Child Welfare League of America

Workshop Session D

D-1 Reality and Gangs

This is a gang-awareness presentation that focuses on instructing parents, teachers, administrators, staff, and school officers about the current gang philosophy, dress, signs, codes, symbols, and language associated with gang activity in schools. Personnel will receive an understanding of the gang culture and information, suggestions, effective programs, and initiatives for identifying and dealing with gang members. Participants receive a class outline and PowerPoint presentation that may be used and/or modified for use within their own jurisdictions.
Presenter: Daryl Macaluso, Corporal, Durham Police Department, Durham, NC

D-2 Polling, Messaging, and Advocacy: New Strategies and Lessons Learned

In this workshop, participants get the latest policy and polling information on child welfare issues, acquire specific tips on better crafting their message around these issues, and hear true stories of successful legislative initiatives and campaigns on the local level. This session is dedicated to identifying and battling challenges in the child welfare arena and arming participants with tools and resources to make real change. Participants learn specifics about messaging and strategy while networking with others to gain from their experiences. This action oriented workshop provides you with tools to battle local and national challenges for years to come.
Presenters: Celinda Lake, President, Lake Research Partners, Washington, DC; and Phil Sparks, Cofounder, Communications Consortium Media Center, Washington, DC

D-3 Leadership: What's Style Got to Do with It?

Great leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. This workshop will guide the participants through a process that continually recognizes the potential within each person. Participants will have the opportunity to complete Supervisor Behavior Analysis II instrument to aid in the assessing their strengths and needs when leading others. Using this as a base, each person learns, understands, and applies the theory of Situational Leadership developed by Kenneth Blanchard. This theory is used to assist each participant in developing a leadership plan for his or her employees. Participants have the opportunity to choose a specific leadership situation and work through it to a realistic Partnering for Performance Action Plan.
Presenters: James Summers, Director of Training, Berkshire Farm Center & Services for Youth, Canaan, NY; and Robert Larkin, Senior Training Specialist, Berkshire Farm Center & Services for Youth, Syracuse, NY

D-4 Executive Coaching, Not Just for CEOs: A Powerful Leadership and Motivational Tool for Child Welfare Executives

Executive coaching is the leadership-development tool of choice for CEOs in large businesses. But it is also a powerful strategy to create new child welfare leaders and motivate and retain valued managers. A leadership-development coaching program, along with effectiveness research, is presented, as well as best practices and a turnkey strategy that will allow immediate implementation. The participants learn the role of executive coaching in nonprofit organizations, three leadership development best practices, the Superior Coaching model, three ways to assess and develop high-potential leaders, and a coaching/leadership development model that can be implemented immediately in their organizations.
Presenter: Robert A. Isaacson, Owner and Clinical Social Worker, Full Circle Solutions, Havertown, PA

D-5 Paths to Permanency: The Baltimore City Family-Recovery Program

This workshop provides an overview of Baltimore City's Family-Recovery Program, a unique drug court in Maryland designed to reduce the amount of time spent in foster care and achieve permanency earlier for the children of parents with substance abuse problems. Presenters include representatives from the Family-Recovery Program, local Department of Social Services, the court, the Office of the Public Defender, and child's counsel.
Presenters: Joan F. Little, Chief Attorney, Legal Aid Bureau Inc., Baltimore, MD; Kristin Peacock, Agency Attorney, Department of Social Services - Legal Services Division, Baltimore, MD; Judge Edward R. K. Hargadon, Judge in Charge - Juvenile Division, Juvenile Justice Center, Baltimore, MD; Justin Reyna, Director and Attorney - Family Recovery Program, Family League of Baltimore City, Baltimore, MD; and Vanita Taylor, Attorney, Office of the Public Defender, Baltimore, MD

D-6 Changing the System: A Shift in Practice to a Family-Centered, Evidence-Based Model

