Thursday, April 11
Workshop Sessions D
9:00 am – 10:30 am

D1 – Collaboration for Behavioral Health Intervention for Families Receiving In-Home Services
Children who remain at home after a child welfare investigation have higher rates of behavioral problems compared to children in the general population. These children have increased risk for out-of-home placement and future maltreatment. Often, families experience difficulty assessing and engaging in mental health services that include the entire family. A task shifting approach was used to modify an Evidence-Based Practice (EBP; 4Rs2S) to be implemented and delivered in child welfare (CW) placement prevention services. CW staff and supervisors were trained in the behavioral modification model, then facilitated the intervention in a group setting.
Presenters: Rachael Maconachy, Rosalind Hill, and Carnitra D. White, Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services, Annapolis, MD

D2 – Federal Policy That Can Enhance Post Adoption Services and Link to the Family First Prevention Services Act
In this session, we will look at 2019 opportunities in federal legislation that can advance post-adoption services and how that legislation will complement the Family First Prevention Services Act’s role in funding post-adoption services.
Presenters: Cortney Jones, Voice for Adoption, Washington, DC; and John Sciamanna, CWLA, Washington, DC

D3 – The Psychological Impact of Kinship Care on the Family System
The success of placements, safety plans, and treatment plans are highly dependent on the professional’s understanding of the complex dynamics of family systems and kinship scenarios. Professionals must understand at the core level the family’s fear response and dysregulation resultant from the genogram shifts and role movement that come from both children’s replacement and system intrusion. Without that understanding, success rates for relative placements are subject to more difficulties over time. This workshop is designed to walk the attendees through seeing the kin placement through the eyes of the family to learn about the real effects of home studies, room sharing with biological children, marital disruption, resource depletion, and myriad other effects on the family system. Using this new understanding, participants are then given tools and strategies that will help with understanding the viability of a relative placement. They will learn how to identify a family’s needs and how to respond to those needs in a way that is meaningful—and adds to the long-term well-being of both the family and the children.
Presenters: William Nunnally and John Van Horn, Heartland For Children, Bartow, FL

D4 – Helping Parents Heal Relationships with Their Kids: The Connect Parent Program
The Connect Parent Program is an evidence-based practice (EBP) built on attachment and trauma principles to help support parents to strengthen, repair, and rebuild relationships with their children ages 8-18. This manualized, 10-week group program uses principles, role plays, and reflective activities to help parents understand what might be under their teen’s challenging behaviors. Research findings consistently demonstrate significantly decreased parental strain, increased parental satisfaction, and decreased youth conduct problems. The program can be used with birth parents/kin to prevent placements or stabilize reunification, and with foster parents during placement. While this model has been widely disseminated in other countries, it is newly implemented in 10 sites across the United States.
Presenters: Vicky Kelly, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Millsboro, DE; and Evette Jackson, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD

D5 – Permanency RoadMap: How We Found Our Way Home
The District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) has developed an interactive “Roadmap to Permanency” that maps the route a family takes through the child welfare agency—it links to forms and information to support social workers at the various decision-making points in the life of a case. This is part of the permanency strategy CFSA has implemented as part of the “drive to permanency” for children and families from the day a child enters care. Other steps include case planning meetings within 12-15 days with family and SME ( Mental Health, Domestic Violence, etc.) at the table, use of birth parent peers to provide an introduction and navigation through the system, and presence of kinship staff for the first 30 days of any case. CFSA is one of very few in the nation whose foster care numbers have been in decline for over five years and continue to do so. This workshop will review barriers, demonstrate the roadmap, and share lessons learned.
Presenters: Heather D. Stowe and Wendy Jacobson, District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency, Washington, DC

D6 – A Collaborative Approach to Plans of Safe Care for Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure and their Parents and Families: Policy and Practice Implications and Lessons
This session will present policy considerations and practice strategies for implementing a collaborative and comprehensive approach that strengthens families, prevents infants from coming into care, and improves services for pregnant and parenting women and their families. Using state strategies and lessons from five states engaged with the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare’s In-Depth Technical Assistance program, participants will identify effective collaborative practices to improve outcomes for infants with prenatal substance exposure and their families. Presenters from Kentucky’s state child welfare and behavioral health offices will present their collaborative approach to developing and implementing Plans of Safe Care.
Presenters: Maggie Schroeder, Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities, Frankfort, KY; Amanda LaTulippe Gehring, Kentucky Department for Community Based Services, Frankfort, KY; and Nancy K. Young, Children and Family Futures, Lake Forest, CA

D7 – Reshaping How Residential Treatment Services Can Be Delivered Using Agile Implementation Processes
The newly enacted Family First Prevention Services Act has created requirements for residential/group care services that will require many agencies to enhance or restructure their service delivery models to be more trauma-informed, accredited, assessment-driven, and very time-limited. This workshop will help participants assess their programs, policies, and culture through an implementation science lens and learn how to approach reshaping their service delivery models to meet these new expectations in a family-centered way. Using research-based frameworks, RTC contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes will be explored at the system, organization, and individual practitioner levels.
Presenters: Leslie Rozeff, Deloitte, Baltimore, MD; and Melinda Baldwin, Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children & Families, Washington, DC

