Child Welfare League of America

Workshop Session E

E-1 Home Visiting in New York State: Creating a Statewide System

This workshop addresses how a state engages key policymakers and advocates and how this diverse group collaborates to develop and implement a statewide system of home visiting that can serve as a tool to prevent child abuse.
Presenter: Karen Schimke, President, SCAA-Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, Albany, NY

E-2 Child Welfare Reform in New Jersey: The Role of Community Advocates

In this presentation, the Association for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) provides a broad overview of New Jersey's efforts to reform its child welfare system, highlighting major policy changes and the impact of each. Presenters outline ACNJ's advocacy strategies and monitoring efforts that impacted the reform effort.
Presenters: Cecilia Zalkind, Executive Director, and Mary E. Coogan, Assistant Director, Association for Children of New Jersey, Newark, NJ

E-3 Increasing the Expectations of Youth in Care: Helping Youth to Set and Achieve Higher Goals for Themselves and the Importance of Understanding the Role That Financial Aid Resources Can Play in the Achievement of These Goals

This workshop discusses how we can use benefits, such as the Education and Training Voucher (ETV) and State Tuition Waiver Programs for Foster Care Youth, in a strategic way to help motivate young people to stay in school and set high standards and goals for themselves. The ETVs, which are available in all of the mid-Atlantic states, could be the single most valuable resource ever to be made available to transition-aged foster care youth. In some cases, it is also the best-kept secret. This workshop focuses on eligibility criteria and accessing funds from the ETV program in your state. The Tuition Waiver program in Maryland, including the eligibility issues and benefits connected with this resource, is also covered, along with the need for self-advocacy to be taught and stressed as youth progress toward self-sufficiency.
Presenters: Brenda Campbell, Director, Vocational and Training Services, and James Sippio, Life Skills Counselor and Financial Aid Liaison, New Pathways Independent Living Program, New Pathways, Baltimore, MD; and current and former clients of New Pathways

E-4 Mental Health Services in a Community School Setting

Parsons Child and Family Center, a community-based, private, not-for-profit organization, and the Albany City School District are partners in the School Support II Project, a New York State Office of Mental Health initiative developed to provide services to school-aged children who have emotional or behavioral needs and support to their families. The primary intent of this initiative is to help children attending "high-need" schools function in their classrooms and succeed in school. The presenters share the general thinking behind this evidence-based service model as well as their experiences in managing a privately run satellite clinic within a publicly run school setting. Included is a discussion on the challenges with financing the work.
Presenters: Audrey LaFrenier, Director, Outpatient Mental Health Services; Sarah Murphy, Project Supervisor; and Jennifer Kane, Social Worker; Parsons Child and Family Center, Albany, NY

E-5 Improving Staff Performance via Organizational Behavior Management

This workshop presents an employee incentive program rooted in the science of applied behavior analysis via organizational behavior management techniques. The program was implemented at two residential facilities serving adolescents diagnosed with developmental disabilities, including mental retardation. The effectiveness and possible limitations of the program are presented.
Presenters: Benny N. Howard III, Behavior Analyst; and Christine M. Halvey, Behavior Analyst, Maryville Academy- Division for Developmentally Delayed Youth, Bartlett, IL

E-6 Extra! Extra! Foster Care Youth Help New York State "Measure" Up!

Youth involvement, youth partnerships, and youth engagement are strategies that have proven to be effective when creating and evaluating foster care programs in New York State. Youth in Progress, New York State's Foster Care Youth Leadership Advisory Team, has been involved in creating and evaluating the programs in which they and their peers participate, as well as providing consultation to the state about the policies that affect their lives. These youth and their mentors who work within the system describe the effect that their input has had to improve the foster care system in New York.
Presenters: Michelle L. Ray, Senior Education Specialist and Youth 4 Progress Liaison, New York State Adolescent Services Resource Network, Professional Development Program, University at Albany, Albany, NY; and Stephen K. Opela, Coordinator of Group Home Program and Mentor, Northeast Parent and Child Society, Career Development Department, Schenectady, NY

E-7 When Systems Collide: Foster Teens Maintaining Legal Custody of Their Children

This workshop focuses on providing practice tips and examples of best practices for child welfare professionals charged with helping young parents in foster care maintain legal custody of their children amidst allegations of abuse and neglect.
Presenters: Jillian Cohen, Supervising Social Worker, and Elizabeth Fassler, Litigation Supervisor, Center for Family Representation Inc., New York, NY

E-8 Public/Private Collaboration: The Massachusetts Provider Leadership Program

During the last four years the landscape of child welfare services in Massachusetts has undergone transformational change. This workshop explores the public-private partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Social Services and 25 members of the provider community who participated in the Provider Leadership Institute. How this has led to more systems integration, the redesign of residential services, and innovative approaches to improve services for children and families are also detailed.
Presenters: Tim Callahan, PhD, Founder and Executive Director, Brandon Residential Treatment Center, Natick, MA; Jan Nisenbaum, Director, Continuous Quality Improvement, Massachusetts Department of Social Services, Boston, MA; and Louise Richmond, Director, New England, CWLA, Quincy, MA

E-9 Residential Treatment in New York: 2006 and Beyond-How Stakeholders Came Together to Forge Public Policy

Presenters illustrate the lessons learned along the way when public sector and voluntary agency representatives were called together to review New York's Performance Improvement Plan for ensuring safety and well-being in residential care. They found common ground in identifying the myths and truths of out-of-family placement. The resulting yearlong dialogue produced a comprehensive "white paper" on residential care written and endorsed by state, county, and agency partners.
Presenters: Linda Mappes, Executive Director, Vanderheyden Hall Inc., Wynantskill, NY; Bill McLaughlin, Director of Regional Operations and Practice Improvement, New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Albany, NY; and James F. Purcell, Executive Director, Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies, Albany, NY

E-10 Delivering Real-Time Outcomes Using Today's Technology

In response to the increased demands being placed on private providers to supply outcomes statistics for contracting purposes, the Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services (PCCYFS) developed a Web-supply outcomes data collection system for statewide comparison and analysis. Participants will learn about the system's indicators, sampling procedures and future components, benchmarking capabilities, and the benefits of participation.
Presenters: Tracy Drescher, Co-chair, PCCYFS; and Bill Shutt, Assistant Executive Director of Family Care for Children and Youth, Inc., Member of PCCYFS Outcomes Measures Workgroup, Harrisburg, PA


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