PROMISING PRACTICES: USING SAFETY FOCUSED FRAMEWORK IN SUPERVISION

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PROMISING PRACTICES USING SAFETY FOCUSED
FRAMEWORK IN SUPERVISION

• PAULA DAVIS MPA BCJ
• AMY WOOD BS MSW

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FRANKLIN COUNTY

• Located in Columbus, OH
• Population 1.1 million
• 13 cities, 12 villages, 17 townships
• Ethnically and Culturally Diverse
• Sustained influx in Hispanic/Latino, Somali, and
  Asian families
• Socio-economic status vary throughout
  county/cities
• Resource-rich environment

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FRANKLIN COUNTY CHILDREN SERVICES

• Mission Through collaboration with families and
  their communities, we advocate for the safety,
  permanency and well-being of each child we serve
  in a manner that honors family and culture.

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Guiding Principles

• We are Child Welfare Professionals
• We Value Every Child
• We Honor Families
• We Value Partnerships

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PROTECTING CHILDREN BY STRENGTHENING FAMILIES

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Separate Agency from Department of Job and Family
Services and Child SupportOpen 24 hours a day,
7 days a week
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Agency Structure

• Screening Department
• Assessment/Investigation Department (14 units)
• 3 Regional Offices (approx 30 units)
• 2 Managed Care Entitiesprovide on-going case
  management services
• Foster Care / Adoption Departments
• Performance Improvement Department
• Data Management / Support Staff (Contracts,
  FC/Adopt Prep, Fiscal)

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ASSESSMENT/INVESTIGATIONS DEPARTMENT

• Receive approximately 30,000 calls/year call to
  the hotline each year
• Approximately 13, 000 reports year are
  screened-in for assessment/investigation
• --determined by State mandated screening
  guidelines
• Case AssignmentUnits
• 0-3 Baby Units (primary victim is under
  3-years-old or younger)
• Sex Abuse Units
• Out-of-Home Care / Institutional Unit
• Alternative Response Units
• Investigative Units (7)
• Investigations Assessments
• Investigations completed within 30 days, with
  15 extensions (if needed)
• AR Assessments completed within 45 days
• Tools Comprehensive Assessment Planning
  Model-Interim Solution (CAPMIS)
• --Safety Assessment
• --Family Assessment
• --On-going A/I Assessment (open case
  investigations)

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ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE UNITS / CASES

• Three Units in A/I Department (15 caseworkers)
• Two Units in Regional Office (8 caseworkers)
• AR Units are co-located in same building in order
  to facilitate warm hand off at time of case
  transfer
• Cases were initially selected from 9 zip codes
  primarily in Northeast portion of county
• --Diverse Population
• --Large volume of referrals
• --High representation of children in paid
  placement
• --Resource rich environment (ie. 4
  well-established
• Settlement Houses)

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CASE SELECTION FOR ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE

• Pilot controlled experiment, involved
  randomization
• Pathway Assignment Tooldetermined eligibility
  criteria for AR (and randomization)
• Excludes Allegations of sexual abuse
• Allegations of egregious harm (abuse
  or neglect)
• Report involves suspicious child
  fatality or homicide
• Requires out-of-home care or
  institutional investigation
• Requires third-party investigation
• Discretionary ie. history of frequent and/or
  similar reports with the agency
• placement needed parents previous lack of
  cooperation parents
• unwillingness to achieve child safety zip
  codes staffing considerations,
• etc.

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INITIATION APPROACHES

• Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) indicates reports
  of child abuse and/or neglect shall be initiated
  within
• --1 hour for emergency reports attempt face to
  face contact with alleged child victim (ACV)
  /child subject of the report (CSR)
• --24 hours for non-emergency reports attempt
  contact with principal of the report or a
  collateral source who has knowledge of family and
  childs safety
• Methods (AR cases)
• --Face to face contact with parent, child or
  collateral source
• --attempt a telephone contact with parent or
  collateral source (preferred method)
• --send a letter to parent, guardian or custodian
  acknowledging a report was received and inviting
  the family to engage in assessment.
• Decision regarding method is at discretion of
  worker/supervisor dependent upon concerns
• indicated in intake report.