D8 – Disruptions: Preventions and Interventions for Kinship and Foster Families
When children are separated from their parents to live with relatives or join foster families, it is expected that there will be no more loss and trauma because of disruptions.  Research evidences that there are stages to disruptions and strategies for prevention and intervention.  This workshop demonstrates practices, clarifies policies, and emphasizes how “minimizing trauma and maximizing teamwork” can and should be a central tenet to a foster care and kinship care model of practice.
Presenters: Eileen Mayers Pasztor, CWLA, Long Beach, CA; Marcus Stallworth, CWLA, Naugatuck, CT; and Eshele Williams, CWLA, Altadena, CA

D9 – Building a Sustainable Solution: Creating Systems of Care in Rural South Dakota to End Child Maltreatment and to Foster Resilient Families
South Dakota is facing the detrimental outcomes of adverse childhood experiences. In unprecedented collaboration, with the support of the state Legislature, the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment was created to lead South Dakota’s workforce through a 10-year strategic plan designed to combat child sexual abuse and maltreatment, to build resilient families, and to create trauma-informed communities. Learn how agency partners are overcoming roadblocks caused by the rural nature of the state, minimal funding for prevention services, and a historically siloed workforce to create innovative solutions to end sexual violence and maltreatment against South Dakota’s children.
Presenters: Carrie Sanderson, Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment at the University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD; and Sharon Chontos, Sage Project Consultants, Vermillion, SD

D10 – When Motherhood and Addiction Collide: A Trauma C.A.R.E. Model
Lack of attention to treating the traumatic experiences of parents and children who are involved in child welfare is a major service gap in the child welfare system. This gap is particularly evident in substance abuse settings where clinicians are often ill equipped to treat both the substance use disorder and the underlying trauma simultaneously. Presenters will share how implementing the agency’s Trauma C.A.R.E. model in their residential program has provided effective long-term treatment where mothers are treated for both trauma and substance use disorders, children are reunified in a trauma-informed manner, and together they participate in dyadic treatment designed to strengthen and/or repair attachment bonds.
Presenters: Debra Ruisard, The Center for Great Expectations, Somerset, NJ

D11 – CWLA National Blueprint Network: A Road Map for Success
As states, counties, cities, and providers have been readying for the implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), CWLA has embarked on a new initiative that we hope will put in place much of what is needed for agencies and communities to support the success of FFPSA implementation. In order to be successful, public agencies will need to have their community at the table with them. To that end, CWLA is working with six member agencies and their community collaborators to test and refine tools for implementing the CWLA National Blueprint for Excellence in Child Welfare and achieving its vision “that all children will grow up safely, in loving families, with everything they need to flourish–and with connections to their culture, ethnicity, race and language.” The National Blueprint is an excellent tool to help broaden the thinking of communities, individuals, and groups, including public and private organizations within and outside of the child welfare system, and to help them understand how their roles and responsibilities fit into the overall strategy to improve outcomes for children and youth.

The diverse group of pilot sites reflects the wide array of stakeholders to whom the National Blueprint applies. The sites are helping identify new tools and resources needed, and helping to create them. Come hear from these leaders about how implementing the National Blueprint with their own agency and with their community collaborators is making a difference and helping them put in place the infrastructure and practices consistent with FFPSA. Attendees will hear from a cross section representation of the pilot sites: community prevention related agencies, county-level public and private agencies, a multi-service child welfare agency, and a managed care organization.
Presenters: Julie Collins, CWLA, Washington, DC; and TBD

Thursday, April 11
Public Sector-Focused Workshops E
1:15 pm – 2:45 pm

E1 – Comprehensive Assessment and Planning to Implement Family First Prevention Services Act
This workshop provides jurisdictions with a macro-level strategy and resources for (a) conducting a structured assessment of their child welfare system related to the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) and (b) developing an implementation plan related to the FFPSA. The workshop will provide one jurisdiction’s experience embarking on this strategy and offer a guided opportunity for participants to discuss how they can leverage each provision of Family First in their child welfare system and associated service array to promote effective implementation and provide a blueprint for system transformation.
Presenters: Clare Anderson and Miranda Lynch, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL; and Rebecca Jones Gaston, Social Services Administration, Maryland Department of Human Services, Baltimore, MD

E2 – Can Cognitive Computing and AI Harness Protective Factors to Improve the Impact of Child Welfare Services?
Outcomes in child welfare have changed little over time and would benefit from innovations to complement traditional risk-based case practices. Incorporating protective factors and related services in service delivery have the potential to make a positive impact on the safety and well-being of children and the stability of families. Learn how cognitive computing and artificial intelligence can surface protective factors and provide insights to caseworkers to suggest interventions that leverage data-driven, evidence-based best practices so that human services organizations can rethink their operating models to change the way they deliver services.
Presenters: Kathy Park, National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), Madison, WI; Karen Rewalt, IBM Watson Health, Herndon, VA; and Walt Sedlazek, IBM Watson Health, Leesburg, VA

