the woman whose faith had inspired the community to adopt. “Susan decided that what Donna would like most would be a white Christmas tree. So Susan looked everywhere to find just what she thought would please Donna the most.” Ramsey’s guardianship didn’t stop with practical help. When Bennett Chapel began to attract media attention, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, Ramsey kept a protective watch over the families. She made sure that, when someone gave toys to the adopted children, all the children in the extended families got the same toys so no one would feel left out. When news cameras came rolling in, she cared only that the children and families wouldn’t be “run over” in the rush, and when someone had a bad day, she tried to ensure it did not make the national news. In 1999, Ramsey discovered a lump in her breast and was diagnosed with cancer, undergoing surgery. Then in March 2000, Ramsey, who was more at home helping cook chickenfried steak than talking to reporters, made a trip to Washington, DC, to receive CWLA’s Outstanding Service Award. She was both nervous and proud, but she wished the Bennett Chapel families could have been there with her as she walked across the stage. Later the same year cancer was found again, with further surgery. But still she kept caring for all the families and children. In 2002, she became unable to continue the work she loved so much. When she was too weak to leave her bed, I had the privilege of some very special moments with her as I massaged her back and sang her Irish lullabies. During that time, she would talk about what was most important to her: the children of Bennett Chapel, the families, each unique but all one community. But most of all, she herself was a wonderful mother, possibly the secret to her success in rural Possum Trot. She loved her own children deeply and was proud of
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as the dedicated worker for many years, as more children were placed with the families, and as the children placed there grew. Bennett Chapel has produced a social worker of its own: Melissa Stanberry, who earned her BSW and MSW at Stephen F. Austin State University. Though not an adoptive parent, Stanberry is Martin’s niece, and certainly one of the family. In fact, her son once asked her, “Momma, why didn’t I get to be adopted?” Stanberry is now a Foster Home Developer for CPS in East Texas. “Being able to go into homes and see what a gift [foster care and adoption] is to the child and family warms my heart and brightens my day,” Stanberry says. “I think about Susan all the time. I’m walking in her own footsteps.” Susan Ramsey became very close with the families she helped bring together through adoption, sometimes bringing gifts, like this Christmas tree for the Martins.
each one: Vanessa, Charlie, and John. That fall, Ramsey died. The children and families of Bennett Chapel, along with CPS staff and supervisors and the larger community of East Texas, came to the service in her memory.
Epilogue Ramsey sewed seeds that still flourish in rural East Texas. The children and families are thriving. “They have problems, like all families, but they don’t handle them any differently,” Bowman says. “They never had regrets.” Jo Beth Daw replaced Ramsey
Kathleen Belanger PhD is an Assistant Professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Her dissertation, The Impact of Religiosity, Religious Support, and CPS Support on Special Needs Adoption: Child, Family, and Parent Outcomes, focuses on issues raised by the Bennett Chapel adoptions. She serves as co-chair of CWLA’s National Advisory Committee on Rural Social Services. She also researches, publishes, develops, and evaluates programs related to rural social services, rural cultural competence, and racial disproportionality in child welfare. She can be reached at 936-468-1807 or kbelanger@sfasu.edu. This article is dedicated to Susan Ramsey, recipient of CWLA’s Outstanding Service Award in 2000, and to all social workers who spend their lives in the miracle business. For more information about Bennett Chapel Family Ministry, or to purchase the Martins’ book, Small Town, Big Miracle, visit www.bcministry.org.
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ShortTakes Stay Connected with Fellow Members One of many perks of CWLA membership is access to the members-only website. Through this forum, members can connect with fellow members and with CWLA’s member services. Message boards, discussion groups, and chat rooms on the website allow members to network electronically. There are also forms to update an agency’s contact information, and add addresses of staff, board members, and volunteers so they can receive Children’s Voice, CWLA In Brief, Children’s Monitor, and other publications. Browse the text of CWLA’s Standards of Excellence, many of which are posted in their entirety. Contact information and biographies for CWLA staff are also available on the site. In addition to all these features, each region has more specific information on the members-only website. To access the site, visit www.cwla.org/membersonly and sign in with the agency member number and password. There are also links on the login screen to request misplaced information.
