INSTITU TE INSI GHT S Issue 19 | January 2022
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
RESEARCH & AFFILIATE UPDATES RESEARCH BRIEF
On behalf of the Institute, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year!
The Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families, the Institute-funded longitudinal examination of the state’s child welfare workforce, continues to be an integral part of our work. Co-principal investigators and Institute affiliates, Drs. Dina Wilke and Melissa Radey (Florida State University) are continuing to explore the data and work with our GROW Center teams to provide data-informed recommendations for programming. Click here to check out their latest research brief on workers’ experiences of client violence.
I hope the new year has started off well for our child welfare community. I am proud of all we accomplished as a team in 2021. You can see the highlights of our productive year in our recap video, Year in Review, and read about them in our 2021 Abbreviated Annual Report. If you haven’t yet, please head to our website to read about our exciting work at the GROW Center. Along with key partners, we are co-creating a supportive community for the child welfare professionals in our state with their well-being as a high priority. We understand that it is critically important to stabilize and strengthen our workforce so that we can offer the best services to families. Florida’s Legislative Session begins this week, and the Institute will be present and available to provide evidence-informed recommendations to our child welfare policy makers. Updates or changes to social policy relating to children and families will be shared with each of you.
Dr. Jessica Pryce, director
GROW CENTER ADVISORY COMMITTEE mark your calendars for May 9 and 10. This year our theme will be Innovations in Workforce Resilience. We will be highlighting workforce-oriented research, as well as creative programs and strategies that are in progress or underway throughout the state. Please join us to learn more about them. To prioritize the safety and health of our community, the Institute will monitor CDC recommendations regarding large group gatherings.
The GROW Center was developed to prepare and support the child welfare workforce in Florida from classroom to case work to competent leadership. The Institute is seeking child welfare professionals in Florida who care about improving the lives of our state’s children and families and are committed to transforming the child welfare profession to serve on the inaugural GROW Center Advisory Committee (GCAC). The GCAC will uphold, promote, and advocate for the GROW Center’s innovation of child welfare curricula, support of child welfare professionals, and transformation of the child welfare workplace throughout the state of Florida. Applications to serve on the GCAC will open February 1 on the Institute website. Apply by February 28! Questions about the Advisory Committee can be addressed to Kristina Finch, Program Director of the GROW Center, at kfinch@fsu.edu.
This month, we look forward to beginning our first initiative from the GROW Center, the Alliance for Workforce Enhancement Initiative. This will be a 3-year partnership focused on building leadership capacity within our organizations and improving the wellbeing of our agencies.
January is also human trafficking prevention month, and the Institute will be sharing information and resources about how child welfare professionals can help stop human trafficking, modern day slave labor, and child trafficking. Follow the Institute (@FSUChildWelfare) to learn more about the work we are doing at the Institute related to human trafficking, along with resources from our partners. Share our infographic with your colleagues!
Attention student researchers! The Institute is excited to invite student-led proposals for poster presentations at our 2022 symposium! Proposals should be focused on innovations in workforce resilience and are due March 1 at 5 p.m. EST.
We are also excited to announce our Annual Symposium, which will be held in-person in Tallahassee. Please
We look forward to collaborating and learning from each other. We wish you a healthy and happy year!
Click here to view the invitation for proposals. The primary presenter must be a student and will receive an honorarium if selected to present their work.
POSTER PRESENTATION RFP
1
LOOKING BACK... 2021 A YEAR IN REVIEW LOOKING BACK... 2021 A YEAR IN REVIEW
Click here to watch the year in review video
1
2
3
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
During the 2020 Session, Senate Bill 1326 moved through both chambers successfully and was passed into law. In the 2021 Session, the Institute received $10 million in recurring funding from the state budget to carry out the workforce initiatives outlined in the bill.
The 2021-2022 Priority Research Award was intended for research relevant to supporting foster youth and young adults for success. With this award, the Institute supported two translational research projects that will result in policy or practice recommendations: Platform for Social Action: Engaging and Supporting the Voice of Youth in Foster Care Receiving Independent Living Services, a study led by Drs. Marianna Colvin and Morgan Cooley, and Maternity Group Homes for Young Mothers in Florida: A Mixed Methods Examination, a study conducted by Drs. Melissa Radey and Shamra Boel-Studt.