E3 – Stories, Systems, and Strategies: An Innovative Model to Improve Health Care Services for Children in a Child Welfare Agency
This session will focus on an in-depth description of an innovative model for provision of high-quality health care services to children in the care and custody of a state child welfare agency. This model has led to improved compliance statistics, assured excellent ongoing care coordination, facilitated stability of placements, and supported children and families in their homes.
Presenters: Linda Sagor and Jessica Coolidge, Massachusetts Department of Chidren and Families, Boston, MA; and Audrey Smolkin, Commonwealth Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical School, North Worcester, MA

Thursday, April 11
Public Sector-Focused Workshops F
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

F1 – From Research to Practice: Casework Decision-Making at the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services
Organizations thoughtfully consider which programs and services to implement to serve children and families. However, if these programs and services are not carried out with fidelity, agencies can fall short of their goals to promote the safety, permanency, and well-being of children. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and NCCD Children’s Research Center are conducting a fidelity review of a decision-support system in Los Angeles County. Presenters from both organizations will share the review process, lessons learned during the review, and findings to improve decision-making at key case practice points to better serve children and families.
Presenters: Philip Decter and Sierra Fischer, NCCD Children’s Research Center, Madison, WI; and Diane Iglesias, Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, Los Angeles, CA

F2 – Hands Across the District: Leveraging Local Partnerships to Build a Prevention Safety Net
The District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) is in the process of transitioning out of its Title IV-E Demonstration Project and into a preventive services model that maximizes positive outcomes under the Family First Prevention Services Act. This transition is larger in scope than a mere adjustment of funding mechanisms: it is a wholesale refocusing of energy and efforts at keeping children out of the child welfare system. The transition into Family First programming requires thoughtful construction of a comprehensive prevention system: a safety net. It requires the understanding and commitment of stakeholders from other client serving systems, the legal community, and community-based partners on the front lines of service delivery. CFSA has assembled a District-wide Family First Work Group to guide planning and strategic activities of the entire human services system. This session highlights the importance of public/private partnerships in creating an integrated prevention system. Participants will gain insight into the process and strategies for assessing community needs and identifying service gaps, and discuss how to work with community partners to develop services and support systems for families.
Presenters: Robert Matthews and Natalie Craver, District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency, Washington, DC

F3 – Partnering to Keep Kids Home: What Family Treatment Courts Need to Know and What they Can Do to Serve Children In-Home with their Families
This session will review the In-Home and Pre-File Family Treatment Court (FTC) model and highlight how implementing jurisdictions are able to prevent placement in out-of-home care by offering an array of services among treatment court partners to address substance abuse disorders and strengthen parenting capacity. An FTC will share their model of early intervention and provide key lessons and concrete implementation strategies. Presenters will also highlight recent key policy and legislative achievements which demonstrate the increasing commitment to keeping kids at home and how FTCs can be a part of leading larger systems change.
Presenters: Nancy K. Young, Children and Family Futures, Lake Forest, CA

Friday, April 12
Learning Lab Sessions G
8:00 am – 9:00 am

G1 – Child Care and Child Welfare: A Year-Two Report on Innovative Service Collaboration
Child care and child welfare systems both are concerned about the safety and well-being of young children. A Los Angeles collaboration between systems has grown into a state-wide, state-funded program. The collaboration for providing child care services to young children placed in foster care, foster parents, and kinship providers, and for teaching trauma-informed care to child care providers, has been taken to scale. Child Care Resource Center, Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and the Department of Children and Family Services will present two-year results from the pilot, and the challenges and benefits of expansion county- and state-wide.
Presenters: Ellen Cervantes and Susan Savage, Child Care Resource Center, Chatsworth, CA; and Jacquelyn McCroskey, USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Los Angeles, CA

G2 – Creating Permanent Family Connections with Youth Formerly in Foster Care
The landmark Family First Prevention Services Act emphasizes the importance of prevention services and permanency. Often, permanency is not perceived as a possibility for older youth in foster care. In this session, two youth formerly in foster care will share how YVLifeSet helped them reunite with biological family members and create supportive bonds that remain long after their program involvement and after they exit foster care. Many young people are returning to biological relatives after emancipation even when legal permanency was never achieved. Presenters will share how their agency has partnered with other public and private agencies to help young people establish safe and healthy permanent relationships.
Presenters: Jessica Foster, Youth Villages, Memphis, TN

G3 – Evaluation and CQI Are Good Bedfellows: It’s Just Finding the Right Sleep Number
Agencies can integrate evaluation and continuous quality improvement (CQI) to support the evidence building requirements of Family First. Favorite programs must become demonstrated evidence-supported programs through evaluation. Agencies that do CQI well can do evaluation well—with some culture shift. This session will offer guidance on how to build a structure that includes evaluation as a part of this developmental process. Presenters will identify steps to consider during implementation of CQI that will prepare the agency for evaluation, and will identify readiness factors for when it’s time to evaluate and to be co-partner in an evaluation.
Presenters: George Gabel, Westat, Rockville, MD

