| Workshops from Wednesday, August 27, 2008 |
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder vs. Everything Else | Handouts coming soon
Participants learn how symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, bipolar disorder and simple adjustment problems can masquerade as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children who have come into the dependency system due to abuse and neglect. |
| Presenter: |
Daniel P. Tressler, Psy. D. |
Assessing Child Maltreatment in Multicultural Populations | Handouts coming soon
As the United States becomes increasingly multicultural, religious rites and cultural practices can be reported to state abuse hotlines as possible child maltreatment. This workshop uses case presentations to explore the interaction between these factors. |
| Presenter: |
Dr. Walter F. Lambert, University of Miami Child Protection Team |
Normalcy for Children in Licensed Care | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
Normalcy for Children in Licensed Care is a statewide training curriculum to educate partners in child welfare to ensure children maintain stability and positive connections. This training helps to create a better understanding of partnerships between the youth, caregivers, and their agencies and the children entrusted to their care. It includes a guest speaker who has previous experience with both licensed and non-relative placements and discusses the benefits of normalcy. This training is beneficial for all Children & Families investigative staff, all case management staff, foster parents, and court personnel. |
| Presenters: |
Rachel Gibson, Department of Children & Families
Julian Green, Devereux
Susan Klatt, Independent Consultant
Lisa Nelson, Community-based Care of Brevard |
Placement Stability through Foster Parent Retention | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
This workshop focuses on increasing placement stability for children by examining successful supports to resource families. Information compiled from states around the nation is shared as well as lessons learned from the Placement Stability project conducted in Circuit 1 by a coordinated Technical Assistance Team from the National Child Welfare Resource Centers. |
| Presenter: |
Janyce Fenton, National Resource Center |
| Workshops from Thursday, August 28, 2008 |
Attachment Is the Issue: Understanding Children Needs in the ”Shelter to Permanency” Process | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
Understanding the importance of attachment and the consequences of breaking the parent/child bond is key to successful mental health outcomes as a child goes through the dependency process. The workshop emphasizes the importance of reducing the number of placements and preserving or transferring the parent/child bond with expediency. Interventions for parents, foster parents and child welfare workers involved with children with attachment disorder are discussed. Participants learn strategies for increasing protective factors to improve resiliency in these children. |
| Presenter: |
Virginia O. Jones, MSW, LCSW, Helping People Succeed, Inc. |
Coordinating Services for Children & Youth with Developmental Disabilities | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
This workshop provides an overview of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities and its application, eligibility and service planning processes. It also includes discussion regarding the types of services available for children in the home and the community based waiver program, as well as steps necessary to access them. Specific attention is given to strategies for coordinating child welfare services with developmental disability services. |
| Presenters: |
Denise Arnold, Agency for Persons with Disabilities
Terri McGarrity, Agency for Persons with Disabilities |
Child and Family Engagement | Handouts coming soon
“Nothing about me without me!” . . . the rallying cry of the family and youth engagement movement captures the challenge and opportunities presented when social service agencies successfully engage youth and families in child welfare cases. Successfully engaging families is both a strategy and a goal in child welfare cases. It requires a great deal of preparation, as social workers attempt to balance their helping skills, the responsibility to keep children safe and the need to maintain a relationship with the family -- all of this while trying to accomplish the agreed upon goals of the case. Engaging families is more than a notion. Social workers must create an intentional strategy to involve parents, especially at the critical decision making points. This workshop highlights specific skills and competencies related to the art of family engagement. Attention is paid to building respectful and mutual relationships with families, as well as tapping in to the “expertise” of parents, children and social workers. |
| Presenters: |
Sue Badeau, Casey Family Programs
Paul DiLorenzo, Casey Family Programs |
Detecting Deception | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
Participants learn to identify concealed and repressed facial emotions. They will improve their ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion and, after recognizing these emotions, be able to interpret these expressions with accuracy and predictability when conducting an interview or investigation. |
| Presenter: |
Susan Constantine, Executive Image Consultant |
Drug Endangered Children: Assessing for Substance Abuse - Safety and Risk Factors | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
This workshop highlights the safety and family assessment factors that are typically indicative of a substance abuse problem existing within a family. In addition to the more obvious indicators of drug arrests, drug paraphernalia in the home and medical complications due to drug use, there is a myriad of more subtle but recognizable behavioral and psychological indicators that can alert investigators and case managers to the fact that substance abuse might be the underlying condition to the symptom(s) of child abuse in the home. |
Presenters:
|
Kay Doughty, Operation PAR, Inc.
