Childrens Justice Initiative Alcohol and Other Drug Project

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Childrens Justice Initiative Alcohol and Other
Drug Project

• Parent Partner Consultant Report on Focus Groups

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Mission

• To ensure that in a fair and timely manner,
  abused and neglected children involved in the
  Juvenile protection court system have safe,
  stable, permanent families by improving parental
  and family recovery from alcohol and other drug
  problems

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Focus Group Partners and Locations

• Mock Group
• Made up of past consumers or providers of
  services (Child welfare, Juvenile Court, Alcohol
  and Other Drugs
• Pilot Counties
• Itasca
• Sterns
• Ramsey
• Native American communities
• Minnesota Indian Womens Resource Center (MIWRC)
• Leech Lake Women Services
• --

• Fathers Group
• African American Mens Project (AAMP)
• Mothers Group
• RS Eden (womens residential Tx program, Mpls
  based)
• Beholding and Becoming Program (womens
  empowerment, St. Paul based)
• 9 groups
• Approximately 70 parents

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Partner Supports

• Access to parents/families that had past or
  current involvement with child protection,
  juvenile courts and alcohol and other drug
  systems
• Provided a physical location for groups and other
  logistical needs.
• Provided snacks or light meals
• Some provided transportation and child care

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Parent Invitations and questions

• CJI-AOD Core Team constructed and approved
  invitation letters to parents
• CJI-AOD Core Team constructed and approved 10
  questions related to
• Client/Family engagement
• Fathers involvement
• Exit/Transition strategies for families
• Services to Children
• Cross System Communication
• CJI-AOD Core Team approved two additional
  questions related to
• Tribal representation of ICWA families

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Parent participation incentives

• Incentives
• An opportunity to lend their voices and become
  involved in a worthy initiative for families
• To share their individual experiences and to
  receive and offer hope
• Parents were given a 20 gift certificate for
  their participation in the groups
• Each host site served a light lunch/dinner

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Focus Group Construction

• Introduction to CJI-AOD Project and its
  objectives
• An introduction to the Five Clocks
• Viewed a 4 minute video of the Dan Jansen Story

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Parent Expressions
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Statement of Shared Values and Guiding Principles

• Keeping Children Safe Most parents want to keep
  their children safe, but sometimes circumstances
  or conditions interfere with their ability to do
  so
• Active Involvement Parents are actively
  involved in decision-making and need to have a
  voice throughout the process as well as be
  supported and encouraged to use their voice
• Support The parent-child relationship will be
  supported throughout case plan and monitoring
  within each system

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Question 1

• During your involvement with the child
  protection system, do you agree your use of
  alcohol and other drugs affected your family and
  impaired your ability to parent your children?
  If yes, how so?

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At one time I would have done anything for my
kids, at the end of my addictions I would have
done anything for drugs.
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I had to prostitute to maintain my addiction.
Although I know it took years for my addiction to
progress to the point of losing my family for me
it seemed that things changed in 3.2 seconds.
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I allowed drinking parties that were a potential
for violent behavior and my children could have
gotten hurt.
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Question 2

• What services and support, if any were provided
  by the child welfare system that worked well for
  you in dealing with your recovery?

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Connections to treatment programs. Chemical
Health wouldnt pay for another treatment, so it
was written into my case plan. I had already
been in treatment 25 times and kept getting
kicked out.
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Child protection services gave info for
assessment and worked with me to get things done.
I had access to treatment when it was available.
17
My child welfare worker was very helpful. She
offered constant support and encouragement to
reunification.
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Question 3

• What would have been helpful to you in your
  recovery that was not provided by the child
  protection system?

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Question 3

• Enforce the visitation with foster families. I
  did not have a vehicle, and I was the one
  responsible for the visits when they were in
  different parts of the state.
• Spirituality. Information about
  churches/faith-based treatment programs

• Information about programs that embrace the whole
  family. The children and parent together.
• If child welfare workers would stop provoking bad
  performance from clients. They make statements
  like, What is wrong with you dont you want to
  do better?

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Questions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

• Asked for responses directly related to
• Client/Family Engagement
• Services to Children
• Fathers Involvement
• Cross Systems Communications
• Exit/Transition Strategies For Families

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4 Engagement

• Engagement in What?
• Do you mean engagement in cooperating with child
  protection?
• Do you mean engagement in the recovery process?