G4 – Family Centered Treatment: Large-Scale Implementation for Sustainable Outcomes
Effective implementation of innovative and viable treatment approaches for families in crisis and youth at risk can be a challenging venture. Developing researched processes and data-driven implementation systems is key to ensure that known evidence-based models are adhered to with fidelity upon application to their intended target populations. This session will look at methods of implementation and the clinical presentation of an evidence-based in-home family therapy model for youth at risk and their families. The model for review will be Family Centered Treatment® (FCT). FCT was developed as a treatment approach for use in the provision of intensive in-home services. FCT origins derive from practitioners’ efforts to find simple common sense solutions for families faced with forced removal of their children from the home or dissolution of the family functioning due to external/internal stressors and circumstances.
Presenters: Tim Wood, Family Centered Treatment Foundation, Charlotte, NC; and John Sullivan, Family Centered Treatment Foundation, Great Falls, VA

G5 – Beyond Kinship Navigation: How to Support the Kinship Family After the Crisis
The current focus on Kinship Navigation as part of the Family First Prevention Services Act has shed new light on how to best support kinship families affected by the current drug epidemic. In addition to kinship navigation, what ongoing support do we offer families when the parents are not able to parent for long periods of time? Through ongoing support services in addition to kinship navigation, a Grandfamilies program can provide comprehensive support to kinship families to develop family attachment and bonding, and strengthen families to decrease substance abuse and mental health concerns in the second generation.
Presenters: Bacall Hincks, Children’s Service Society of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

G6 – Improving Services to Families with Multiple Vulnerabilities: Programmatic and Pollicy Considerations
This workshop examines the needs of  families with multiple vulnerabilities and service-delivery strategies that hold promise for improving the well-being of these families, reducing risk for maltreatment, and improving children’s outcomes. Family engagement and retention, worker-family relationships, cultural responsiveness, and other components of promising strategies will be examined, as well as lessons to be learned from evidence from promising programs such as Early Head Start and Child First. Strategies for strengthening existing programs, partnering with other service providers, and advocating for the resources necessary for this transformation will be examined and discussed.
Presenters: Lenette Azzi-Lessing, Boston University, Boston, MA

G7 – A Candid Conversation: The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Well-Being of Youth in Foster Care
The health and well-being of youth in foster care, including those who are pregnant and/or parenting, must not exclude their sexual and reproductive health and well-being. Presenters invites you to join them for a candid conversation about data that support integrating programs, services, and resources that address the needs of these youth. Attendees will learn about Power Through Choices, the only evidence-based and trauma-informed adolescent pregnancy prevention curriculum developed specifically with and for youth in out-of-home placements. This not-to-be-missed session is sure to spark further action to improve the lives of young people.
Presenters: Deborah Chilcoat, Healthy Teen Network, Baltimore, MD; and Salimah Hassan-White, Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore, MD

G8 – What Do We Mean When We Talk About Risk? Ethical Analytics: Balancing Equity and Accuracy in Risk Assessment Use and Development
Netflix leverages data to answer: “Which show would an individual watch?” Social service agencies ask: “Which individuals will reenter the system?” Are these questions inherently different? What is the impact of an incorrect answer? What are the ethical considerations? Join presenters for a discussion and exercise regarding ethical analytics and how to develop accurate risk assessments while balancing equity and accuracy.
Presenters: Sierra Fischer and Philip Decter, NCCD Children’s Research Center, Madison, WI

G9 – Creating a Neurodevelopmental Ecological Screening Tool for Young Children in Low-Resourced Settings: Bridging the Gaps in Community-Based Child Assessment
NEST (Neurodevelopmental Ecological Screening Tool) is an easy-to-use, online screening tool developed on a nationwide sample of children ages 3-5 who are experiencing poverty and homelessness. NEST encourages partnership and dialogue between providers and caregivers, identifies a child’s developmental risk across multiple domains, and provides actionable recommendations to support resilience. NEST reflects an ecological view of child development, assessing constructs such as self-regulation and executive functions, caregiver well-being, and adverse childhood experiences. Join presenters to learn what thier research reveals about risk/protective factors in a diverse sample, and how integrating NEST into child welfare can support healthy developmental trajectories.
Presenters: Carmela J. DeCandia, Artemis Associates, Watertown, MA; and Rosie Donegan, Center for Social Innovation, Needham, MA

G10 – An Evidence-Informed Response to Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare Settings
This interactive session will present research on predictors of secondary traumatic stress in child welfare workers to aid in identifying individuals at risk, and present an evidence-informed tool to determine the degree to which the agency is secondary trauma-informed and responsive. This tool, the Secondary Traumatic Stress Informed-Organizational Assessment (STSI-OA), can be used to create a blueprint for change and to monitor progress over time. Participants will receive a copy of the tool and utilize it to create a secondary trauma response action plan.
Presenters: Ginny Sprang, University of Kentucky Center on Trauma and Children, Lexington, KY

