CORE COMPONENT #3. POLICY AND PRACTICE MODELS FOR CHILD WELFARE AGENCIES
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Child welfare agencies can increase placement stability by implementing a range of policies and practices.
| Key Issues |
In order to effectively promote placement stability through quality child welfare policy and practice, eight key issues must be addressed:
Key Issue #1: Sibling placement policies and practices
Key Issue #2: Engaging parents, children and foster parents in placement decision making and case planning
Key Issue #3: Agency staffings when a placement move is considered
Key Issue #4: Parent-child visiting
Key Issue #5: Practices to strengthen connections between parents and foster parents
Key Issue #6: Caseworker training and retention
Key Issue #7: Caseworker visits with children, caregivers, and birth parents
Key Issue #8: Data tracking about placement moves and reasons for moves |
| Key Issue #1: Sibling placement policies and practices |
Research has shown that children not residing with their siblings are more likely to experience more placement moves; children placed with siblings are likely to have more stable placements even when a child has emotional or behavioral disorders (Leathers, 2005).
Program Example:
Neighbor to Neighbor, developed by The Jane Addams Hull House Association, is a unique child-centered, family-focused foster care model. The program is designed to keep large (4 or more) sibling groups together in stable foster care placements while working intensively on reunification or permanency plans that keep the siblings together. The program uses a community-based, team-oriented approach, including foster caregivers and birth parents as part of the treatment team. Trained and supported foster caregivers are key to the model's success. Neighbor to Neighbor has professionalized this key role by placing these trained foster caregiver on the payroll of Jane Addams Hull House Association complete with salaries and benefits. Foster families, birth families, and children receive comprehensive and intensive services including individualized case management, advocacy, and clinical services on a weekly basis.
Target Population: Sibling groups of 4 or more children from infancy through fourteen years of age who are in the custody of the state. Youth who are older than 14 may be accepted if they are part of a sibling group. The program is targeted to serve children and families who are newly involved in the foster care system. If the siblings are at risk for separation and the program can meet their needs, the program will serve sibling groups of 4 or more who have re-entered the foster care system due to disrupted adoptions or who are transferred from another agency.
State and County Examples
Alabama has developed policy for placing siblings, selection of placement for siblings, when siblings may be placed apart, application of sibling placement policy to siblings separated for long periods in out-of-home care, and contact among siblings when separated.
In Maine, the legislature passed and Governor John E. Baldacci signed An Act to Support Sibling Rights in Child Welfare Custody Matters. The new law, which took effect in early 2007, establishes the right of siblings separated as a result of child welfare placements to regular scheduled visits whenever "reasonable and practicable." Maine also hosts Camp To Belong to bring together siblings who have been separated
Minnesota developed a PIPS TIP on Placement of Siblings that guides caseworkers in strengthening their practice.
New Jersey Department of Children and Families developed programs to strengthen the sibling bond for children in placement either in the same home or separately. Some of these programs include, “The Sibling Experience” contracted with Catholic Charities that enables siblings to come together to participate in recreational activities held a few hours on a Saturday twice a month throughout the year. Children in this program have created life books, shared pictures, made scrap books and T shirts together identifying some of their favorite people and experiences. Siblings have also been able to come together for a week to experience residential sleep over camps and focused recreational activities designed specifically for siblings.
New York developed an a policy paper and an Informational Letter that provide guidance to caseworkers on keeping siblings connected.
Wisconsin developed a question and answer formatted guide to legislation passed in 2006 that require agencies to make specific efforts regarding placements of siblings in out-of-home care and in adoption.
| Key Issue #2: Engaging parents, children and foster parents in placement decision making and case planning |
The federal Child and Family Service Reviews found that one factor that can positively affect placement stability is involving children and parents in case planning (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2004).
State and County Examples:
The Family Engagement Toolkit provides a range of examples of family engagement in placement decision making and case planning.
A number of models have been developed that bring family members together as team with professionals when a placement move is considered. Team Decision Making (TDM), the shared planning and decision making approach used by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, involves birth families and community members, along with resource families, service providers and agency staff, in all placement decisions to ensure a network of support for the child and the adults who care for them. TDM shares nearly identical underlying values with other teaming models such as family empowerment, inclusivity of participants, and a strengths/needs focus. It differs primarily in the purpose -- to make a placement-related decision -- and timing -- it must occur prior to the decision, or in the case of emergencies, prior to the court hearing. Several states are using TDM to engage parents, extended family members, and foster parents in planning with the agency.
| Key Issue #3: Agency staffings when a placement move is considered |
Child welfare agencies can increase placement stability by engaging staff in regularly addressing issues that may lead to a placement breakdown.