Data Crunching According to a report from the National Data Analysis System (NDAS) that draws data from CWLA’s 2005 State Child Welfare Agency Survey, 20 of 38 responding states said their child welfare and juvenile justice systems are separate with no crossreferencing. In the remaining states, 10 have separate systems but include cross-referencing, and 9 states have one system covering both areas. A different NDAS report with data from the same survey shows that only 10 of 40 responding states maintain statistical data that indicate whether a child is involved in both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Find more information at http://ndas.cwla.org. NDAS is a free online service started in 1999 by CWLA and sponsoring states.
Speaking Out
Save the Date APRIL is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Children’s Memorial Flag Day is April 24. MAY is National Foster Care Month. JUNE 23-24, 2009 2009 CWDT Conference Making IT Work for Children: Improving Data for Agencies, Tribes, and Courts, Hyatt Regency, Bethesda, MD JANUARY 25-27, 2010 2010 CWLA National Conference Plan ahead! It’s never too early to start getting ready for next year’s National Conference, which will be one month earlier than usual in 2010. Dates and locations of conferences subject to change. For more information on the CWLA calendar, including conference registration, hotels, programs, and contacts, visit www.cwla.org/conferences, or contact the conference registrar at register@cwla.org or 703-412-2439.
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“I think people working for child advocacy, the best thing they can do is be brave enough to help put those children’s faces out there. Find a kid who’s willing to share their story, or a social worker who’s willing to be there as a voice for this child. You can tell me Lane DeGregory there’s a Heart Gallery in my mall, and there’s 300 sad kids who need families, but until you show me a 7-year-old little boy who’s never had a skateboard, who’s worn the same pair of pants for three days, who’s been in 19 different homes before he’s in 9th grade, you’re not going to care the same way.” — Lane DeGregory, 2009 winner of CWLA’s Anna Quindlen Award for Excellence in Journalism in Behalf of Children and Families, encourages agencies to partner with the media to get more attention and support for the children they help. DeGregory won the award for her St. Petersburg Times story, “The Girl in the Window,” which started with a lead from Carolyn Eastman, Director of Communications at CWLA member the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County.
To hear more views, listen to CWLA Radio’s highlights from the National Conference at www.blogtalkradio.com/ CWLA-Radio. All of the award winners will be profiled in the next issue of Children’s Voice.
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NEWS FROM THE
HILL Year-Round Advocacy Advocacy Day has come and gone, but advancing the legislative agenda for children and families is a year-round job. Keep yourself informed with CWLA’s resources. Attendees of February’s CWLA National Conference who visited their senators and representatives went armed with two powerful tools—the 2009 Legislative Agenda for Children and Families and the quick-sheet version, the 2009 Priorities for Congress, also known as Hot Topics. Both are available to view and download at www.cwla.org/advocacy/2009legagenda.htm. The Priorities specifically highlight the Fostering Connections to Success Act, the White House Conference on Children and Youth, and the protection of human services in a recession. The Legislative Agenda recommends more than 100 short- and long-term actions that Congress and the new administration should take to help vulnerable children and families. The agenda is organized around five ways to improve: preventing child abuse and neglect;
achieving permanency for children and families; increasing access to health care; helping vulnerable young people; and strengthening the building blocks of the system. It also includes national fact sheets with a statistical snapshot of America’s children. As Congress debates these issues and creates legislation to solve problems in the coming session, the situation on Capitol Hill changes daily. CWLA offers a great way to keep up, through subscriptions to online Legislative Alerts and the weekly Children’s Monitor. Both are e-mailed free to subscribers and CWLA members. Legislative Alerts provide breaking news, advocacy information, and timely details of projects as they move through Congress. The Monitor is a legislative newsletter delivered every Monday; it both previews what’s ahead for Congress and reviews actions the House and Senate have taken on legislation important to child welfare. Both publications examine events through the lens of child welfare issues, and highlight opportunities for members to contact Congress and advocate on behalf of the children they serve. To subscribe to CWLA’s Legislative Alerts, visit www.cwla.org/advocacy/ alerts.htm; to receive the Monitor, sign up at www.cwla.org/advocacy/ monitoronline.htm. Any time you are able to speak with members of Congress—whether in Washington or at home in their districts—the advocacy team would like to hear about it so they can add CWLA’s voice to yours. Fill out a legislative report at www.cwla.org/survey/legislativereportform_general.htm.
