child welfare? LaWanda Martin, the supervisor, shares the an-swer to this and other questions.

Ms. Martin describes her unit’s workers as being “very committed to families,” “dedicated,” and “very hard working.” She recog-nizes how they “enjoy and believe in the work that they do,” have integrity and recognize their “responsibility for the children’s safety”. Who are these great CWWs? They are Catherine Taylor, Kristina Wells, Marilyn Dugan, Henny Chapnick, Azeb Michael, Martha Davis, and Rachel Blumberg.

These workers fully represent her views on the importance of face to face visits, knowing that visits are “crucial to ensuring the safety of the minors in the home, and it is also very important to maintain consistent contact with the parents in order to provide support, referrals, and help problem-solve the things that may pro-hibit the parents from doing their case plans,” Ms. Martin says.

Department of Children & Family ServicesA Family to Family County

Getting the Job Done: A Family Maintenance Unit & Face to Face Visits

The workers in one of our Family Maintenance units have a long-standing commitment to making face to face visits with youth and families. This committent is shared by Department Director, Carol Collins, who knows of the importance of visits and frequently reminds staff that visits with youth improve the outcomes for the family related to permanence, placement sta-bility, and well-being. LaWanda Martin, the unit supervisor, and her staff understand this, leading by example and making every effort to complete quality visits with all children on their casel-oads, each and every month.

Child Welfare Workers (CWWs) are required to visit at least 90% of the children on their caseload (with a few exceptions) each month by the state and federal government. Ms. Martin’s unit consistently exceeds this requirement, with its workers having made 99.3% of their required visits over the last 12 months. That involves over 1500 contacts with kids! How is this possible in a highly stressful, demanding, and ever changing environment like

Carol’s Column 2Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project 2LINKAGES 3The Bay Area Heart Gallery 3Equipping Alameda County Students 4

Getting the Job Done (continued) 4The Family Center 5November is National Adoption Month! 52010 DCFS Staff Appreciation Picnic 6Question About Medi-Cal or Other Benefi ts 6

Winter 2010

(contiued on page 4)

Family Maintenance Unit: LaWanda Martin, Kristina Wells, Martha Davis, Marilyn Dugan, Azeb Michael, Catherine Taylor & Rachel Blumberg (not pictured Henny Chapnick).

Dear Colleagues, Resource Families, and Community Partners:

This November, we celebrated our 11th Annual Adoption Day at which 38 fam-ilies adopted 42 youth ranging in age from 1-17 years old. Please look for

more information in this issue about the event and one of the families who participated.

Also this fall, we will be celebrating the holidays with our youth and families. As you know, the Shirley Eastman Fund provides summer camp funds and funds for holiday gifts for foster youth. This past summer, over 60 foster youth went to camp with support of the Shirley Eastman Fund. This winter, we need donations to fund holiday gifts for our youth. Please send your tax deductible donation to:

Alameda County Social Services AgencyAttention: A033, 2000 San Pablo AvenueOakland, California 94612

Specifi c questions regarding the fund can be addressed to Robin Luckett at 510-268-7927.

Our Department is proud to participate in National Adoption Month and to have a special fund to support our youth dur-ing the holidays. This past year has provided tough economic times for our families and staff. More than ever, we appreciate the dedication of our staff, resource families, and community partners during trying times.

Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Joyous Yule, Happy Kwan-zaa, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year! ■

Carol Collins, Assistant Agency Director

If a child is born and raised in a home that is loving and nur-turing, where there is complete truth about who we are, you can’t give a child any greater place from which to fl y.

— Amanda Bearse

2

DCFS Press Editorial Board Krystal Fortner Cerise Grice Fredi Juni Connie Linas Beth McAllister Budd Seeley

Selia JohnsonPlease provide comments and feedback regarding DCFS Press to Connie Linas at linasc@acgov.org

Carol’s Column Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Or can you? For decades, the child welfare system has been somewhat of an “old dog” when it comes to doing business differently. Nearly everyone at one time or another has complained about how broken the system is. On July 1, 2007, Alameda County em-barked on a “new trick” by participating in the Waiver, and it has since left such an impression on folks that it seems that we are now wondering what life would be like NOT being in-volved with the Waiver.

Some of you may already know that the Waiver has been ex-tended for an additional ten months; thus, the end of the Waiv-er will be in April 2013. No matter how you look at it, the Waiver has defi nitely had quite an impact on the way we do business…• We have been able to reduce the number of children in

out-of-home placements by approximately 27% since the beginning of the Waiver.

• The number of children in group homes has decreased about 41% since the beginning of the Waiver.

• We have been able to place about 17% more children with relatives as their FIRST out-of-home placement since the beginning of the Waiver.

“I can’t imagine NOT being under the Waiver,” said Program Manager Faith Battles. “In DI, we have much smaller caseloads, which I believe has been a direct result of the Waiver. As a man-ager, smaller caseloads have allowed me to help my staff focus more on the technical aspects of cases rather than being driven by the legal timeframes. This results in best practice for our families.” Faith went on to say, “The Waiver has been great for staff because they can actually do real social work with families, which is something staff has been wanting for a long time.”

Permanent Youth Connections Child Welfare Worker Kim Wells said, “The Waiver has allowed the Department to meet its needs even during these rough economic times. As families are more fi nancially stressed, we are able to be more creative in supporting our children and families.”