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FLOW OF A CASE

• Creation of Report
• Pathway Decision
• Initiation
• Safety Assessment (SA)
• Family Service Plans (can occur anytime after
  completion of SA)
• Family Assessment (FA)
• Close, Close and Refer to Services, Transfer to
  On-going Services
• Family Service Plan (Development or Revision)
• 90 Day Case Review
• Semi-Annual Review (SAR)
• Case Closure Summary
• Linkages to community resources can occur at
  anywhere in the above-mentioned workflow

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COMMUNITY RESOURCES/SERVICES

• Keywords Family-driven Service Planning
• Family and caseworker collaborate on identifying
  and accessing community resources needed to
  achieve child safety, permanency and/or
  well-being.

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TYPES OF SERVICES

• HARD SERVICES (FOOD, CLOTHING, CAR SEATS, BEDS,
  APPLIANCES, PAYING RENT/DEPOSIT/UTILITIES
• CAR REPAIR
• LINKAGE WITH WELFARE OFFICE
• MEDICAL DENTAL SERVICES
• RESPITE
• DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICES
• DISABILITY SERVICES
• EXTERMINATION SERVICES
• JOB/VOCATION TRAINING
• PARENT EDUCATION

• SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT
• IN-HOME SUPPPORT SERVICES
• HOUSING
• EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
• CHILD CARE
• MENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS/LINKAGES TO COUNSELING
• SUPPORT GROUPS
• EMPLOYMENT NEEDS
• LEGAL SERVICES

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COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

• Community partnerships are crucial to the success
  of ensuring familys receive services that
  address their specific needs.
• Imperative that community partners model the
  tenets of family-driven service planning.
• partner with families to identify
  service needs
• recognize families are the experts of
  their own experiences and are not to be
• identified by an incident.
• engagement is key to childrens safety and
  families well-being

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BUILDING PARTNERSHIPSSpreading the Word

• Invited community partners to Alternative
  Response Overview presentations
• Included Alternative Response as a part of
  Mandated Reporter trainings
• Traveled to schools, prosecutors office,
  hospitals, mental health providers, etc.
• Highlighted Alternative Response in the media
• Participated in informal speaking
  engagementschurches, friends, etc.
• Invited community partners to unit meetings in
  order to encourage peer relationships between
  agency staff and community partners

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Molding Service Providers

• Service Delivery Committeeidentifies needed
  services
• Change in Request for Proposal (RFP) process
• On-going liaison meeting with support services
• Attendance to linkage meetings
• Invite community partners to family case
  conferences, reviews, etc.

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TRANSFER TO ON-GOING OR NOT???

• Franklin County is the only county (at this time)
  that transfers cases from an intake service team
  to an on-going service team
• Familys involvement at time of transfer is
  voluntary.

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Reasons for transfer to Ongoing Services

• Familys request
• High or Intensive Level of Risk and continued
  involvement is needed to further ensure
  childrens safety, permanency and/or well-being
• Active safety threat current safety plan
• Child/ren in paid placement as a result of 30-day
  agreement (voluntary custody agreement)

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COLLABORATION BETWEEN INTAKE AND ON-GOING

• Collaboration begins during case consultations.
• At times, intake service team will contact
  on-going service team and schedule a time to
  partner with one another for a visit at familys
  home.
• Warm Hand Off

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FAMILY DRIVEN SERVICE PLANNING

• SERVICE PLAN DEVELOPED AT TRANSFER MEETING WHEN
  POSSIBILE
• FAMILY DRIVES PROCESS
• CASES ARE REVIEWED EVERY 90 DAYS IN THE FAMILY
  HOME
• EXPECTATION THAT FAMILY IS ALSO INVOLVED IN
  CLOSURE DECISION

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COMMUNITY SERVICE WORKER

• IN DEPTH KNOWLEDGE OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES
• ABLE TO PROVIDE EXTRA ASSISTANCE TO THE FAMILIES

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NEW CASE CONSULTATIONTOOL
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CASE SCENERIO

• WHAT DECISION WOULD YOU MAKE?

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Paula Davis 614-229-7124padavis_at_fccs.co.franklin
.oh.usAmy Wood614-229-7130acwood_at_fccs.co.frank
lin.oh.us