CWLA Radio: Speaking for America’s Children The weekly radio broadcast, “On the Line with CWLA,” provides a forum for child welfare experts, CWLA agency members, and child-focused political figures to share their thoughts on current topics. Programs are broadcast live every Wednesday from 2 to 2:30 p.m. EST at www.blogtalk radio.com/CWLA-Radio. Visit the page to listen to previous shows, set reminders for the next broadcast, and get programming updates. Currently the schedule includes:
On the Line with
April 1: April 8:
AN INTERNET TALK RADIO Program
www.blogtalkradio.com/CWLA-Radio Scheduling is tentative and subject to change.
April 15: April 22: April 29: May 6: May 13: May 20: May 27: May 27:
Girls Health Screen Project for Girls in Juvenile Detention A Conversation with E.R. Frank, novelist who inspired Lifetime TV movie about foster care Impact of Child Abuse and Neglect on the Community Impact of the Economic Downturn on Services—Public Perspective Impact of the Economic Downturn on Services—Private Perspective The Children in the New Homeless Population A Conversation with Bob Danzig, CWLA author and former CEO of Hearst Newspapers Health Coverage for Uninsured Children National Alliance for the Drug-Endangered Child A Conversation with Bob Danzig, CWLA author and former CEO of Hearst Newspapers
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EndNotes ewrite the Future is the first truly global campaign for Save the Children. The campaign seeks to improve educational opportunities for all children. More than 37 million children can’t go to school because they live in countries affected by conflict, and this accounts for more than half of the children world-wide who don’t attend school. A year ago, Save the Children launched this campaign, and with it, a global conversation about the link between education and peace: what kind of education can promote peace, and how do we make sure that children receive the quality education that will help them build peace? The culminating event for this was an international conference scheduled for March 11 and 12 in Sarajevo, Where Peace Begins: The Pivotal Role of Education for Lasting Peace.
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As part of the campaign, in conjunction with its 125th anniversary, international jeweler Bulgari has designed a sterling silver ring with Save the Children’s logo on the inside. Proceeds from sales will be part of the 10 million euros Bulgari has pledged to the Rewrite the Future campaign this year. For more information, visit www.save thechildren.net/ alliance/what_ we_do/rewritethefuture.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SAVE THE CHILDREN
he Malaysian national Dispatch T news agency, Bernama, From Abroad reported recently that
TechTrends oursphere describes itself as the social network that puts safety first. Exclusively for youth ages 9 to 18, Yoursphere features topical “spheres” where members can discuss common interests. Founded by a mother concerned about online safety, Yoursphere verifies member gender and age, and requires parent/ guardian consent for members’ participation. The site confirms parents/ guardians identities, and ensures they do not have status as sex offenders. No adults are allowed to post profiles on the site, ensuring that members are only interacting with their peers. Participating in contests on the site allows members to win rewards and scholarships. Visit http://yoursphere.com to learn more.
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the cabinet was expected to approve a new National Child Care Protection Policy, which would be implemented by the middle of this year. “Its approval is important because the policy states very clearly who is responsible for the caring of children, and what they should do,” said Woman, Family, and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr. Ng Yen Yen, according to Bernama. “Those responsible are parents, care providers like kindergarten teachers, and doctors. When they receive or see a child abuse case, they have to report to the Welfare Department and police,” she continued. The new policy includes a fine of 5,000 ringgit (about $1,350 currently) and/or two years in jail for anyone found guilty of failing to report a child abuse case. Dr. Ng said that there were 228 child abuse cases and 12 child neglect cases reported between December 2007 and December 2008 via the NUR Line, a hotline for reporting domestic violence and child abuse, Bernama reported.
hio’s statewide automatic child welfare information system (SACWIS) is now operating in all 88 counties in the state. The implementation process began in late 2006 and was finished in the first few days of this year. Dynamics Research Corporation, a technology management services company that works with federal and state governments, was active in converting Ohio’s state and county data to be compatible with the new system. Ohio’s child welfare system is countyadministered. SACWIS is a fully web-based system for caseworkers and managers to follow children from intake to case closure, including adoption, foster care, and child protection cases.
