1. A PLAN FOR A RADICAL CHANGE IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM
A New Direction in Foster Care
Foster Care Redesign
A PLAN FOR A RADICAL CHANGE IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM

2. Eliminate foster care as we know it in the State of Florida
A New Direction in Foster Care
Bottom Line…
Eliminate foster care as we know it in the State of Florida

3. A New Direction in Foster Care
Performance
Incremental Change
Radical Change

4. A New Direction in Foster Care
Guiding Principle: Protect the safety and well-being of Florida’s children & families

5. A New Direction in Foster Care
Fact
At-risk children who remain with their families do better than children in foster care.

6. A New Direction in Foster Care
Facts…
Children Who Stayed with Families
Children in Foster Care
Arrested at least once
14%
44%
Became a teen mother
33%
56%
Held a job at least 3 months
20%
*MIT’s Sloan School of Management

7. A New Direction in Foster Care
Minnesota Study
Minnesota Study shows: “children placed into unfamiliar foster care showed higher levels of internalizing problems compared with children reared by maltreating caregivers, children in familia care, and children who received adequate care giving.”

8. A New Direction in Foster Care
Chapin Hall/Jim Casey
Chapin Hall: The 500,000 children in foster care are more likely than other kids to drop out of school, commit crimes, abuse drugs and become teen parents.
Jim Casey: Confirms what experience and observations tell us: Kids who can remain in their homes do better than in foster care…Some kids, for their own safety, need to be removed from their families, but in marginal cases of abuse, more should be done to keep them together.

9. Ulrich Group Focus Group Comments
A New Direction in Foster Care
Ulrich Group Focus Group Comments
“Clients expressed remorse and frustration at being removed from their home to foster care.”
“Many clients were defensive of their own parents’ lack of parenting skills, claiming they would never neglect or abuse their own children.”
“A lot of the time it makes things worse for the kids than the situation they were pulled out of.”

10. A New Direction in Foster Care

11. Foster Care Redesign Goals
A New Direction in Foster Care
Foster Care Redesign Goals
Safely reduce the number of children in foster care through intensive family support
Meet or exceed the State of Florida’s goal of a 50% reduction of Children in Care by 2012

12. Foster Care Redesign Goals
A New Direction in Foster Care
Foster Care Redesign Goals
Assure a safe and permanent home for every child who comes to the attention of the child welfare system
Align Results with the Casey Family Programs 2020 Vision on foster care reduction and addressing diversity disproportionality

13. Foster Care Redesign Strategy
A New Direction in Foster Care
Foster Care Redesign Strategy
Change the culture of removal to a culture of safe services
Expedite permanency and reduce time in care by identifying where existing services and protocols can be augmented or changed

14. A New Direction in Foster Care
Introduce preventative services to divert children from coming into care and supporting a family in crisis
Focus on timely permanency for the child

15. Foster Care Redesign Strategy
A New Direction in Foster Care
Foster Care Redesign Strategy
Use results analysis and “best practice” reviews as a catalyst for change and as a measurement of success
Develop a community consensus to support family-based prevention services

16. A New Direction in Foster Care
Funding
Other than start-up, Title IVE Waiver would support this initiative
Florida is only state with this ability

17. Building Sustainable Change
A New Direction in Foster Care
Building Sustainable Change
Change the culture of the Child Protection Workers
Offer support in decision making
More team decisions on removals
Provide Master Level Social Workers to staff
Develop training on new system utilizing a practice model with real cases

18. Sustainable Partnerships
A New Direction in Foster Care
Specialized Judicial Interventions
Rocket Docket: Specialized staffing to ensure permanency achieved as quickly as possible
Increased Expedited Termination of Parental Rights (TPR)
Shorter case plans

19. A New Direction in Foster Care
Introduced Mediation Process to Expedite Reunification
Create special supports for Domestic Violence cases
Intensive Training
Specialized CPI “experts”
DV Advocate funded through Auditor General’s Office
Create special supports for Substance Abuse Cases
Family Intervention Specialists conduct assessments

20. A New Direction in Foster Care
Offer alternatives to families in crisis to ensure child safety
Enhanced VPS (Voluntary Protective Services)
STEPS (Strengthening Ties and Empowering Parents)
Co-located with Child Protective Investigators
Trained in Family Team Conferencing

21. Phase I Do everything possible to safely reduce
A New Direction in Foster Care
Phase I
Do everything possible to safely reduce
the number of children in foster care!