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Engagement

• Engage the family and not the personal agenda of
  the worker
• When parents dont see eye to eye on issues,
  the social worker might tend to usurp authority
  at the expense and relationship of the family and
  hinder the recovery process and timely
  reunification.
• Attention should be given to family recovery and
  not just dirty urine analysis. (UA's)

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5 Services to Children

• Involve children with treatment goals right away.
• Dont forget that parents still need to have a
  part in parenting their children.
• Foster parents or child welfare should be
  required to bring child(ren) when parent is in
  treatment and involved in family group sessions.

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6 Suggestions to improve recovery in
transitioning to another service

• Stop the revolving door!
• When parents dont make outlined goals, the
  process starts all over again and it may not be
  necessary to start all over again, but add some
  extra supports to help regain focus.
• Remember that things are easier said than done
  for parents. Requirements are difficult.
• Provide aftercare connections and financial
  resources for rent, phone and drivers license.
  Life necessities that dont seem important but
  help you get back on your feet.

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7 Improve on involving fathers

• Through community involvement and outreach to
  fathers through organizations like MADD Dads,
  Fathers Resource Center, etc
• Create and provide the same resources to fathers
  that you do for moms Job training, housing,
  therapy, transportation, etc...
• Fathers are not given support! Fathers dont
  feel like they have a voice, place or
  responsibility to the child when it comes to the
  courts and child welfare.

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8 Improve on information sharing between 3
systems

• The three systems should do focus groups together
• Mandate education for courts/judges on addiction
  and recovery---Child welfare needs to understand
  better the process of addiction and recovery.
• All interested parties meet with parent at once.
  There are so many agencies and requirements to
  deal with that there is not enough time for
  parent to concentrate on recovery and keeping
  family safe. There are just too many
  appointments.

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Question 9

• A key goal of the Childrens Justice Initiative
  is to facilitate more parent involvement in the
  project. What things can be done to make it
  easier for parents to participate?

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9 Parent involvement

• Provide incentives such as Child Care, Gift
  Certificates, Transportation, Meals
• Schedule events/workshops at times that give
  working parents the ability to participate
• Provide parents training about system protocols
• Go to communities instead of asking communities
  to come to you

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Questions 11

• During your involvement with the child
  protection/courts/alcohol and other drugs
  systems, were you assigned a tribal
  representative? If so, how were they helpful in
  assisting you?

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Question 11

• Yes, it was helpful . I pretty much know all of
  the people at the Indian Center and they know me.
  Knowing people all these years helped
• Representative was helpful in getting case closed
• Youre not assigned one unless you ask

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Question 12

• What recommendations do you have that would
  improve the assistance and help provided by
  tribal representatives for families involved in
  the child protection/courts/alcohol and other
  drug systems?

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Question 12

• Display more professionalism on the job
• if tribes had their own social service, courts
  and child protection system
• More education and training for tribal
  representatives
• Confidentiality is an issue in smaller
  communities

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Question 10

• Based on your experiences with the child
  protection, courts and alcohol and other drug
  systems, what would you like those who work in
  these 3 systems to know about the process of
  recovery?

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Question 10

• Everybody needs to understand recovery is a
  process
• Courts and child welfare dont seem to
  understand at times that it is a process when
  asking you to do something
• Everyone is different. Individualize recovery
  plans based on each parent/family needs.
• Educate yourselves on recovery
• Just because you made bad choices in the past
  doesnt mean youre a bad person today.

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Other suggestions and observations from parents

• Parents suggested that it would be helpful to
  them in their recovery and meeting requirements
  child welfare if they had access to a network of
  other parents that had been successful in
  navigating through the systems
• Parents believe that they could do better at
  meeting requirements and obtaining reunification
  if they were better educated on the child welfare
  system and juvenile court proceedings
• Parent voiced other concerns such as domestic
  abuse, prostitution, low self-esteem, mental
  illness, sexual abuse and economic issues that
  are not necessarily being addressed along with
  child welfare interventions that could assist
  them in being successful
• Parents stated that more attention needed to be
  given as it relates to safety of children in the
  foster home settings.

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Thoughts to ponder

• What do we do with this information as it relates
  to moving forward with this initiative?
• Do we really believe that parents want to
  overcome their issues with alcohol and other
  drugs? If so, how do we support them?
• If it were your family having any of these
  concerns presented, what kind of interaction and
  supports would you appreciate?