Allied for Better Outcomes

1. Allied for Better Outcomes Presenter Information: Jean McIntosh, Senior Fellow Center for the Study of Social Policy www.cssp.org jeanmc@whidbey.net Pat Stanislaski, Director Partnering for Prevention, LLC partneringforprevention@gmail.com www.partneringforprevention.com

2. “An Undervalued and Underutilized Partnership – Child Welfare and Early Childhood Working Together……” ……for Families

3. This workshop is about developing new perspectives. Is our work connected to other helpers? How is our work similar? What partnerships help make families safer and healthier?

4. The challenge: abuse and neglect of young children • 75% of the child fatalities were children 4 years old or younger – almost half of that number were infants under 1 year. • Children under 5 are the fastest growing child welfare population, ranging from 27% to 43% of caseloads state to state. • Children 0-1 make up 20% of the child welfare population. • The trauma of being abused or neglected is dramatically compounded by removal from families at this important stage of development.

5. Given our traditional approaches and growing numbers of young children - maybe we’ve been missing something! Where have we been focusing our efforts and our resources?

6. prevention strategy deficit strategy • Stop child maltreatment before it occurs • Provide support to the adults and children in the family • That is, build protective factors in all families • Diagnose problems and treat them • Find and serve parents diagnosed to be at risk of providing less than optimal environments for their children, such as teen parents, single mothers, or low income parents

7. What are Protective Factors? Are they the key to supporting and helping to build successful families with thriving children? Characteristics that decrease the likelihood of a person becoming a victim or perpetrator of abuse or neglect because they provide a buffer against risk. (CDC) Conditions or attributes in individuals, families, and communities that increase well-being. Safeguards helping individuals find resources/strategies to function effectively, even under stress.

8. Parental Resilience Social Connections Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development Concrete Support in Times of Need Social and Emotional Development of Children

9. How Do These Protective Factors Help Us Reach Young Families? The Protective Factors can serve as a framework to engage all families (birth, kin, resource) in ways that both support safety and increase ability to cope with stressStrengthening Families can help child welfare service workers (differential response, family maintenance, investigators, family reunification, adoptions etc) better meet the development needs of children The Strengthening Families approach can provide practical tools for collaborating with early childhood providers to support children’s safety, permanence, and well-being

10. Collaboration Work with CCR&R’s to train child care providers about protective factors: new allies created Talk with judges and attorneys about unique needs of young children Seek out high quality early care and education programs for all children 0-5, if appropriate. Develop quality rating and improvement systems Work with community based agencies around differential response models Policy Develop collaborative agreements with child care administrators and licensing Design court reports for young children which focus on optimal child development and family strength, as well as risk and safety Require quality early childhood program support for all children 3-5, and assessment for children 0-3; create MOA’s with Head Start Require contracts with CBO’s to include a protective factors approach Intentional collaboration and policy changes

11. How can you use these Protective Factors in your work? Relationships—within families and communities, between families and providers, and across systems—are essential as vehicles for change

12. Make a new friend! Work with someone in the room. • Think of a family you work with or know of….a family with multiple problems. • Write a couple of sentences describing the situation this family is in - especially the challenges they are facing. • Take 2 minutes and share this family’s struggles with your partner or in your group.

13. Parental Resilience The ability to “bounce back” from stress – to believe there are solutions and to have the confidence and support to find them.

14. Parental Resilience Who or what might help this family handle pressure / stress? How important are trusting relationships?

15. Social Connections decrease isolation andhelp create “networks”. Is it easy to make these connections? How significant a role does culture play in connecting folks?

16. Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development Why is it so hard to ask for advice about parenting? How does the way people are parented impact the way they parent?

17. Concrete Support in Times of Need Do most families even know where to get help? Why does it feel so stigmatizing to ask for help?

18. The Healthy Social & Emotional Development of Children Why is it so important that children learn to express emotions, relate to others and solve conflicts? How do we teach them to do that?

19. But before we can work with families,……who are we? What assumptions do we make about those families? What preconceived ideas do we carry around with us? How open are we to new approaches?

20. An Hispanic parent with limited English skills – works in a hotel kitchen, has inconsistent child care for her 5 year old daughter and leaves her alone at times A professor from India, new in the US, whose youngest son (age 4) is developmentally delayed and non-verbal A teen mom rejected by her family, bunking with friends, with a chronically sick infant A well-known philanthropist, the spouse of a corporate executive and parent of two small children, whose prescription drug use caused a car wreck, injuring the children Meet 4 families who are here in the room with us

21. The “new normal” is about intentionality! • New ways of engaging families • New ways of improving everyday practice • New ways of combining all our efforts to achieve better results