22. A New Direction in Foster Care
Cultural Change
Make it Unacceptable for a child to grow up in Foster Care
Do what ever it takes to keep a child safely with their family

23. A New Direction in Foster Care
Cultural Change
Training
Team-Based Decision making
Neighborhood Centers

24. A New Direction in Foster Care
Phase I - Diversion
Co-locate CPI & Prevention Staff
Drug Court on every case involving drugs
Increase service offerings (Alternative Response Pilot/ARS, Enhanced Voluntary Protective Services/VPS, STEPS Diversion)
Casey Peer TA
Domestic Violence Advocate
Domestic Violence Specialists
Casey Specialists – Master Level Social Workers
Florida State University MSW (Social Work Program)
Mediation
Develop additional Neighborhood Centers (Cassat House)
Revise Assessment Tools

25. Reduce Caseloads/Speed Permanency
A New Direction in Foster Care
Reduce Caseloads/Speed Permanency
Rocket Docket
Expedited TPR
Aggressively Adopt
Relative Searches
Relative Caregiver Supports
Shortened case plans
Youth Villages Program
Substance Abuse Protocol
Domestic Violence Protocol

26. Phase I – Project Organization
A New Direction in Foster Care
Phase I – Project Organization
Project Manager
Project Plan
Metrics
Outside Evaluation

27. A New Direction in Foster Care
Phase 1 - Marketing
Media Plan
Community Meetings
Monthly Communiqué
Internal Communications 27 27

28. We’re Already Making a Difference
A New Direction in Foster Care
We’re Already Making a Difference
We’ve reduced the number of children
coming into care… 28 28

29. We’re Already Making a Difference
We’ve reduced the number of children coming into care….. 29 29

30. A New Direction in Foster Care
GETTING STARTED

31. A New Direction in Foster Care
Do Your Homework
Get Your Facts Straight
Review Data Trends
Review Secondary Research

32. A New Direction in Foster Care
Create Teams and Work Groups
Executive Oversight Committee
Steering Committee
Core Management Working Committee
Field Staff Advisory Committee

33. A New Direction in Foster Care
Clear The Deck
Solicit The Community
Review ALL Current Processes
Select Project Manager
Identify Key Barriers
Partition The Project

34. A New Direction in Foster Care
Initial Strategy
Change Management Project
Change the Culture-”Out of the Box, Means Out Of The Box”
Train Everyone On Culture Change
Audit Everything: Reinforce The Message
Communicate At All Levels All The Time
Develop Processes For Change
Determine Measurements

35. A New Direction in Foster Care
Examples Of Change Management
Co-located Investigative and Prevention Staff
Created Neighborhood Center
Joint Training of Staff
Non-Judgmental Process Change
Look At Everything That Affects TIME IN CARE and REMOVALS

36. A New Direction in Foster Care
Engage the Community
Develop A Marketing Plan
Communicate Early and Often
Be Transparent
Emphasize the Success Stories

37. A New Direction in Foster Care
Look For Funding
Casey Family Programs
VOCA
TANF
Title IV Waiver
Medicaid

38. Phase II Redesigning The Foster Care System!
A New Direction in Foster Care
Phase II
Redesigning The Foster Care System!

39. A New Direction in Foster Care
Next Steps
System Redesign
Implement comprehensive changes based upon Phase 1 experience
Licensed Foster Care is eliminated and replaced with short term professional Respite Homes
A single, comprehensive service plan is immediately available to protect the child and support the family through reinvestment in resources from deep end to preservation services

40. A New Direction in Foster Care
Next Steps
Comprehensive programs are available for Domestic Violence, Substance Abuse and Mental and Physical Health issues
The Child Welfare Worker is viewed as an asset to the family in crisis, not someone to be feared