ALIA WEBINARS In the summer and fall of 2021, ALIA Innovations and the Institute hosted a four-part training series: Preparing for the Family First Prevention Services Act. This free virtual training was attended by nearly 150 child welfare professionals in Florida. The sessions covered topics related to changing the child welfare system to preserve and strengthen families, managing organizational change, and creating a traumacompetent organization. Resources from the training sessions are available on the Institute website. LEARNING EXCHANGES & OEL COACHING The Office of Early Learning contracted with the Institute beginning in 2019 for diversity, equity, and inclusion awareness coaching and training. Institute consultants worked with Early Learning Coalitions (ELCs) through the spring of 2021 providing focused technical assistance and coaching activities to move the ELCs into action stages of racial equity work. The Institute also conducted a process evaluation to assess short-term outcomes and progress towards program goals. The culmination of these activities was a list of recommendations for the OEL to implement with their ELCs.
4
5
SYMPOSIUM ON FOSTER & TRANSITION-AGE YOUTH The Institute’s fourth annual research symposium was held virtually May 26 and 27. The symposium topic, Supporting Foster Youth and Young Adults for Success, was explored by expert speakers, panelists, child welfare professionals, and youth with lived experiences. Discussions centered around building relationships with Florida’s youth and young adults as they transition to independent living after they turn 18 as well as the programs, services, and resources available to them. Symposium resources and selected presentations are available on the Institute website.
6
7
EVALUATING KINSHIP CARE Institute researcher Dr. Anna Yelick led a research team in Phase III of evaluating kinship navigator practices in Florida. The 2021 report submitted to the Department of Children and Families includes a final evaluation plan framework and the final preliminary report for the process and outcome evaluations for the kinship navigator program at Kids Central, Inc. The report provides a framework to the Department on the expectations for evaluating programs aiming to be reviewed by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse.
8
ADDRESSING COVID-19 The Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families, the ongoing longitudinal study of the frontline child welfare workforce in Florida funded by the Institute, surveyed participants to gather data about how COVID-19 impacted participants’ physical, mental/emotional, and financial wellbeing, as well as performance of their job responsibilities. Results were provided in the research brief: Examining Child Welfare Workers’ Perceptions of the Professional Impacts of Early COVID-19 Shutdowns. The FSPSF team also published COVID-19’s Social Ecological Impacts on Health and Human Services Worker Well-being in the Social Work in Public Health Journal.
9
ECC EVALUATION The Institute concluded its ZERO TO THREE-funded evaluation of Florida’s early childhood courts (ECCs) in 2021 (PI: Dr. Lisa Magruder). The mixed-methods evaluation focused on therapeutic modalities related to parenting and the parent-child relationship and included the perspectives of clinicians, parents, caregivers, and other professional ECC team members. Click here to read the report. THE GROW CENTER
10
SENATE BILL 80 Chapter 2021-169 of Florida Law (Senate Bill 80) mandates a multi-year research infinitive focused on teens and young adults who are aging out of the child welfare system. Utilizing the appropriation from the state, the Institute began planning activites to: evaluate the effectiveness of the state’s efforts to assist youth in foster care in developing life skills; describe the current requirements for caregivers, the information and supports they receive, and their levels of engagement; identify best practices for helping youth in foster care; and recommend changes to enhance the effectiveness of the state’s approach so prepare youth for self-sufficiency.
To address the components of Senate Bill 1326, the Institute created the GROW Center, which will create a dynamic through-line from classroom to casework to retain workers who grow into leaders in the workforce. The GROW Center is the heart of the Institute’s professional advancement offerings and will facilitate all management and administrative tasks, curriculum development, and coordination of activities. Learn more about the GROW Center on the Institute website. 2
LOOKING FORWARD... LOOKING BACK... THE INSTITUTE’S 2021 A YEAR IN2022 REVIEW AGENDA
1
ADVANCED CERTIFICATIONS (ADCERTS) As part of the GROW Center’s ALIGN initiative, two Advanced Certification courses will launch in 2022. Understanding Substance Use Disorders in Child Welfare is an online training intended to provide child welfare professionals with an understanding of how substance use disorders impact families in the child welfare system. This AdCert will include multiple pathways based on professional needs and the curriculum will be delivered with a mental health and trauma-informed lens. STARS (Strength, Trauma, and Resilience Studies Professional Certification), an evidence-based, trauma-informed interactive training, that will motivate, educate, and enhance the skills of the child welfare workforce to improve child safety. The Institute is happy to partner with the FSU Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families, and Children and the Institute for Family Violence Studies to offer these advanced training opportunities.
