agency’s journey towards a focus on...

Partnering for Permanency: One Agency’s Journey towards a

Focus on Permanency

Building Bridges 2017 Training Event October 4, 2017 • Andover, MA

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Presenters

• Gene Takahashi, Ph.D., LICSW, MBA, Chief Operating Officer, Walker • Patti Cedrone, LMHC, MBA, Senior Director of Behavioral Health

and Community Programs, Walker • Donna Manzi, RN, Parent • Linda Spears, Commissioner, MA Department of Children and

Families • The Honorable Amy L. Nechtem, Chief Justice of the MA

Juvenile Court

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Walker, Inc.

Founded in 1961 in Needham, Massachusetts, Walker has long been known for providing high‑quality special education, residential, and clinical services that fully support the development of children, youth, and families.

In recent years, we advanced our treatment philosophy and approach by prioritizing permanency as a fundamental goal of our practice model.

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Mission Statement

Walker transforms the lives of children and youth who are facing complex emotional, behavioral, and learning challenges by partnering with them, their families, and communities to nurture hope, build strengths, and develop lifelong skills.

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In This Presentation

• Defining Permanency •  Initial Permanency Efforts • Developing a Shared Vision of Permanency • Comprehensive Permanency Practice • Partnering for Permanency

Ø  Family Support & Engagement Ø  State Agency & Systems Collaboration

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Defining Permanency

Walker promotes legal and relational permanency. We provide services that are designed to: • maintain youth at home; • support youth in returning home; and/or •  find youth a new permanent home.

We believe that every child has a right to be part of a legally permanent family. We believe that there is a family for every child.

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Initial Permanency Efforts

• Organizational change management practices Ø  Senior leadership Ø  Staff champions and early adopters (and other key

stakeholders/partners) Ø  Permanency Committee (led by the Director of Family

Connections) Ø  Communication and messaging Ø  Training and coaching Ø  Recognition of success

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Initial Permanency Efforts Continued…

• Review of literature and best/promising practices in the field Ø  In residential and other settings; with latency-age youth and

older youth/young adults • Data collection, analysis, reporting, and ongoing review/

monitoring Ø  Data trends indicated a relationship between lack of

permanency and negative outcomes

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Developing a Shared Vision of Permanency

• Responsibility of all staff to improve permanency status for youth in Walker programs

Ø  Consistent messaging that permanency work is urgent and relentless!

Ø  Reinforced belief that there is a family for every child • Agency-wide permanency goals and deliverables included in

Walker’s new strategic plan

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Comprehensive Permanency Practice

• Overview of the Walker Permanency Practice Model© Ø  Core values (consistent with BBI core values):

§  Child-centered/youth-guided and family-driven §  Trauma-informed §  Strength-based §  Culturally and linguistically competent §  Adoption competent

Ø  Assessment-based, research-based, and data-informed Ø  Clinical interventions and permanency activities

§  Youth-Centered Permanency Round Tables©

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Comprehensive Permanency Practice Continued…

• Notable features: teachable; flexible; transferable; collaborative • Primary focus is on:

Ø  Increasing facilitators to permanency Ø  Decreasing barriers to permanency

•  In three key areas: Ø  Child Ø  Family Ø  Systems and community

• Guided by permanency pathway (see next slide)

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Building Bridges Initiative Core Values: Examples of Youth-Guided and Family-Driven Care

• Commit to finding ways to ensure that children and youth grow up in families. If a youth requires treatment in a 24-hour out-of-home treatment setting, it should be understood that placement occurs only for as short a period of time as is necessary, and is appropriate to meet the clinical needs of the child and family. • For however long the youth is placed in a 24-hour out-of-home

treatment setting it is understood that this placement represents a young person’s home away from home, and that there is a need to create a home-like environment in which activities are “normalized,” and family members are viewed as partners, not visitors, having open access to the out-of-home setting.

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Examples of Successes

• 2 case studies • Video

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Partnering for Permanency: Family Support & Engagement

• Engagement is…… An Approach A Process An Outcome (Casey Family Programs)

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Partnering for Permanency: Family Support & Engagement

• Parent Advisory Council • Trainings • Summits/forums • Other opportunities for input and impact

Ø  Professional Advisory Council

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Partnering for Permanency: State Agency & Systems Collaboration MA Department of Children and Families • General state of permanency in MA • DCF-Walker Protocol

Ø  Innovative, collaborative, a pilot • DCF attendance at Youth-Centered Permanency Round Tables©

• Role of provider organizations in improving permanency for youth in out-of-home care

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Partnering for Permanency: State Agency & Systems Collaboration DCF and the MA Juvenile Court • Professional Advisory Council

Ø  Initial involvement Ø  Impact on thinking about permanency Ø  Impact on field/work/planning Ø  Experience in this type of group

§  Recommended strategies and approaches for others wanting to create a similar group

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Trial Court Rule VI: Uniform Rules for Permanency Hearings • Hearings set for promulgation by the SJC - provides a consistent

procedure for hearings conducted pursuant to G.L. c 119 sec. 29B. Ø  Multidisciplinary team approach to revisions encourages meaningful

participation by parties. Ø  Permanency hearings provide the child or young adult an important

opportunity to have individual needs addressed by the court to ensure that the he/she is receiving the necessary supports to timely reach a permanent, safe, and healthy home and stable adulthood.

•  Permanency Bench Cards to inform all parties questions a judge will ask at each hearing towards promoting legal permanency •  Child Welfare Rules revised with intent towards uniformity of practice with an

eye on permanence at each event. Promulgation FY18.

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Next Steps on this Journey

• Ongoing data collection, review, and monitoring • Training and consultation opportunities (e.g., YC-PRTs) • Future permanency summit (likely June 2018)

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Additional Resources

• Building Bridges Initiative (www.buildingbridges4youth.org) • Casey Family Programs (www.casey.org) • Annie E. Casey Foundation (www.aecf.org) • Anu Family Services (www.anufs.org)

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Presenter Contact Information

• Gene Takahashi: 781-292-2172; gtakahashi@walkercares.org • Patti Cedrone: 781-292-2072; pcedrone@walkercares.org • The Walker Permanency Center: 781-449-4500;

contact@walkercares.org

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