G11 – Trust Based Relational Intervention®: A Community Approach
Childhood trauma can have lifelong effects—neurological, biological, cognitive, behavioral, and relational. A trauma-informed community approach to children with traumatic histories is the focus of the Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County’s TBRI® Pilot Project. Presenters will share how, as a project participant, they were tasked with creating practical and meaningful ways for service providers to join with children and families to promote health across a child’s lifetime. The agency’s TBRI® Pilot Project Implementation Plan focuses on recognizing a child’s history of trauma and nurturing healthy connections; improving cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning of the child; and enhancing the skills of parents and other caregivers.
Presenters: Jamie Diaz and Shana Hazzard, Lena Pope, Fort Worth, TX

Friday, April 12
Workshop Sessions H
11:00 am – 12:30 pm

H1 – Working with Birth Families: Making a Working Family
This workshop will help foster parents and caseworkers identify ways to develop strong working relationships with birth parents. Perception plays a vital role within the relationship between foster parent, caseworkers, and birth parents. How each person perceives each other will have a powerful impact on how well the relationship is established. If we can change and adjust perceptions of one another, it will increase the ability of the relationship to have more positive outcomes.
Presenters: Stan Waddell, Envolve, Wolfforth, TX; and Kimberly Purinton, Envolve, Sunrise, FL

H2 – System Performance Measures and Scorecard Evaluation for Preventive Services
This session will share with attendees how to use system performance measures as a way to evaluate the implementation of Evidence-Based Programs (EBPs) in response to the adoption of the Family First Prevention Services Act. The major questions attendees will be able to answer include: (1) How do you know the programs and services that you are providing are achieving the desired outcomes and conducting the desired activities that lead to these outcomes? ; and (2) How do you know how service providers are performing in relation to each other?
Presenters: Brian Clapier, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL; and Christina DeNard, Jane Addams College of Social Work, Chicago, IL

H3 – Foster Parent Training as an Advocacy Strategy to Support Family Reunification 
Training foster parents has long been recognized as an essential component of teamwork, partnership, and retention.  CWLA created the first national foster parent training program, Parenting Plus, over 50 years ago.  Since then, it has been documented that an essential skill foster parents must have, in addition to parenting children who have experienced trauma and loss, is to support the relationship between children in their care and their birth parents.  Previously known as “visitation” and now as “family time,” contact between children and their birth parents is essential for reunification, however skills to support family time is a decades-old challenge.  Please join colleagues who will demonstrate the essential link between foster parent training and discuss implications for the Family First Act with an emphasis on advocacy as a training objective.
Presenters:  Irene Clements, NFPA, Pflugerville, TX; Denise Gibson, Children’s Alliance of Kansas, Topeka, KS; Gwen Bass, Foster Care Researcher; and Eileen Mayers Pasztor, CWLA, Long Beach, CA

H4 – Housing and Services Partnerships to Strengthen Families: Overview and Evaluation of ACYF’s Child Welfare and Supportive Housing Demonstration
The intersections between child welfare involvement, housing instability, and homelessness is well documented for both families and young adults. When the housing and child welfare systems collaborate and leverage resources, they have the potential to prevent out-of-home placement and shorten time to family reunification, increase access to services that can help stabilize housing and help people to exit homelessness, and strengthen family connections. Utilizing a unique approach and collaborative service structure, supportive housing helps keep families safely together. This workshop will share evaluation findings from ACYF Partnerships to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of Supportive Housing for Families in the Child Welfare System.
Presenters: Leah Lindstrom Rhea, CSH, Minneapolis, MN; Andrew Johnson, CSH, San Diego, CA; and Mike Pergamit, Urban Institute, Washington, DC

H5 – Post-Release Services for Separated Families Exiting Immigration Detention
The mid-2018 zero-tolerance immigration policy caused the forcible separation and detention of over 2,300 children and their families, who were then ineligible for any existing child welfare or family-strengthening services post-release. Presenters will share how their agency used its comprehensive case management and child welfare expertise to develop the Family Reunification Support Program (FRSP), which provides welcome and reception services and 90 days of integrative post-release services to reunified families. Attendees of this session will discuss the issue of family separation and the unique needs of children and families exiting detention, and receive insight into the development, implementation, and monitoring of the FRSP.
Presenters: Samantha Williams, Basel Mousslly, and Carolina Todo Bom, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Baltimore, MD

H6 – How to Remain Relevant: A Blueprint for Service Adaptation and Innovation
Over the past 15 years, many changes have occurred within the child-serving industry: managed care, privatization, long-term redesign, and the need for service organizations to respond to an ever-changing child and family population. Central to all of these changes is the recognition that service organizations must transform themselves into multi-service organizations that can service complex populations.  Complex populations include children, youth, and parents that present multiple challenges, including not only traditional child welfare considerations but also serious mental and physical health challenges.  These demands require successful organizations to align their services to meet very complicated case profiles. This session will provide participants with a blueprint on how to identify, evaluate, and re-align services to be competitive in the changing business environment.
Presenters: William E. Reay and Alexandria Kosiski, Omni Inventive Care, Omaha, NE