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n the last few years a new assignment has become popular in New York City schools: yoga. Thanks mostly to one teacher, Martha Gold, yoga has spread to nearly half of the city’s District 75, schools and classes that serve students with developmental, behavioral, or psychological disabilities. An article in City Limits Weekly followed Gold, a physical therapist who teaches in the Bronx. Several years ago, she introduced a few poses to four students, and now has almost 50 in a class. Gold offered workshops for other special education professionals, and they in turn set up yoga programs for more students. Many of these students have limited range of motion, but none of them lack enthusiasm. For people of average health, yoga can improve strength, flexibility, and relaxation. For the children in District 75, yoga also heightens sensory awareness, vocalization skills, and breathing capacity. The exercise also lessens anxiety because the brain releases serotonin and dopamine.
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HealthBeat
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arents are so helpful in taking care of children in any other sphere of life, why do we not include them when it comes to the treatment for anorexia?” Daniel La Grange posed this question in “Extreme Measures,” a special health report in The Washington Post that examined the Maudsley approach to anorexia nervosa. Named for the British hospital where it was developed, the Maudsley approach does include parents. The family becomes critical to overcoming the illness, which is viewed as rendering youth unable to begin eating, rather than choosing not to eat. La Grange, one of the original developers, is director of the Eating Disorder Clinics at the University of Chicago. The approach consists of three phases: in the first, the family works together to help the youth return to a healthy weight; the second begins to return control of food and eating back to the teen; in the third, a therapist helps the adolescent resolve any issues and start a healthy adulthood.
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Research Report
report from Multnomah County, Oregon, examined the achievement gap between white and black children through a local lens. According to an article in The Oregonian, the Black Parent Initiative commissioned the report. Typically, studies of the achievement gap look at the percentages of students who meet state benchmark scores at specific points in their education, but this report also chronicled students’ progress over time. The study showed in the local area, black children are consistently about 8 points behind white children on achievement tests, suggesting that all children learn and improve at similar rates. The conclusion was that very early preventive action may eliminate the achievement gap.
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irst Focus examines the long-term effects of childhood poverty in a new report, The Cost of Doing Nothing. The current recession is predicted to drive an additional 3 million children into poverty. With
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research that indicates a childhood spent in poverty leads to an adult earning 39% less than the median income, and that a poor child loses a quarter of a million dollars in health quality over a lifetime, First Focus concludes that the future loss for the United States will exceed $1.7 trillion. Visit www.first focus.net/pages/3533/ for more information and to download the report.
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OneOnOne Questions and Answers with CWLA Staff Nadine Harris, Chief Financial Officer What partnerships has CWLA developed that can benefit member agencies financially?
How can other agencies make changes within their organization if they’re struggling financially?
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The economy has had a significant impact on all of us and we all share the same concern: How do we make it through these difficult economic times? All organizations should have a budget in place, monitor actual figures to the budget monthly, and make required adjustments with revenue or expenses. Cash flow management is very critical in tandem with the budget and will provide the tools necessary to operate more efficiently. Organizations should look for ways to streamline processes, only spend on essential expenses, and increase revenue. If cuts are necessary, ensure they do not have a negative affect on the organization’s customers or members.
