Virginia Childrens Services System Transformation

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Virginia Childrens Services System
Transformation
Raymond R. Ratke Best Practice Court
Training August 31, 2009
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Virginias Childrens Services System
Transformation

• Virginias child-serving agencies are improving
  the way we help at-risk children and their
  families to achieve
• Success in life
• Safety for children and communities
• Life in the community
• Family based placements and
• Life-long family connections.

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Council on Reform (CORE)

• Partnership since December, 2007 with thirteen
  targeted localities to develop a shared vision
  for Childrens Services and implement best
  practices at the state and local level
• Membership Representatives from thirteen
  geographically diverse localities
• Charlottesville, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie,
  Fairfax, Henrico, Newport News, Norfolk, Prince
  William, Richmond City, Roanoke County, Roanoke
  City, Virginia Beach and Washington County
• These localities account for almost 50 of
  statewide foster care population
• Workgroups focused on the development of a
  Practice Model and implementation of Building
  Blocks of Transformation
• The Annie E. Casey Foundation has been providing
  extensive financial and consultative assistance
  in this work.

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• What if every child and family received exactly
  the right service to keep them together and help
  them succeed at home and in school?

• In Virginia
• 33 of foster care youth are not in family based
  placements
• About 52 of teens initial placements were into
  group care settings
• About 26 of all youth in foster care were served
  in group settings
• One-year recidivism rates for youth on probation
  are over 25 and for youth released from a
  juvenile correctional center, around 35

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• What if there was no such thing as a DSS kid, or
  a DJJ kid, or a Mental Health kid, but just OUR
  kids?

• Currently In Virginia
• On any given day in FY 2008, there were 7871
  youth under probation or parole supervision in
  the community and 975 juveniles in a juvenile
  correctional center
• In FY 2008, a total of 54,247 children received
  mental health or substance abuse services through
  CSBs
• In 2008, 6,764 children were placed in foster
  care
• In FY 2008, 18,195 children and families received
  services through the Comprehensive Services Act

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What if every child and family were viewed as the
expert on their family and every child system
viewed the family from a strengths based
perspective?

• Currently In Virginia
• There is limited statewide training for family
  focused practice
• There is no statewide tool available to track the
  level of satisfaction by families or the quality
  of engagement
• Inconsistent practice of engaging families

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What if we invested 60 of our CSA resources in
community wrap around and prevention services?

• Currently In Virginia
• In 2008, approximately 60 of CSA expenditures
  were used to support group placements
• In 2008, approximately 11 of CSA expenditures
  were used to support community based wrap around
  services

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What if every child leaving out of home placement
had a life-long connection to a family?

• Currently In Virginia
• As of April 4, 2009 only 67 of youth in foster
  care were discharged to permanent placements
• Nationally, of youth that leave foster care
  without a permanent placement
• One in four will be incarcerated within the first
  two years after leaving the system.
• Over one-fifth will become homeless at some time.
• About 60 will have a high school diploma at age
  19 compared to about 90 of non-foster youth.
• National studies indicate that placement in
  secure detention is associated with a range of
  negative life outcomes and Virginia has a
  relatively high rate of youth in secure local
  detention placements compared to the other states

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2009 Strategy for Change Transformation
Training, TA and Targeted Support built on the
Practice Model and Building Blocks lead to Better
Outcomes for Children and Families
OUTCOMES
Family Engagement
Resource Families
Technical Assistance
Training
Managing by Data
Training
Tailored Support
Leadership
Accountability
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Requirements for Change

• Leadership
• Make children a priority
• Collaboration
• Share vision, definition of success and desired
  outcomes
• Shared ownership and responsibility for the
  success of all children and families.
• Share resources or, at least coordinated use of
  resources towards shared outcomes
• Accountability/Continuous Quality Improvement
• Use data to drive decisions
• Learning environment

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From This
DBHDS
VDSS
Office of Comprehensive Services
Juvenile Justice
Department of Education
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To Cross Agency Collaboration
DBHDS
VDSS
Office of Comprehensive Services
Juvenile Justice
Department of Education
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2009 Strategy for Change Transformation
Training, TA and Targeted Support built on the
Practice Model and Building Blocks lead to Better
Outcomes for Children and Families
OUTCOMES
Family Engagement
Resource Families
Technical Assistance
Training
Managing by Data
Training
Tailored Support
Leadership
Accountability
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Virginia Childrens Services Practice Model

• We have developed a common philosophy that will
  help to shift practice to achieve better outcomes
  for youth and families.
• We believe
• All children and communities deserve to be safe.
• In family, child, and youth-driven practice.
• Children do best when raised in families.
• All children and youth need and deserve a
  permanent family.
• In partnering with others to support child and
  family success in a system that is
  family-focused, child-centered, and
  community-based.
• How we do our work is as important as the work we
  do.

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2009 Strategy for Change Transformation
Training, TA and Targeted Support built on the
Practice Model and Building Blocks lead to Better
Outcomes for Children and Families
OUTCOMES
Family Engagement
Resource Families
Technical Assistance
Training
Managing by Data
Training
Tailored Support
Leadership
Accountability
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The Building Blocks of the Transformation

• Community-Based Continuum Developing, funding
  and sustaining a continuum of services that will
  meet the needs of every child and ensure that
  when at all possible children receive the
  services that they need within their own home and
  community.
• Statewide Training System A comprehensive,
  competency based training system built on the
  practice model and accessible across Virginia
• Resource Family Recruitment, Development and
  Support Finding, training and supporting
  resource and adoptive families to provide
  permanent connections for youth in foster care
• Managing by Data Using data to guide our
  decision making and using our desired outcomes to
  drive practice
• Family Engagement Model Engaging families in a
  deliberate way by giving them a voice in what
  happens to their families and their children.

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2009 Strategy for Change Transformation
Training, TA and Targeted Support built on the
Practice Model and Building Blocks lead to Better
Outcomes for Children and Families
OUTCOMES
Family Engagement
Resource Families
Technical Assistance
Training
Managing by Data
Training
Tailored Support
Leadership
Accountability
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Proposed Outcomes

• Success in life
• School performance
• Truancy
• Functioning level
• Safety for children and communities
• Recidivism rates
• Drug and alcohol use
• Life in the community
• Availability of community based services
• Out of community and/or state placements
• Children who enter foster care remaining in their
  community school
• Family based placements
• Family based placements
• Group care placements
• Life-long family connections
• Discharges to permanency
• Time to discharge

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Discharges to Permanency Discharges to
Permanency have increased in CORE localities and
statewide as a percentage of the total
placement population
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Group Care ReductionsStatewide there has
been a 33.4 decrease in the group care
population. CORE agencies have seen a 42.3
decrease in the use of group care.
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Call to ActionWhat Can You DO?

• Do I care enough?
• Do I know enough?
• www.vafamilyconnections.com
• Have I done enough?
• Have I persisted enough?

16th Surgeon General, David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.
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