Transcript North Carolina’s Family Support and Child Welfare System

Building a System of Care in Child Welfare:
North Carolina
MRS/SOC is System Reform
-From intake to permanency.
-3 key components to this reform:
– Policy reform
– Philosophy reform
– Shift in Focus
“It takes a village---”
•Families are unique and distinctive
•One size still does not fit all
•Families are more likely to engage and carry
out a plan that they have truly taken part in
planning-child and family teams
•We won’t be involved forever, we need to build
a support network of extended family and
community partners
North Carolina’s Family Support and
Child Welfare System
MRS
Work First
Community
Based
Programs
CPS
Foster
Care
Adoption
Family-centered practice and system of care
principles are our foundation
-
System of Care Supports
MRS Implementation
A proven framework for:
Organizing and coordinating services and
resources into a comprehensive and
interconnected network by:
•developing PARTNERSHIPS between
individuals, families, and agencies
•building on individual and community
STRENGTHS and making the most of
existing resources.
•Improving the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of
frontline service providers toward more FAMILYCENTERED practices.
System of Care History
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In NC, began in 1994 with
national mental health
System of Care grants
through SAMHSA (PenPal, NC FACES, SOC NET,
Mecklenburg CARES)
2003 NCDSS received
System of Care Grant from
the Children’s Bureau to
expand SOC to other
target populations
including families in the
child welfare system
System of
Care
System of Care
Guiding Principles/Values
• Interagency
Collaboration
• Child and Family
Partnership
• Individualized
Strengths-based Care
• Cultural Competence
• Community-based
Services & supports
• Accountability to
results
MRS/SOC Success =
Successful Partnering
Three critical levels of partnership:
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State
Community
Family
Strategic Planning
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At both the state and local level
Plan based on SOC principles
Continuous evaluation
Yearly planning retreats with TA
Parallel process
State Level Contributions
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NCDSS merging MRS/SOC more completely- SOC values part of
NCDSS mission-vision/ SOC incorporated into child welfare policy/
MRS/SOC regional meetings
SOC principles driving the PIP: child, youth, and family involvement,
interagency collaboration, cultural competency, court involvement,
accountability to results
Mandatory child and family team training for all child welfare staff
Mandatory Cultural Competency training
Guidance around engaging service providers using regional CPR
Policy requires that family members are involved in and compensated
for attending meetings, training, etc. and use of family co-trainers
All sections of NCDSS are involved in family centered practice training
and in the development of the section’s strategic planning
TA from National Resource Centers to strategically plan with CW
supervisors to strengthen child welfare supervision at the local DSS
Special projects coordinator position
Presentations at conferences/ Poverty Simulation
Strong ties to State Collaborative for Children, Youth, and Families
State Collaborative
for Children, Youth, and Families
• NCDSS stakeholder group with family representation
• Consensus of child and family team definition
• Cross system child and family team curriculum with
blended funds
• Website with blended funds
• Charter and strategic plan
• Cross agency Committees including technical
assistance and membership
• System of Care Conferences/Training Events
• Statewide SOC Conference with 350+
Community and Family
Partnerships
Local County Collaborative groups
Community Collaboratives
Integrating Resources & Response*
One Unified Approach
Child Serving Agencies ,
Community Resources and
Families
$
$
$
$
$
Local
Collaborative
Better
outcomes for
families and
communities
Maximizing Resources for a Comprehensive System of Services/Supports:
Braided Funding & Blended Services
Family, Neighborhood & Community Involvement
* John Franz, 1999
Local SOC Efforts
• SOC coordinators at DSS
• Family partners
• Relationships with MH SOC regional
coordinators
• Cross training
• Community building events
• Building local collaborative groups and
structures such as care review teams
• Coordinating services and service planning
through child and family teams
SOC in NC: A Work in Progress