H7 – Prenatal Alcohol and Other Drug Exposures Among Children and their Families in the Child Welfare System: Preliminary Results from a Multi-Site Study
Prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs can have detrimental lifelong effects. Evidence indicates children with such exposures in the welfare system often are not identified or are misdiagnosed. This workshop reviews: (1) evidence-based literature regarding children in the child welfare system with prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs, including opioids; (2) preliminary findings from a multi-site study examining policies and practices related to children prenatally exposed to alcohol and other drugs and their families within the child welfare system; and (3) promising identification procedures and screening tools that can assist with identifying affected children.
Presenters: Erin Ingoldsby, James Bell Associates, Arlington, VA; Doug Waite, The Keith Haring Clinic at Children’s Village, Echo Hills, NY; Sharon Newburg-Rinn, Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, Washington, DC; Jacquelyn Bertrand & Heather McCann, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA; and Christine Leicht, ICF – Capacity Building Center for States and Child Welfare Information Gateway, Fairfax, VA

H8 – Shifting your Residential Practices to Become a Quality Residential Treatment Program (QRTP): Important Lessons from the Building Bridges Initiative
The requirements of the new Quality Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) services—for which the Family First Prevention Services Act allows Title IV-E reimbursement—call for current providers of residential interventions to shift the way they work with the youth and families they serve. The extensive work of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) over the past 13+ years has helped to identify residential practices that align with the research on improving youth and family outcomes post-residential discharge.  Many of these BBI practices are reflected in and support the meaningful implementation of the QRTP requirements. For instance, one of the key drivers for shifting and providing quality residential interventions is the engagement and involvement of youth and families. This session will provide attendees with an overview of the BBI framework and best practices that are consistent with QRTP requirements and/or necessary for implementation of these requirements.  Attendees will learn about strategies used by a provider that has transformed their programs along these best practices for working with youth and their families. Attendees will also hear from a youth advocate and family partner on successful ways to engage and work with families so that the intent of QRTPs can be realized. The focus of the session will be on providing attendees with practical strategies they can use when they go back to their agencies and communities to successfully prepare for and operate QRTPs.
Presenters: Julie Collins, CWLA and BBI Consultant/Family First Lead, Washington, DC; and TBD

H9 – Rethinking Family Recovery: Lessons from the Prevention and Family Recovery Program
This workshop will explore family readiness as a collaborative practice issue by raising the need for coordinated case plans and effective communication protocols across child welfare, substance use treatment, and court systems. The session will explore program designs across grantee sites, including the timing and phasing of reunification, transitioning to a family centered approach, improving quality parenting time, and the importance of a strong governance structure. Presenters will highlight key lessons from the Prevention and Family Recovery Initiative and feature a site example and presentation from the Tompkins, New York site. Participants will learn successful key concepts and practical strategies to implement these lessons in their jurisdiction.
Presenters: Nancy K. Young, Children and Family Futures, Lake Forest, CA; and Toini Pulver, Tompkins County Department of Social Services, Ithaca, NY

H10 – Engaging Youth in Child Welfare Policy Advocacy: Successes and Challenges of a Multi- State Youth Advisory Board
State and federal legislation reflect a recognition of the need to incorporate youth voice in decision-making as a mechanism to enhance child welfare policy and practice. However, there is limited research focused on promising practices in the context of child welfare. Participants in this session will learn about the successes and challenges of youth engagement in the New England Youth Coalition—a group of foster youth and adult supporters from across Region I, New England—who advise the commissioners and directors of those states. Participants will also learn key elements of meaningfully engaging youth in child welfare policy advocacy.
Presenters: Astraea Augsberger and Linda Sprague Martinez, Boston University School of Social Work, Boston, MA; Grace Hilliard-Koshinsky, New England Association of Commissioners and Directors, New England Youth Coalition, and Massachusetts Network of Foster Care Alumni, Boston, MA; and Julie Springwater, Boston University School of Social Work and New England Association of Child Welfare Commissioners and Directors, Boston, MA

Thursday, April 11
Poster Presentations
7:30 – 8:30 am; 12:15 – 1:15 pm; and 5:30 – 6:30 pm

Conference posters will be on display throughout the day on Thursday, April 11.  There will be several opportunities for presenters to share information with attendees and answer questions.

Working with Fathers: Resources and Tips from the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse
Find out more about the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, including lessons learned from fatherhood work in community-based settings, successful strategies that have worked to engage fathers in group and individual learning experience, promising practices to develop programs for fathers and families, and information and resources to use in work with fathers.
Presenters: Eugene Schneeberg, National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, Fairfax, VA

Participatory Program Design: Bringing Family Voice into Agency Planning
There is a dearth of client-centered Domestic Violence (DV) interventions for the whole family in child welfare, including the Person Causing Harm (PCH). Moreover, there are few programs that work with the children and the PCH when it is safe to do so. To develop an innovative approach to working with families experiencing DV, the Administration for Children’s Services’ Division of Prevention Services conducted an extensive literature review, held interviews with 84 DV experts, and conducted focus groups with survivors and PCHs. This presentation will share this iterative approach to program development, which led to a novel intervention.
Presenters: Elizabeth Mota and Kailey Burger, New York City Administration for Children’s Services, New York, NY