The Baltimore City Department of Social Services (BCDSS) changed its practice to include team decision-making meetings through its new family-centered practice called Strong Families, Strong Neighborhoods, which is based on the Annie E. Casey Family-to-Family Model. There are four core strategies to this model that include Team Decision Making; Community Partnering; Recruitment, Retention & Support of Resources Families; and Self Evaluation. This workshop will provide an overview of the Team Decision Making Process and should be helpful to any local Jurisdiction that is thinking about utilizing any such family-centered model.
Presenters: Marci Himmel, Program Coordinator, Strong Families, Strong Neighborhoods; and Jane Smith, Assistant Director of Transformations and External Affairs, Baltimore City Department of Social Services, Baltimore, MD

D-7 Performance Improvement: Tools You Can Use

As organizations develop performance improvement-or continuous quality improvement-systems, getting beyond the numbers is a common challenge. This workshop focuses on learning useable tools and techniques to prepare and present data and turning that data into information that can be used for program improvement. The workshop content addresses these challenges and frustration points in performance-improvement activities. The presenters demonstrate tools and techniques that staff can use to more successfully present and analyze data and engage others. Two models of process improvement are briefly discussed as the context of the workshop. Some of the tools and techniques include examples of displaying data (static and dynamic displays) and several techniques to engage staff (process flow charts for "as is" and for "to be" redesign, multi-voting, and creating action and improvement plans).
Presenters: Rochelle Haimes, Consultant, Pittsburgh, PA; and Linda MacKenzie Holmstrand, Director of Performance Improvement and Corporate Compliance, Pressley Ridge, Pittsburgh, PA

D-8 Poverty on the Brain: Using Neuroscience to Empower Resilience in Children

Are the brains of children raised in poverty different from those of nonimpoverished children? Modern science says they are-and in very significant ways. Learn the impact of poverty on brain development and the 12 Power Tools for empowering the brain with resiliency amid the challenges of poverty. Inspired by new technologies that peer inside the workings of the young mind without invasion, modern neuroscience has shed enormous light on how children think and grow. Recently, this research has examined the impact of poverty on the brains of children exposed to it. This multimedia presentation includes actual brain scans, video, hands-on models, music, planning rubrics, and audience interaction. Participants leave with a solid understanding of the developing brain and practical, proven tools to enhance brain function and build resiliency.
Presenter: Frank J. Kros, Executive Vice President, The Children's Guild, Baltimore, MD

D-9 The Teaching-Family Model: An Evidence-Based System of Care Providing Support, Structure, and Strength

The Teaching-Family Model (TFM) offers a structure that ensures success when coupled with the certification process available to guarantee outlined standards are met effectively. This workshop will outline the structure of the model, the theory behind its use and why it works, and discusses implementation issues and challenges so that anyone can understand how to access this powerful and effective technology. The Teaching-Family Association is the only entity in North America that defines and implements standards and review procedures related to the actual performance and quality of treatment and service-delivery systems at all organizational levels. The Teaching-Family Model is an organized approach to providing humane, effective, and individualized treatment and services to populations in need. This integrated set of treatment practices, employed by TFM practitioners, helps children, families, and dependent adults accomplish their goals.
Presenters: Robert Milner, President-Elect; and Peggy McElgunn, Executive Director, Teaching-Family Association, Midlothian, VA

D-10 Using Trauma-Sensitive Care to Drastically Reduce Physical Restraint

This highly interactive workshop details a successful initiative to implement trauma-sensitive care to drastically reduce the use of physical restraints in a 58-bed, coed RTF. The workshop includes information on the striking prevalence and dramatic sequel of trauma (biological, emotional, behavioral, and social) among consumers of mental health services. Participants learn what it means to provide care that is trauma-informed and the relevant theoretical, clinical, administrative, milieu, and model-based aspects of the initiative. The material presented addresses all modalities represented among conference attendees.
Presenters: Brice Moss, Assistant Director of Continuous Performance Improvement, and David Bauer, Director of Milieu Services, Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, Hawthorne, NY


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