State and County Examples:
New York: Rensselaer County Foster Care Enrichment Team
Rensselaer County, New York has developed a multi-system collaboration that has achieved remarkable improvement in placement stability. The project team, including the local public child welfare, mental health and health agencies, and private child placing agencies meet regularly to address the needs of specific children as well as system-level issues. During one time period, the rate of unplanned placement changes in the county fell from 22.6% to 2.7%.
Arizona has a policy that states that a change in placement may be made only after the Child Protective Services Specialist and the supervisor have a case conference with the out-of-home provider and the child (if appropriate) unless an emergency situation exists. Whenever possible, the case conference is to be held at least 14 days prior to the date of the child’s move and in person.
| Key Issue #4: Parent-child visiting |
Studies have found a relationship between parent-child visiting and children’s well being while in foster care. Children who are visited frequently by their parents are more likely to have high well-being ratings and to adjust to placement than are children whose parents less frequently or never visit them (National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, n.d.b).
State and County Examples:
The Family Engagement Toolkit provides a range of examples of parent-child visiting practices that can support placement stability.
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Key Issue #5: Practices to strengthen connections between parents and foster parents |
Studies suggest that parents who feel liked by the foster parents are more likely to see their children and children feel less torn between parent and foster parents ( Sancriricio & Jablonka, 2000). When foster parents have contact with parents, they are more likely to include the parent in everyday activities, potentially leading to a greater likelihood of reunification and decreasing the chances of prolonged stays in foster care (Leathers, 2002).
State and County Examples:
The Family Engagement Toolkit provides a range of examples of practices that strengthen connections between parents and foster parents and as a result support placement stability.
| Key Issue #6: Caseworker training and retention |
The attitudes and training of caseworkers influence placement stability (Marcenko & Smith, 1991). The more time and attention a caseworker expends on the case and with the foster family, the better the rapport with the family and the more likely that that placement will remain stable. In one study, foster parents cited the following problems with caseworkers that may lead them to consider ending a placement: worker who would not help us, dishonesty from worker, worked considered removing foster child, worker would not back me up, false accusations by worker (Brown & Bednar, 2006). Research shows that low caseworker turnover is associated with placement stability (Stone & Stone, 1983; Teather, Davidson, & Pecora, 1994). A Utah study found that as the number of caseworkers assigned to a case increases, so does the number of placements of the child (Eggersten, 2008).
Training for caseworkers
To prepare caseworkers to support children and caregivers and promote stable placements, training is needed on attachment and attachment theory and on children’s behaviors and symptoms so that they can sufficiently to explain to foster parents why the child reacts to certain things and people the way that he/she does. Caseworkers need training to accurately assess a child’s functioning and needs and to connect caregivers with appropriate resources to meet the child’s needs ( Eggersten, 2008).
Resources:
The California Social Work Education Center has developed a training: Factors Leading to Premature Terminations of Kinship Care Placements This curriculum focuses on factors that may lead to differential placement outcomes for children who have become dependents of the court, as the result of abuse and neglect, and have been placed with kin rather than in traditional foster homes. It includes factors which may or may not be related to premature termination of kinship care placements, caregiver perceptions of differential placement outcomes, social worker perceptions of differential placement outcomes, and how caseworkers can decrease premature termination of kinship care placements.
Caseworker retention
Several factors have been identified with caseworker retention:
- Reasonable caseloads and workloads
- Flexible working conditions
- Quality supervision
- Organizational culture
Reasonable caseloads and workloads
New York: The New York State Office of Children and Family Services conducted a child welfare workload study
and recommended for foster care planning services a goal of 11-12 children per caseworker per month.
Flexible working conditions
North Carolina: The great majority of North Carolina counties offer some form of flexible and compressed work schedules to child welfare staff.
Quality Supervision
Supervision is the linchpin of the child welfare agency. In Staff surveys, agency performance reviews and other research consistently link strong supervision to worker satisfaction and retention (Robison, 2006). In a 2005 national survey conducted by American Public Health Services Association (APHSA), good supervision was rated as the most important factor contributing to staff retention and lack of supportive supervision a reason for leaving child welfare (Nissly, Mor Barak, & Levin, 2005).
State Examples:
Arkansas provides learning opportunities for supervisors for development which includes peer consultation and on-line tutorials. Arkansas also provides on-the-job skill-building in addition to classroom training; mentors to work one-one one with supervisors.
