The Journey from Families as Consumers to Family Leadership: Cultivating Human Capital to Bring About Systems Change Early Childhood 2010: Innovation for the Next Generation August 2,

2 cartoon image: "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."

About Us… The Riley Child Development Center LEND program Founded in 1970 Funded by Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Additional funding from grants, research and service reimbursement The Sunny Start Initiative Indiana’s ECCS grant Funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Funded in July

Family Leadership Questions 4 How to expand the cohort of family leaders in Indiana? What are the priority groups? What competencies do family leaders need to have? –“Indianaize” Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Family Competencies

Overall initiative Use model to create an online portal for leaders/potential leaders Help individuals assess skill*Find resources*Document knowledge and skill acquisition Use model to assess resources What do we have? What do we need? Create leadership competency model What is a family leader? Community leader? State/national leader? Focus FIRST on families who have children with disabilities Expand outward to include a broader group of families – First Steps, Head Start, etc Focus FIRST on families who have children with disabilities Expand outward to include a broader group of families – First Steps, Head Start, etc 5

Indiana Family Leadership Initiatives Partners 6 ARC Parent to Parent Governors' Council Parent Training Initiative Family to Family Health Information Center United Cerebral Palsy Down Syndrome Association Autism Society Alexandra Graham Bell Hands and Voices Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Local Parent to Parent organizations

FLI Process 7 Bringing partners together –Why are we committed? What do we each bring? What are the issues? Where do we want this to go? –outcomes

Family Leadership Initiative Outcomes 8 Families are informed and engaged in diverse roles that meet their individual interests. Indiana family organizations and the systems, projects and agencies that serve families will coordinate efforts to leverage resources and facilitate improved family support and information. Indiana families will have meaningful participation and opportunities for leadership on National, State and Local committees, boards and projects related to the development, implementation and evaluation of systems of care.

Indiana Family Leadership Competencies Academic Model Prescriptive technical language Three tiers of leadership –Family –Community –State/National Retained as working structure/background May have utility for evaluation CYSHC/Disability specific Family/Public Translation Non technical end-user focused language Three tiers of leadership –Family –Community –State/National Language used when accessing Initiative Usable by various family cohorts beyond disabilities 9

Before….and After Academic Model Demonstrate an understanding and ability to implement principles of family-provider partnerships so as to assure the health and well being of children and their families. Translation Develop partnership r elationships. 10

Competencies and Key Skills 11 Competency 1: Family Provider Partnerships Develop Partnership relationships Use Effective Communication Strategies Competency 2: Cultural Proficiency Display cultural proficiency when building provider relationships and working across systems

Competencies and Key Skills (continued) 12 Competency 3: Delivery and Support Systems Find and use needed resources Improve coordination and integration of service delivery systems Competency 4: Advocacy Advocate for emerging best practices Influence systems to strengthen them

Resource Analysis Process 13 Step 1: Gather partner identified resources to evaluate Step 2: Compare resources to key leadership behaviors in competency model (satisfies knowledge and Step 3: Rate the resource –Fully meets the behavior (satisfies knowledge and skill building) –Partially meets the behavior: Knowledge/skill building –Minimally meets the behavior Step 4: Formulate findings and recommendations

Online Portal flow chart Online portal Identify leadership goals Clarify what leadership entails Assess gaps Locate resources to close gaps Document progress in closing gaps 14

Next Steps 15 Facilitate a process where families can access a variety of opportunities: –Fill gaps in trainings/learning opportunities –Build individualized portfolios –Identify training opportunities –Fill gaps in learning opportunities –Translate to additional populations of families

Next Steps – continued 16 –Increase # of families involved in at all levels –Increase # of families employed in leadership roles –Fund –Market and package

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Contact Us 18 Rylin Rodgers RCDC Family Discipline Coordinator Andrea L. Wilkes Public Health Administrator Maternal and Children Health Indiana State Department of Health