Using Developmental Assets

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Using Developmental Assets to Strengthen State
Public Child Welfare

• Julie Frauenholtz,
• Washington State Childrens Administration
• Marc Mannes, Ph.D.,
• Search Institute

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Stetting the Stage

• The Dance of.
• Search Institute and Washington State
• Asset Development and Snohomish County

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The Developmental Assets Approach
Reduction of Risk Behaviors
DevelopmentalAssets
The more,the better
The more,the better
Promotion ofThriving
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Encouraging Child and Youth Serving Agencies
to

• Become more
• DEVELOPMENTALLY ATTENTIVE
• Emphasize a
• DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH

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Federal Performance Goals

• Safety
• Permanency
• Well-Being

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Goals with an Emphasis on Development

• Safety emotional and psychological security
• Permanency building healthy relationships
• Well-Being developmental success

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Employing a Developmental Approach

• Is a way for public child welfare to emphasize
  Development by
• Fostering Resilience
• Concentrating on Protective Processes
• Being Promotional
• Focusing on Positive Behaviors

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Understanding Resilience

• Resilience A Universal Capacity
• A consistent yet amazing finding over the last
  two decades of resilience research is that most
  children and youth, even those from highly
  stressed families or resource-deprived
  communities, do somehow manage to make decent
  lives for themselves. In fact, for just about
  any population of children that research has
  found to be at greater risk than normal for later
  problems children who experience divorce, live
  with step-parents, lose a sibling, have attention
  deficit disorder, suffer developmental delays,
  become delinquent, run away, get involved with
  religious cults, and so on more of these
  children make it than do not (Rhodes Brown,
  1991).

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The Power of Resilience

• What began as a quest to understand the
• extraordinary has revealed the power of the
  ordinary. Resilience does not come from rare and
  special qualities, but from the everyday magic of
  ordinary, normative human resources in the minds,
  brains, and bodies of children, in their families
  and relationships, and in their communities
  (Masten, 1999).

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The Importance of the Protective

• Researchers who have studied resilience
• point out that protective processes, or
• buffers, appear to have a more significant
• impact on the lives of children and youth
• who experience adverse conditions than
• particular risk factors or traumatic situations.

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The Universality of Protective Processes

• Buffers protective factors make a more
  profound impact on the life course of children
  who grow up under adverse conditions than do
  specific risk factors or stressful life events.
  They appear to transcend ethnic, social class,
  geographical, and historical boundaries
• (Werner Smith)

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Impact Associated with the Protective

• Family-focused programs are generally
• More effective for families with
• Relationship problems than either child
• or parent focused, particularly if they
• emphasize family strengths, resilience,
• and protective processes rather than
• deficits.
• (Kumper Alvarado, 2003)

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Re-Imagining the Work with an Emphasis on
Development
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Positive Behavior Focused

• Protective Factors/ Processes
• Supports and
• Opportunities for
• Healthy Development
• and Developmental
• Well-Being

Risk Reduction
Promotion
Problem Behavior Focused

• Risk Factors/Processes
• Threats to Development
• Developmental Deficits

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How we are doing our work?
Family to Family A family centered, neighborhood
based system of public child welfare.
Evidence Based Programs
Goal Strong and Healthy Communities, Families,
and Youth with safety, stability, permanency, and
well being for all.
Solution-Based Case Work A new practice model for
Children's Administration to better engage with
families.
Developmental Assets A simple framework for
defining qualities and experience youth need.
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Reasons to infuse the asset framework ... 

• Development of Resources

Practice Integration for Family Well- Being
Involvement with Community
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Tools

• Opportunities for Asset Training/ Orientation
• Search Institute Materials and Resources
• Developmental Asset Profile with Implementation
  Guide
• Compliments strength based approach to social
  work.
• Dr. Marc Mannes, Statewide vision.

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Emphasis on Social Learning

• Relationship Building
• Shared Learning- Circle Back
• Creating a Network
• Lynns Unit

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Community Partnerships

• Training of Trainers
• Community Mobilizing in Snohomish County- Sharing
  Strategies
• Quarterly Meetings
• Shared Tracking and Evaluation
• Shared Goals
• Healthy Youth Survey Data
• Seeking out Foster Parents, Court Appointed
  Special Advocates (CASA)/Volunteer Guardian Ad
  Litems (VGAL), Judges, Schools, PTA, Churches,
  Family to Family Strategy Groups, neighborhoods
  to provide training.

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Questions?
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Thank you!