Together Facing the Challenge: Urban Implementation Outcomes and Ongoing Supports
Together Facing the Challenge is an evidence-based training program for therapeutic foster parents. This presentation will describe longitudinal foster child and parent outcomes from an urban implementation of the training program, identify a model for coaching foster care case managers to enhance ongoing supports for therapeutic foster parents, present lessons learned from the coaching model implemented at a therapeutic foster care agency in a large urban community, and present updated program outcomes two years following model implementation.
Presenters: Richard Allen and Michael Moleski, Devereux, Philadelphia, PA

Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions for Urban Parents with Dual Child Welfare and Substance Abuse Concerns
A New York City-based regional partnership was formed to focus on ensuring strong and effective collaboration between child welfare and substance abuse providers. This presentation provides preliminary implementation data related to a multi-systems, community-based approach to evidence-based interventions consistent with the Family First Act. Implementation data related to the delivery of Seeking Safety (for comorbid trauma and substance use), Incredible Years (parenting skills training), and Contingency Management (to support engagement) will be provided, alongside recommendations for this intervention to be replicated in similar settings.
Presenters: Charu Sood, Scott Wetzler, and Anita Jose, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY; Jing Zhu, Metis Associates, New York, NY; and Jacqueline Martin, New York City Administration for Children’s Services; New York, NY

Improving Practice and Policy: Top-down Perspectives on Workforce Retention by Child Welfare Administrators
Amidst the changes associated with the implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act, child welfare worker retention remains a vital aspect of ensuring healthy and stable communities. Previous research focused on workforce retention largely includes feedback from the frontline worker and the supervisor/middle manager. Taking a top-down approach, this presentation explores the findings of a mixed-methods study designed to capture candid insight from a statewide sample of child welfare administrators. Findings reveal avenues for direct application, with respect to the CWLA National Blueprint for Excellence in Child Welfare and the Family First Prevention Services Act.
Presenters: Austin Griffiths and Angelique Horace, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY

CWLA’s Outcome-based Workload and Caseload Standards
CWLA has embarked on a process to not only update its workload/caseload standards but to create a new framework for the calculation and management of them that is tied to outcomes for children, youth, and families. This process has been strongly influenced by administrators in public and private agencies. Concerned about the resilience of their organizations, the workforce, and the children and families they serve, they have asked for a more effective way of calculating what it actually takes to do the various components of the work, using best practices that lead to improved outcomes for children, youth, and families while meeting state and federal requirements. CWLA has sought ongoing input from the field as it has moved through the different phases of the initiative. More recently, CWLA held a meeting with a group of researchers from child welfare and other related fields to get feedback on the findings from the final CWLA 2018 report, Child Welfare Caseload and Workload: A Synthesis of the Evidence Base, Current Trends and Future Directions, and what else needs to be considered.

Come hear about the key findings from the October 2018 meeting with researchers and the framework for the new outcomes-based CWLA Workload and Caseload Standards, which will draw on the research evidence to improve outcomes for the children, youth, and families. Participants will also have the opportunity to provide feedback on the framework and identify issues that will need to be considered as CWLA and its National Advisory Committee work to finalize a draft for the field to use.
Presenters: Julie Collins, CWLA, Washington, DC; and Vicky Kelly, CWLA Board of Directors, Millsboro, DE

CWLA’s Young Professionals Committee
Are you under the age of 40 and interested in developing your leadership skills and networking with young professionals in your field? Come and find out more about the Young Professionals Committee and how to get involved. We believe that the more informed, involved, and well networked young professionals are, the greater the chance to have more influence on the future of the child welfare profession; and better outcomes for children, families, and communities.
Presenters: Lydia Bailiff, Lena Pope, Fort Worth, TX; and Shaquita Ogletree, CWLA, Washington, DC

SATURDAY, APRIL 13

8:30 am – 4:00 pm
Trauma-Informed Parenting in a Digital World
This session will examine the impact of social media and technology on today’s society. Overexposure can influence youth’s perception of reality which can pose significant dangers to their overall safety and well-being. This is particularly true with individuals who have experienced trauma and significant losses.  Participants will have an opportunity to discuss realistic, cost-effective strategies to reduce risks, and identify ways to educate foster/kinship parents, social workers, and other professionals with decision making abilities for our most vulnerable population. The session will also explore how to increase media literacy by educating and empowering adults and children how to use critical thinking skills and recognize the direct and unintended consequences associated with technology. The importance of legislative advocacy will also be discussed. The following objectives will be addressed: examine the pros and cons of technology; discuss the impact social media and technology can have on emotional well-being and behavior; explore how media’s auditory and visual messaging can misguide young people who often internalize messages as being real and plausible; discover how some apps and mobile devices limit parents’ ability to safely monitor their children’s online use; analyze how marketing and advertisement can influence self-perception, gender, and relationship expectations.
Presenter: Marcus Stallworth, LMSW, CWLA