Arizona encourages group sessions for supervisors to share good practice and develop skills
Delaware engages supervisors in preventing turnover and uses staff turnover rate as a performance expectation.
Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee use feedback from staff and supervisors in design of supervisory training and support
Resources: Retention and Recruitment
Organizational Culture
The University of Michigan has developed a training series of workbooks to increase child and family service agencies' effectiveness in developing and retaining their staff by applying information from research and best retention practices to their work. Case materials, tools and skills integrated throughout this workbook series intend to honor and support leaders and supervisors as they cope with the value dilemmas and emotional content found in the “real world” of child and family services. The ultimate goal of this curriculum is to improve retention practices and outcomes for child and family service agencies. With such an end in mind everybody wins: the staff, the agency, the families and children, and especially the supervisor, whose life is vastly improved by having a stable, loyal workforce.
North Carolina is doing a variety of things to improve the climate in child welfare: implementing different forms of dedicated on-call staff (to enhance practice and better balance for all staff) and providing child welfare staff retreats. North Carolina counties also employ a variety of techniques to support staff and help relieve stress, including providing access to Employee Assistance Programs, mental health counselors, and wellness programs.
| Key Issue #7: Caseworker visits with children, caregivers, and birth parents |
Placement stability is enhanced when caseworkers have regular visits with children and youth, foster parents, and parent. A caseworker’s visits with a child/youth enables a caseworker to assess how well a child’s placement is meeting his/her needs for safety, permanence and well being and when the child is school age, how well the child’s educational needs are being met (National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, n.d.a). Safe, stable, nurturing placements require that the caseworker work together with caregivers to collect as much information about the child as possible (National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, n.d.a). Planned visits between the caseworker and the parent have been shown to have a positive influence on the child’s placement stability (National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, n.d.b).
State Examples:
Florida’s Department of Children and Families procured and distributed smartphones and laptops equipped with built-in cameras and a software program that was developed in-house by the DCF. It allows the state's more than 2,300 caseworkers to take digital images -- stamped with the date, time and GPS-marked location -- and immediately upload the information to the state's child welfare data system. The goal is for caseworkers to spend more time with the child and less time doing paperwork. GPS-stamped photos taken onsite add an additional layer of integrity by ensuring every child is visited and their condition accurately documented.
Michigan requires that each visit with caregivers cover: the date of child’s last physical and dental exam; medication dosages and diagnoses for the child; medical/dental/mental health concerns, appointments, treatment, follow-up care and therapy updates; child behaviors, concerns, developmental milestones; educational/school status, performance, behaviors and services provided; caregiver tasks to meet child’s needs; caregiver family’s adjustment to the child’s placement; permanency plan; any Children’s Protective Services (CPS) complaints made regarding the placement since the last visit; and for relative (or unrelated) placements, if the caregiver is pursuing licensure, provide an update on licensing progress.
Minnesota has developed a guide, Parents’ Expectation of Caseworkers, that provides caseworkers with parents’ expectations of their relationships with their caseworkers and specific clinical and casework interventions that can be used to meet parents’ expectations.
Oklahoma has comprehensive written standards about the content that must be covered in caseworkers’ visits with children: the relationship and/or communication between the caseworker and the child, the needs and services to the child, the safety of the child, case planning, the physical and mental health of the child, the adjustment fo the child to the foster care placement, the progress of the child, the educational needs of the child, the child’s concerns and how they are being addressed, and the child’s relationship with and/or visits with parents, siblings, and other relatives.
| Key Issue #8: Data tracking about placement moves and reasons for moves |
In order to increase placement stability, it is important to have a process for collecting data that capture the reasons for placement moves in a standardized way. These data should also provide information on placement breakdowns based on child demographics, particularly age, gender and race (Results Oriented Management in Child Welfare, University of Kansas, 2002, 2003).
State Examples:
Florida: The Department of Children and Families has developed a Guide for Analyzing Placement Stability which provides a step-by-step process that can assist states and counties in attaining a reliable picture based on data of child placement stability/instability, the quality of care provided to foster children and foster parents, and a picture of the number of foster homes in a specific area related to the number of children being brought into out-of-home care from that same area. provide a step-by-step process that will assist in attaining a reliable picture based on data of child placement stability/instability, the quality of care provided to foster children and foster parents, and a picture of the number of foster homes in a specific area related to the number of children being brought into out-of-home care from that same area.
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