Family Involvement in Child
Welfare Practice
Administering Organizations
Olmsted
County Child and Family Services in collaboration with
Family
Service Rochester, a local community non-profit organization
serving southeastern Minnesota.
Program Objectives and Unique
Needs Addressed
Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) was initiated in Olmsted
County in 1996 in response to the child welfare agency’s
commitment to more meaningfully involve families and extended
kin in child placement prevention and reunification planning.
The state of Minnesota additionally recognizes that children
of color are being placed outside the care of their parents
at a disproportionate rate and that special care and attention
is required to guard against such inequities. FGDM and other
family centered practices have been developed and implemented
as a means of addressing the needs of children and families
of color where community and cultural information is additionally
taken into consideration. With FGDM, the strengths and resources
within the extended family system are utilized in building
safety and stability of care around child protection concerns.
Program Description
The FGDM team was developed as a resource within a wider child
welfare system where the practice has been transformed to
behaviorally reflect the value and necessity of family involvement
in matters of child safety, well-being and stability of care.
There is an array of processes and models available ranging
from those that are professionally led with families participating
to those that are family led with service provider information/participation
available.
- Family Group Conferences in the New Zealand model (both
child welfare matters and youth justice accountability)
- Wraparound specifically utilized in children’s
mental health interventions
- Family Case Planning Conferences (routine meetings as
well as a specified format in a court process)
- Circles
- Mediation
A practice that clearly values the relevance of family, extended
kin, and communities in both the assessment of risk to children
and ongoing provision of social work services is particularly
responsive to the needs of refugee and immigrant families.
Key practice elements include:
- Honoring family knowledge, wisdom and customs
- Ethnic food preferences at meetings
- Family traditions of openings and closings of meetings
- Location of meetings determined by preference of
family
- Involvement of Elders, family, and community in decision-making
- Allocating resources to assist in extensive reach
out to relatives/kin for inclusion in family meetings
- Use of interpreters as co-facilitators at meetings to
make space for more than one language spoken
- Respecting the presence of Community Elders and cultural
decision making processes
- Use of cultural guides to inform coordinators/facilitators
regarding special considerations
Resource Materials Used
in Program
Written Resources:
Collaborative Agencies:
For more information on the resources used by this program,
please contact program staff (see Program Contacts).
Groups Served by Program
Olmsted County has a population of approximately 138,000 people
and is located about an hour and a half south of Minneapolis/St.
Paul. There are sizeable numbers of immigrants from Southeast
Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. There is a growing population
of families whose first language is Spanish.
The referrals come primarily from Olmsted County Child &
Family Services (including child welfare, child protection,
children’s mental health and adolescent behavioral health),
Olmsted County Community Corrections (youth probation), juvenile
court, and community agencies.
Program Funding
Family Group Decision Making is partially funded by a federal
grant managed by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
Funding is also provided by the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners
through Olmsted County Child and Family Services.
Program Staffing and Required
Staff Training
Staffing:
The Family Group Decision Making team is currently staffed
with six full-time coordinators/facilitators that are cross
trained in the conduct of a number of different processes
and models of meetings involving families. The team has developed
and expanded its role under the guidance of Sue Lohrbach who
is a manager with Olmsted County Child and Family Services.
Two supervisors, one from Family Service Rochester and one
from Olmsted County Community Services, oversee the practice.
The staff performs a variety of tasks which include coordination,
facilitation, training, consultation, and tracking outcomes.
Staff Training:
The FGDM team training is provided in a number of different
ways. American Humane Association’s National Center
on FGDM has provided basic training, advanced training in
special topic areas, technical assistance and many resource
documents and films. Olmsted County provides regular training
opportunities on research based practice in child welfare,
working with differences and diversity, specific focus on
the dynamics of domestic violence and sexual abuse, solution
focused skills, stages of change, safety organized practice,
and others. The Minnesota Department of Human Services offers
core training available to staff on cultural competency and
other relevant topics.
Regular, ongoing support, consultation, and supervision is
provided in primarily group forums and the use of specific
cultural guides help the team understand the values and norms
of traditional practices are utilized.
Program Evaluation
- Process Evaluation: FGDM utilizes a questionnaire
to gather family views regarding their experiences in the
meetings. The questionnaire is handed out at the end of
each process to all present. A questionnaire designed specifically
for youth input is additionally utilized.
- Outcome Evaluation: An annual report
is prepared that includes demographics, numbers and types
of meetings (specifics including preparation time, etc.),
and is inclusive of outcome information specifying child
safety and child placement data. The report is available
on the Olmsted County Community Services website.
Program Outcomes
- Process Data: Information for Olmsted
County extrapolated from the Minnesota Family Involvement
Strategies database shows that 84% of participants surveyed
in 979 conferences/meetings from 2004-2006 were satisfied
with the plan developed at the conference/meeting.
- Outcome Data: An annual Olmsted County
Child and Family Services report (FIS Report) was compiled
in August 2006. It shows that since year 2000, the use of
Family Involvement Strategies has increased significantly
in an effort to support partnership with families and increase
collaboration with professionals. The Child
and Family Services Review includes twenty three indicators
and at least seven are influenced by case planning involving
families. The indicators are as follows:
- Children are safely maintained in their own homes
when possible
- Permanency within timelines
- Maintaining connections for children while in foster
care
- Kinship care placement and reunification with family
- Stable placements
- Visits by social worker with parents and children
Olmsted County has achieved or exceeded Minnesota state
guidelines in six out of seven of these indicators and
exceeded federal benchmarks in seven out of seven. (This
information is derived from an agency quality assurance
process that reviewed over 130 family cases).
NOTE: There were 69 family involved forums in 2000 and
in 2006 there were 585.
- Additional Outcomes:
- Conference Presentations: The FGDM team has presented
at multiple state and national conferences on a variety
of topics related to the work of coordination/facilitation
of family meetings.
- Training: Members of the FGDM team have co-trained
on the work of FGDM along with American Humane Association
National Center on FGDM staff.
- Committees: FGDM team members serve on a number of
state level committees that support the development
and implementation of family involvement in child welfare
and youth justice.
- Publication: FGDM team members have authored and
co-authored journal articles on the topics of family
involvement.
Program Contacts
Olmsted County Child and Family Services
Sue Lohrbach, MS, LICSW, Program Manager II
Lohrbach.sue@co.olmsted.mn.us
507-529-4893
Family Service Rochester
Scott Maloney, Program Manager
Maloney.scott@co.olmsted.mn.us
507-529-4891
Program Dates
FGDM and the accompanying shift in child welfare practice
to be inclusive of family views and presence began in 1996
and is still in effect as of August 2007. |
