Family Connections: The First Two Years

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Family ConnectionsThe First Two Years

• You have been a great help. It is good to know
  that there is someone out there rooting for me.
• Family Connections Family
• Arizona Department of Economic SecurityOffice of
  Community Partnerships Innovative Practices

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Overview

• Present the Arizona Family Connections model for
  kinship/grandfamilies
• Identify family strengths and challenges
• Share one familys story
• Advocacy

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Family Connections

• There are 10 teams operating in Arizona
• 4205 W. Glenrosa, Phoenix
• 5441 E. 22nd Street, Tucson
• 1500 E. Thomas, Phoenix
• 290 East La Canada, Avondale
• 815 N. 18th St., Phoenix
• 250 So. Toole, Tucson
• 3631 W. Thomas Road, Phoenix
• 163 N. Dobson Road, Mesa
• 2750 S. 4th Avenue, Tucson
• 1011 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

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Team Composition

• Team Lead-CPS Experience
• CPS staff - Experience
• TANF/FAA staff- Experience
• JOBS case manager
• Administrative/Case Aide
• DV Advocates on selected teams (Contract
  Position)
• Teams have different specialties i.e. DV,
  Kinship, or CPS

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Focus

• Reduce the number of children in foster care
• Reduction in TANF caseload
• Non-recurrence of abuse and neglect in families
  served
• Increase stability/self-sufficiency of families
  served

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Community Building

• Children do well when their families do well,
• and families do better when they live in
  supportive neighborhoods.
• Golden Gate Community Center
• John F. Long
• Myers-Ganoung

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Community Building

• Emphasizes the idea of starting with the positive
  (what is available from within the community) to
  address the issue rather than starting with a
  list of what isnt available.
• Is a community building approach community
  members are co-leaders and co-creators of the
  entire process, all the way from identifying and
  defining the issue to identifying the assets
  available and discovering, designing and
  implementing the solution.
• (Dan Duncan, Community Development and Asset
  Based Team Building, 2005)

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Community Referral Sources

• Kinship Care
• Juvenile Court
• School Social Workers Counselors
• DES (JOBS, APS, CPS, FAA, etc.)
• Public Health Nurses
• Community Agencies (Food Banks, Housing, CAP)
• Self Referral
• Homeless Domestic Violence Shelters
• Faith Based Agencies

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Community Partnerships

• Juvenile Court (Child Resource Staffing)
• Salvation Army
• Food Banks
• Homeless Shelters
• Child Protective Services

• Faith Based Groups Clergy Associations
• Advisory Council
• Local church Diaper Bank
• U-Care Thrift Store

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Family Connections Case Flow Chart
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Self Sufficiency Matrix

• Self-Sufficiency Matrix 17 domains
• Reliable anyone using this method would come up
  with the same results
• Valid measures what its supposed to measure
• Detects changes in a relatively short period of
  time
• Dr. Wayne Parker, creator of the Matrix, is
  associated with Virginia G. Piper Charitable
  Trust

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What does the assessment do?

• Identifies family strengths
• Provides system for enabling the family to
  identify their case plan objectives
• Enables the family to self-evaluate their
  strengths and needs
• Allows for periodic review of initial assessment
  and the progress made

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Self-Sufficiency Domains

• Income
• Employment
• Housing
• Food
• Child care
• Childrens education
• Adult education
• Legal

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• Health care
• Life skills
• Mental Health
• Substance abuse
• Family relationships
• Mobility
• Community involvement
• Safety
• Parenting skills

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Dynamics of Kinship Care

• Anger and resentment
• Child rearing practices and responsibilities
• Fantasies
• Guilt and embarrassment
• Losses/Gains
• Morbidity and mortality
• Redefining roles and boundaries
• Split/Dual loyalties

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Service Integration throughFamily Connections

• Provides for one stop opportunity to obtain
  family services
• Maximizes the use of resources
• Utilizes integration of services
• Simplifies systems and procedures
• Builds on core competencies
• Captures family data once and early
• Focuses on staff as a resource
• Emphasizes the family strengths
• Reduces duplication of services

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Grandfamily/Kinship Stories

• (Note three kinship family photos

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One familys story. . .

• (Video presentation)

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Back Home Advocacy

• Working with school system
• Assisting with the guardianship process
• Finding and creating support groups
• Role playing phone calls, appointments, etc.
• Dealing with landlords government agencies
• Training families in budgeting financial
  matters
• Locating community resources
• Contacting Legislators

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Family Connections

• Family Connections helped me with so many
  resources. They had everyone I needed at one
  place.
• Family Connections Family

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Questions???Comments???