9:00 am – 12:00 pm       
Lessons Learned to Prepare for Successful CARF Accreditation
With the passing of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), providers who serve children and youth in child care institutions, group homes, residential programs or other congregate care settings who wish to continue providing similar services must meet new requirements and become a Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) or meet one of three other designated specialized programs. For most, this has meant becoming familiar with the requirements to become a QRTP and its major condition, accreditation. Providers not currently accredited are now under short time constraints to become accredited. Preparation for the accreditation visit is often time consuming, anxiety producing, and confusing. This session will provide attendees specific details about the CARF accreditation process and the steps to prepare for a successful survey. Information presented will include preparing for a survey within limited timeframes and incorporate lessons learned from recent mandates. Attendees will have the benefit of hearing from an accredited program about “what really works best” and “what the surveyors really are like.” Additionally, they will have the opportunity to meet a surveyor and ask questions. The goal of the session is to have participants who choose CARF to become a QRTP realize that although the process may not be effortless, it is doable, and will add real value to their overall organization. Accreditation will bring improved service quality to their program, their staff, other stakeholders, and, most importantly, the children, youth, and families they serve.
Presenter: Leslie Ellis-Lang, CARF International Inc.

9:00 am – 1:00 pm
The Critical Role of Supervisors in Addressing Secondary Traumatic Stress in the Child Welfare Workplace
Social workers work directly with children, youth, and families that have experienced trauma in their lives. As such, they are very likely to experience occupational stress. Studies have shown that up to 50% of child welfare workers are at high risk of secondary traumatic stress (STS). This workshop explores how social workers experience STS, risk factors, dynamics of symptoms such as burnout, organizational and environmental factors, and the role of supervision as a social worker support. Functions of supervision will be discussed from the perspective of addressing STS in the workplace.
Presenter: Charlene Ingram, MSW, CWLA

9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Housing/Homelessness and Substance Use: Opportunities and Challenges to Implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act
Working with families differently, including changing the role of housing, treatment, and cross-sector services, creates new opportunities for children, youth, and families to become safely and stably housed, and, from a place of “home,” engaging in a treatment and recovery journey—and tackling their complex challenges and higher-order needs with trauma-focused, family-centered, collaborative support for the entire family.

The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) and other recent federal changes create opportunities to change the trajectory for children, youth and families involved in child welfare, including those experiencing housing instability and homelessness. This session will provide child welfare agencies, treatment and service providers, advocates, and policy-makers with an opportunity to explore these opportunities and potential challenges to keeping families safely together when faced with a substance use disorder and a lack of safe and stable housing. The provision of prevention and reunification services, when matched with housing resources, can help achieve positive outcomes for families across treatment, housing, and child and family domains. This session will highlight collaborative practice approaches between substance abuse treatment, child welfare, and other human service agencies and juvenile courts. National experts and state and local jurisdictions implementing supportive housing solutions benefiting this population will offer the framework and strategies to be considered, such as family-centered treatment, plans of safe care, services to support the parent-child relationship and family recovery, cross-system collaboration, two-generation approaches including treatment services for the whole family, and peer recovery supports. Presenters will facilitate peer learning, exploration of lessons learned, cross-disciplinary connection points, actionable strategies and supportive policy and FFPSA considerations.
Presenters: Andrew Johnson, CSH; Sid Gardner, Children and Family Futures; and TBD

9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Models of Practice: Mandatory or Magical Thinking?  
What would be the results if everyone in your agency was asked the following questions: What is your agency’s mission, program goals, and expected outcomes? What is your role in achieving those outcomes? Are you trained at your competency level? What is your role in relation to others who impact lives, and what is your agency’s image in the communities you serve?  Would you obtain the same answers from direct service staff, foster parents and kinship caregivers, supervisors and managers, and even front office staff? CWLA’s Training Team has the privilege of working with public and private child welfare agencies across the country, and whether service plans focus on family reunification, adoption as an option, or assuring that young people leave agency custody connected to relationships that are safe, nurturing, and enduring, it is often recognized that there would not be congruent responses. Is your agency’s model of practice thriving or magical thinking? This session focuses on model of practice assessment, development, support, and retention for any services provider. The common denominator is children and families and sometimes staff, too, whose lives are impacted by loss and trauma.
Presenters: Eileen Mayers Pasztor, DSW, CWLA; and Model of Practice Agencies TBD

1:00 pm – 4:00 pm         
The Joint Commission Accreditation Experience
With specific and relevant accreditation requirements for child welfare agencies, The Joint Commission helps your organization serve children and families who are vulnerable by improving quality and safety as well as reducing risk across the culturally diverse populations you serve. Joint Commission standards focus on state-of-the-art performance improvement strategies that help organizations continuously improve the safety and quality of care, which can reduce the risk of error. In addition to helping you meet licensing and contract requirements and qualify as Quality Residential Treatment Programs (QRTP) for the Family First Prevention Services Act, Joint Commission accreditation will: provide an external validation of quality; stimulate quality improvement efforts and adoption of leading practices; create continuity of processes across multiple sites or services; and reduce your risk profile and may lower liability insurance rates. In this session, you will learn everything you need to know about making an informed choice for behavioral health accreditation with The Joint Commission.
Presenter: Yvonne Rockwood, MBA/MHA, CPHQ, The Joint Commission