John S. Harper, Department of Children & Families |
Drug Endangered Children: A Multidisciplinary Approach | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
Drug Endangered Children are those children who suffer physical or psychological harm or neglect resulting from exposure to illegal drugs or other substance abuse. Participants learn the basics of the medical and psychosocial impact on children exposed to these environments, and strategies and protocols for assessing and providing care to identified victims. Participants learn the prevalence of substance abuse in child deaths through the review of the latest child death investigations. |
Presenters:
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Dr. Kelly Ferrigno, University of Florida Child Protection Team
Michele Scavone Stone, M.Ed., University of Florida Child Protection Team |
Improving Outcomes: Interagency Coordination for Delinquent and Dependent Youth | Handouts coming soon
Hear how the Department of Children & Families and the Department of Juvenile Justice work together to coordinate services for youth who are involved in both court processes. The presenters review the current interagency agreement between Children & Families and Juvenile Justice which coordinates the services offered by both agencies. The presenters also discuss best practices in the circuits for the joint delivery of these services. |
| Presenters: |
Jack Ahearn, Department of Juvenile Justice
Jennifer Parker, Esq., Department of Juvenile Justice
Frank Platt, Department of Children & Families |
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA): Implications for Policy and Practice in Florida | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
Judge Jones, author of The Indian Child Welfare Act Handbook, discusses the federal mandates and protections provided American Indian and Alaskan Native children under the Indian Child Welfare Act (25 U.S.C. 1901, et seq). His presentation includes a summary of the historical basis for the Act, judicial procedures and implications for child welfare practice. Information specific to Florida policy, practice and compliance with the provisions of the Act is provided. |
| Presenters: |
B.J. Jones, Chief Judge Sisseton, Wahpeton Oyate
Linda Johns, Department of Children & Families |
Key Strategies for Family Engagement and Kinship Care Teamwork | Handouts coming soon
To reduce the number of children in traditional foster care placements, new strategies for family engagement need to be developed. Florida’s family demography provides both challenges and opportunities to explore relative and kinship placements if innovative teamwork strategies are developed and implemented. This session examines the emotional ties and economic realities in looking at these kinship and extended family options. |
| Presenters: |
Jack Levine, 4Generations Institute
Ron Morris, Advocate and Philanthropist |
Public Benefits & Educational Issues for Children in Foster Care | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
What are the federal issues affecting children in foster care? Learn the benefits of state and federal programs, how children qualify, who should apply, and what to do if the child is denied. The programs discussed include Social Security (on the child’s parent’s or guardian’s account), Supplemental Security Income (the child’s own disability), Veteran’s Benefits, Medicaid, and Educational programs such as McKinney-Vento. |
| Presenter: |
Deborah A. Schroth, Esq., Department of Children & Families |
Serving Adolescents with Co-Occurring Disorders | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
This workshop focuses on the complex and evolving presentation of adolescents who have co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Developmental Pathways are explored and evidence-based screening, assessment and intervention strategies are presented with links provided for supplemental material. |
| Presenter: |
Holly A. Hills, Ph.D, University of South Florida |
Structured Decision Making: A Research Approach to Improving Outcomes | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
Building on over 20 years of experience, the Children’s Research Center has developed a comprehensive case management model known as Structured Decision Making for Child Protection. This presentation is designed to provide an overview of the model; its philosophical and research basis; and a brief look at some of the assessment tools, the related definitions, and the corresponding policies and procedures used in daily practice. In addition, the presentation provides the most recent research on a new Structured Decision Making component being designed for use with foster/relative care providers. |
| Presenter: |
Janice Ereth, Ph.D., Children’s Research Center of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency |
Transition Needs of Youth with Disabilities | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
A significant percent of youth who age out of foster care have one or more disabilities. Thus the challenges of transition are multiplied, as are the resources available to help those youth. This workshop helps participants understand the unique transitional needs of youth with disabilities and offers tools and resources to help ensure that the community resources are in place when they exit the system of care. |
| Presenters: |
Andrea Khoury, ABA, Center on Children and the Law
Andrea L. Moore, Florida’s Children First, Inc.
Robin L. Rosenberg, Florida’s Children First, Inc.
Barry Shalinsky, Florida’s Children First, Inc. |
What Is New with The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children in Florida? | View Slide Presentation (PDF)
Shortening the time for processing of Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children requests is a priority of the Department of Children & Families. Through electronic transmission of the processing of requests, the timeframe for completing these requests has been reduced. Under the Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of Foster Children Act of 2006, each state’s court improvement program was required to conduct an assessment on their Interstate Compact and Placement of Children methods/system. Florida’s assessment lists recommendations - based on findings from case file reviews, surveys, and a focus group - on ways the court can expedite this process. In the court portion of this workshop, the presenter shares the assessment findings and recommendations with workshop participants. |
| Presenters: |
John K. Couch, Office of the State Courts Administrator
H. Stephen Pennypacker, Esq., Department of Children & Families |