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FY 2021-2022 Carry Forward
TABLE 7C: Fiscal Year 2022 – 2023 Projects Funded by the Institute – Professional Development
Project
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Florida Institute for Child Welfare Website Management
Consultant Services
Total Administration Cost FY22-23 Administration
Project Period Total Award
Principal Investigator/ Contract Entity
9/15/2022 $35,445.00 Tara Orlowski Florida Center for Interactive Media
7/1/2022 to 6/30/2023 $14,700.00 Various consultants with subject-matter expertise
$50,145.00
Total Research and Evaluation Cost FY22-23 $980,078
Total Professional Development Cost FY22-23 $4,201,725
Total Administration Cost FY22-23 $50,145
Overall Total for Contracted Expenses $4,354,499.09
FY 2021-2022 Carry Forward
The Institute had $5.1 million in unspent E&G funds at the end of the budget period. A spending plan was approved by the Board of Governors to use the carryforward monies. Nearly $1.4 million has been earmarked over a 2-year period for several research initiatives. Short descriptions for each follow.
Research Initiatives
Simulation Lab Exploration. The Institute conducted a literature review of simulation labs’ use, primarily in academic and/or child welfare settings. The Institute research and evaluation team will continue to explore how simulation labs could be implemented in Florida. Exploration activities may include travel to existing simulation labs in the U.S., conducting focus groups with the current Florida child welfare workforce regarding their perspectives of simulation labs and potential utility, and
the development of evaluation plans for programming strategies identified by the GROW Center team.
MyALIGN Assessments. Currently, Dr. Erin King, an Institute faculty affiliate at the University of West Florida, is assisting MyALIGN staff with identifying and implementing appropriate worker well-being measures for the MyALIGN platform. The Institute will continue to fund Dr. King’s time on this project and bring in additional support as needed.
Virtual Reality Evaluator. The GROW Center leadership is interested in incorporating virtual reality into its programming. Although the Institute plans to hire several full-time faculty to conduct these types of evaluations in the future, they will not be on-boarded in the near future. Therefore, the Institute will need to contract with an affiliate or other SUS researcher to engage in evaluation planning and execution for programming strategies identified by the GROW Center team.
Parent engagement. Drs. Melissa Radey and Lenore McWey, both faculty at the Florida State University, have submitted a formal research proposal to examine child welfare-involved parents’ perspectives on their safety nets. The central goal of the study is to understand safety nets, including public and private sources and programs, to inform strategies to provide effective child welfare services and interventions responsive to the context of parents’ lives. They will determine (a) how safety nets operate; (b) parents’ decision-making processes in engaging with informal and formal resources; and (c) how safety nets contribute to family outcomes.
Foster parent retention. Although there is a growing body of research related to recruiting, training, licensing, and supporting new foster parents, as well as federal efforts to enhance training content and availability of training to foster parents and child welfare agencies, there are several questions or gaps that may limit the capacity of child welfare systems to create a more stable and even ideal foster care system. Dr. Morgan Cooley, faculty at Florida Atlantic University and an Institute affiliate, along with the Institute and several colleagues, has developed a list of potential research gaps and submitted them to the Department of Children and Families for their consideration regarding pressing needs. The Institute plans to fund a translational research project derived from this list toward the goal of better supporting foster parents in Florida.
Foster Youth Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Given the high trauma exposure rates among foster youth, effective interventions are needed to alleviate associated negative outcomes. Cognitive behavioral intervention for trauma in schools (CBITS) was developed to reduce symptoms of distress and build skills to improve youth’s ability to handle stress and trauma in the future, fostering resilience on the individual, family, and community level. CBITS promotes the individual resilience factors of cognitive flexibility and active coping by using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques to challenge maladaptive thoughts and teach problem-solving coping strategies, which produces more adaptive and behavioral responses to stress. Currently, a team of researchers led by Dr. Tanya Renn of Florida State University, is working in collaboration with Boys Town North Florida to do an open pilot that assesses the feasibility and acceptability of CBITS for foster youth in a group home setting. The open pilot recruited 20 youth into the study. Data from this study will provide information on the adaptations needed to create a more appropriate intervention for delivery in the group home setting, as well as key barriers and facilitators that impact the feasibility and acceptability of CBITS for foster youth in the group home setting. As a next step to the open pilot, the research team is interested in conducting a small-scale randomized control pilot incorporating the adaptations to the delivery of CBITS to examine shot-term outcomes among foster youth who are residing in a group home. The Institute would use these allocated funds to support this next step in the pilot process.
Permanency Primer. Heartland for Children is a community-based care lead agency in Florida under the direction of Institute affiliate Teri Saunders. Heartland is piloting a new program called “Permanency Primer,” which uses seasoned child welfare professionals to be “translators” and coaches for parents. They explain the dependency process to child welfare-involved parents so they can better understand each step, what is expected of them, and the “unspoken” rules and interpretations of those in the system. The overarching goals of the program are to 1) increase reunification rates, and 2) decrease time to reunification. Heartland has asked the Institute to provide evaluation services for this new program.
Sexual Safety. In recent years, Heartland has been working to increase sexual safety in foster homes. Thus far, they have brought in a national consultant, refreshed their foster parent training, implemented sexual safety conversations in the homes, and begun implementation of the Diana Screen of all new foster caregivers. Heartland has asked the Institute to provide evaluation services to ascertain if and how these interventions are increasing sexual safety in foster homes.
Photovoice Research. The Institute is committed to conducting research and evaluation that utilizes community participatory action methodologies, including photovoice. Several Institute affiliates have conducted photovoice research within child welfare, and building on the success of those projects, the Institute will collaborate with the Florida State University procurement office to develop an Intent to Negotiate (ITN) specific to a photovoice research project to be conducted in Florida and involving the experiences of those within the child welfare system (e.g., workers, youth, families).
Pre-symposium workshop. The Institute holds an annual symposium each year. For the FY22-23 symposium, the Institute plans to gather both its faculty affiliate network and its GROW Center Advisory Committee prior to the symposium for tailored programming, and to increase networking and collaboration among these two groups of Institute stakeholders.
Just over $3 million has been allocated for two fiscal years to assist the Department of Children and Families redesign their pre-service training, develop an advanced certification on parent communication and engagement, customize virtual reality scenarios and provide a trainthe-trainer training to the Department, and various other professional development opportunities such as webinars, e-learning modules, and resource videos.
To be expended by June 30, 2023, $350,000 has been set aside for administration activities, (furniture, equipment, and IT services for the new renovated space, and staff development for all Institute staff). A little over $200,000 will be spent on professional development activities within the ALIGN initiative.
