Bridging the Gap Between Early Intervention/ Early Childhood and Child Welfare Barb Kempf, LMSW Permanency Director KVC Behavioral Health Care (Atchison, Leavenworth, Wyandotte) Scott Kedrowski, MS Coordinator of Wyandotte County Infant Toddler Services

History: In the Beginning  Agreement from KVC and ITS that the system needed improvement  General lack of staff knowledge of each others programs  Lack of knowledge of processes: KVC/ ITS  Presenting Barriers:  Time, Paperwork, Staff Turnover

Action steps:  Referrals:  Mapped referral process (See handout #1)  New referral form (See Handout #2)  Job shadowing  Identified point person from each agency  Educated Case Managers on referral process and paperwork, parent signature  Information back to KVC worker  Fax referral form (see handout #3)  referral by referral source (see handout #4)

Action steps:  Court issues:  Met with Judges and Court Service Officer to build understanding  Staff:  willingness of staff to see children in the full spectrum of natural environment  work cooperatively on IFSP and case plan meetings  ITS post evaluation recommendations always include early intervention services of some type which provides child welfare next steps  LICC:  a key piece being child welfare

Benefits:  More administrative involvement and communication  Diminished lack of responsiveness from workers  Completed child packets- timely services  Increased exchange of information concerning child/ family  Supported transition for a child moving from out of home care to permanency placement

Benefits:  Increased child find  Increased community knowledge of available services  Expanded KVC’s capacity to partner with other Early Childhood programs  Expanded ITS’s capacity to partner with other Social Service programs

Data: Referred from KVC to ITS

Data: Eligible Children Referred From KVC to ITS

More Data: Percentage of Eligible Children Referred from KVC to ITS that Qualify for Services

Data:  CHILDREN REFFERED:  referred that was 37.2% of the possible children from KVC of those 50% qualified for ITS services  referred that was 56.1% of the possible children from KVC of those 29% qualified for ITS services  referred that was 81% of the possible children from KVC of those 33% qualified for ITS services  referred that was 100% of the possible children from KVC of those 33% qualified for ITS services  referred that was 100% of the possible children from KVC of those 48% qualified for ITS services WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

Ongoing Collaboration:  KVC and ITS provide bi-yearly all staff presentations  KVC identifies and allocates work space for ITS worker  ITS worker allocates weekly office hours at KVC  Joint visits when concerns arise with families  Joint staffings to increase collaborative planning  Shared professional development opportunities

How do we Bring it Home?  Group exercise (see handout #5)

Questions