all conferences and meetings—just like we did for our annual National Conference—and remit all payments to our lockbox rather than to remote WLA knows how hard agenoffices or to headquarters. cies work to get certified with We have also streamlined our COA, JCAHO, and CARF, so monthly accounting processes to we give a 5% discount on membership ensure timely distribution of finandues to organizations that carry those cial statements. To further improve accreditations. Because CWLA is also our financial data, we are in the proa COA Sponsoring Organization, COA cess of interfacing our time reportin turn gives CWLA members a 25% ing, accounting, and payroll systems. discount on their accreditation fees. This project will benefit the organizaWe are also partnered with the tion across the board by automating National Human Services Assembly, processes, eliminating duplicate which enables us to provide our memefforts, and giving us the ability to bers significant discounts on everyday centralize data so both our headquaritems like office products, supplies, and ters and regional staff can access it. food. CWLA members are encouraged Two other CWLA staff—Jeff to visit www.cwla.purchasingpoint.org Bormaster and and use the CWLA Lynda Arnold— member pass code, are leading the The one thing to keep in mind CWLA 1920, to is that you are not alone. Many programmatic take advantage of processes to ensure these discounts. organizations are facing the the needs of our No matter what same challenges. program mangers the size of your are met. organization, you As part of my administrative duties, can benefit from this shared purchasI took the lead on overseeing the update ing program to get significant price cuts. to our phone system. We’ve made it What changes have you made more user-friendly and have added a in CWLA’s finance department? feature to route calls to several individuals simultaneously when our receptionSince my arrival last year, our focus ist is not available, so customers will has been to give our members and always be able to talk to someone durfunders confidence in the safeguarding ing business hours. In addition, our and use of their funds. As a result, we system now allows for you to reach all are redirecting all payments to our staff—whether at headquarters or in lockbox to ensure funds are deposited regional offices—through a dial-byin a timely fashion. We are working name feature after hours. We welcome with our business development team any additional recommendations to to implement an event management further improve our communications program that will give members and with our members and customers. others the ability to register online for
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What might you suggest for agencies looking to better manage their money? A budget is very important but becomes a more useful tool with the preparation of cash flow projections to ensure there are enough funds to pay immediate expenses. The projections can reflect periods of slow cash receipts, assist with the timing of incurring large expenditures, and aid in scheduling payment of payables, thereby increasing your ability to plan your cash flow. In order to improve processes, it helps to discuss your current operations with appropriate consultants, such as your bank representative, and auditors. The one thing to keep in mind is that you are not alone. Many organizations are facing the same challenges and consultants can share information about how their customers resolved them.
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Child Welfare League of America
WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN & YOUTH
Advancing the CWLA Agenda nactment of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (P.L. 110351) significantly advanced many areas of CWLA’s Children’s Legislative Agenda. The most momentous child welfare legislation in more than a decade, the Fostering Connections Act provides considerable opportunities—even in our country’s grim economic situation—to improve outcomes for vulnerable children, youth, and families. 2009 brought a new President, a new Congress, and revived energy for change, community involvement, and refocusing of American priorities. With so much momentum behind the Fostering Connections Act and the new political landscape, now is the time to re-establish the White House Conference on Children and Youth, to guide our remaining legislative priorities! CWLA wishes to share this impressive list of accomplishments and advancements with you, as it is a true tribute of your advocacy. Every time you raise your voice on behalf of children and youth, someone is listening and it is our collective voice that brings about positive reform. CWLA encourages you to continue to work with us, so that children and families are truly made a national priority!
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ENACTED: ✔ Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, which • provides first-ever federal support for relative caregivers; • offers a state option to continue federal support for youth in foster care up to age 21; • opens Title IV-E training funds to private child welfare agencies, court personnel, attorneys, GALs, and court appointed special advocates; • grants tribes direct access to Title IV-E funds; • de-links adoption assistance from the outdated AFDC program; • reauthorizes the Adoption Incentives Program; and • promotes educational stability and better health care coordination and oversight for children in foster care.
✔ Preservation of the Medicaid TCM and Rehab Services Options ✔ Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
✔ Loan Forgiveness for Social Workers in the Higher Education Act ✔ Provisions in the economic recovery legislation that will help children and families, such as a temporary increase for Medicaid and Title IV-E and additional funds for important social programs such as TANF and Head Start
✔ Reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED HELP AND SUPPORT! For more information, visit www.cwla.org.
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