2
5
PRIORITY RESEARCH AWARDS The 2022-2023 Priority Research Award is intended for research relevant to innovations in workforce resilience. The Institute is particularly interested in funding proposals that have the potential to inform GROW Center activities and that incorporate a strengths-based orietnation. Two projects will be awarded during the 2022-2023 cycle. We will announce the winners this spring.
6
NEW PODCAST SEASONS The fourth season of the Institute’s podcast series premieres this month. This season, Transition-age Foster Youth Get Plugged into Resources, is hosted by Dr. Elizabeth Wynter, Executive Director for the Selfless Love Foundation. The six episodes explore Florida’s array of services specifically designed for youth and young adults that have experienced foster care. Episodes air every other Wednesday, starting January 12. The fifth season of the Institute’s podcast series will air in summer 2022.
2022 SYMPOSIUM The Institute’s annual symposium will be held in Tallahassee on Monday, May 9 and Tuesday May 10. This year’s symposium will focus on Innovations in Workforce Resilience. We will host expert speakers, panelists, and child welfare professionals. Details about registration will be available soon!
3
The Institute is pleased to announce its funding of a mixed methods study of the Authentic Family Engagement and Strengthening (AFES) approach. The AFES Approach is a flexible, multi-faceted child welfare approach developed to address the needs of Black families impacted by child welfare services and reduce removals of Black children from their homes following a maltreatment investigation. Initial findings are promising, though continued evaluation is needed. Co-principal investigators and Institute affiliates, Drs. Morgan Cooley and Marianna Colvin (Florida Atlantic University) will explore child welfare workers’ perceptions of racial justice, their racial justice values, and how that impacts their work. Those findings will inform the development of a training curriculum and coaching guide to help workers engage in self-reflection around racial discrimination and systemic racism; reducing discrimination in their work with families; prioritizing relationships; and empowering Black families in the system.
4
AWE PILOT SITES
The Alliance for Workforce Enhancement (AWE), the GROW Center initiative mandated by Senate Bill 1326, is launching in just a few weeks. In 2021, we selected our first two pilot sites—DCF’s Leon County Services Center in Tallahassee and Partnership for Strong Families, the lead community-based care lead agency in Gainesville. Year one of the AWE initiative will focus on establishing a well-being baseline for both our pilot organizations as a whole, as well as for the organizations’ individual workers. These pilot sites are our partners in the continued development and refinement of the AWE program. 850-644-7201
FICW@FSU.EDU
7
NEW INSTITUTE WEBSITE
AUTHENTIC FAMILY ENGAGEMENT & STRENGTHENING
To better meet our mission of translating relevant knowledge to the child welfare professional community in Florida, the Institute is launching a new website in the spring of 2022, that will feature streamlined pages for our projects and legislative priorities, as well as a searchable resource library that will house all the Institute’s publications. Keep an eye out for an announcement about the new website’s debut.
8
HUMAN TRAFFICKING REPORT Over the last few years, the Institute has collaborated with the Department of Children and Families to assess its Human Trafficking Screening Tool. Analyses revealed that the Tool is promising in its ability to detect trafficking; however, its reliability needs to be improved. To help better understand how the Tool is being implemented, the Institute conducted interviews and focus groups with screeners. We plan to release a report of our findings in late January on our website.
9
COACHING In late 2021, the Institute along with members of the Department of Children and Families, UCF, USF, and FSU, convened a work group to create a strategic approach to implementing a multi-faceted coaching program for child welfare workers in Florida. In 2022, we look forward to working with our partners and affiliates to finalize efforts and create a system of support that emphasizes well-being, resiliency, modeling behavior for families, and reflective feedback. Stayed tuned to our website for updates! FICW.FSU.EDU
@FSUChildWelfare
3