And if you think all the changes from the Waiver have already been made, think again … A number of proposals are currently being considered:• Increasing the Kinship Emergency Fund• Establishing a discretionary fund for teens to better meet

their needs and for families on trial visits• Supporting the expansion of the CASA program• Expanding the Parent Advocate program

Some old dogs CAN learn new tricks… ■

3

D C F S P r e s s W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

The Bay Area Heart GalleryConnecting Hearts...Building Families

November 23 – December 2010San Mateo City Library (Partial Exhibit)55 West 3rd Avenue, San Mateo, Ca 94402

December 20101221 Oak Street, Oakland, CA 94612

Please visit our website for details and updated calendarwww.bayareaheartgallery.com

The Hill –Johnson- Diouf FamilyPhoto by Robin Fryday for

The Bay Area Heart Gallery

LINKAGESCalWORKS and Child Welfare Collaboration Improves Outcomes for Children and Families

The Alameda County Social Services Agency is one of 30 counties implementing Link-ages strategies throughout the State of California. In early 2000, private funding along with state and federal government support allowed counties to explore the ability to work collaboratively across the Child Welfare and CalWORKS departments.

Linkages in Alameda County is designed to coordinate services with families that have an open case with Children and Family Services Department (DCFS), Economic Benefi ts Department (EBD) CalWORKS, and Employment Services (ESD). The goal of Link-ages is to assist families in obtaining Self-Suffi ciency and Family Reunifi cation through the coordination of supportive services.

One of the initial Linkages strategies implemented in Alameda County is the identifi cation of a potential Linkages family (a family served by CFS, EBD, ESD) during the Team Decision Making Meeting (TDM). A TDM is held in Child Welfare and is a collaborative meeting pro-cess designed to produce the best possible decision concerning a child’s safety and placement. TDMs encourage contributions from Parents, Child Welfare Workers, Linkages Liaison, fam-ily members, community advocates and representatives, service providers, caregivers, and the family’s own identifi ed support network. During a TDM, all participants work together to create a plan for the safety of the child and focus on the individual needs of each child. Also, the participants identify the family’s eligibility for supportive services, resulting in an “Ac-tion Plan.” The Action Plan is then reviewed periodically with the family and staff from each department in a coordinated Case Planning Meeting. Over time, the Linkages team works to assist the family toward self-suffi ciency and family reunifi cation.

In September 2010, all 30 Linkages counties were invited to convene in Sacramento to discuss the range of implementation strategies and progress of the Linkages efforts throughout the state. The counties were encouraged to prepare a Linkages storyboard to share their strategies with the convening participants. Many counties submitted sto-ryboards and we are pleased to announce that by the voting of those in attendance at the Convening, Alameda County was awarded second place. Los Angeles County won fi rst place and Fresno County won third place.

One fi nal Convening is scheduled for July 2011, and Alameda County plans to share more details of their progress in Linkages, and of course, take fi rst place for the BEST STORYBOARD. ■

Alameda County, 2nd Place

Los Angeles County, 1st Place

Fresno County, 3rd Place

Equipping Alameda County Students

4

The Alameda County Tools 4 Schools Collaborative, founded in 2003, is a network of com-munity-based, county and city organizations and businesses concerned about education, and dedicated to providing Alameda

County’s most impoverished students, including kids in foster care, with the basic school supplies they need to participate ac-tively in learning. The Tools 4 School Collaborative is lead by Janette Bormann, Child Welfare Supervisor, who spearheads the Tools 4 Schools volunteer effort 365 days a year—coordi-nating with the community and accepting a wealth of donated, grade appropriate school supplies.

This year, Tools 4 Schools received $7000 in donations that was used to purchase custom made backpacks from a women’s business cooperative in Sri Lanka. As a result of doing busi-ness with this cooperative, Tools 4 Schools has ensured that the backpacks, going to Alameda County children, are not a product of child labor! Approximately 1500 backpacks, fi lled with a variety of school supplies, were distributed this year via the Bay Area News Group’s annual drive Project Ready

to Learn with 500 going directly to Alameda County foster children. Tools 4 Schools relies on the donated time, talent and resources of dozens of community and business partners who donate their time and resources throughout the year, in-cluding Child Welfare Workers who take time to identify kids on their caseloads who need backpacks and school supplies. Tools 4 Schools partners are committed to identifying youth in need by conducting outreach for supply donations, assembling the school supply packs and distributing backpacks fi lled with supplies at the annual Project Ready to Learn event.

The Tools 4 Schools Collaboration has been effective in reduc-ing repetitive requests for donations, thus, maximizing existing (and often limited) resources. Additionally, Alameda County businesses are utilized to keep donations in the community. In addition to the Tools 4 Schools endeavor, Janette coordinates other donation related activities for the DCFS including the 2010 summer shoe give away, where 600 brand new pairs of shoes for Alameda County foster youth were donated by local business and distributed to Alameda County kids. She is cur-rently accepting donations for a winter coat give away, of which a major donor is Sleep Train. If you are interested in volunteer-ing, please contact Janette Bormann at bormaj@acgov.org. ■

Each worker’s helping relationship with the family is facilitated by making their face to face visits and talking with the family about what is happening in their life. This also affords workers with the opportunity to “check in with the minors and get an idea of what life is like in the home,” says Ms. Martin. In doing so, the need for children to be removed from their home is reduced, because the workers are already aware of the family’s strengths and needs. Workers help families build on their strengths.

To support workers in their efforts, Ms. Martin keeps an open door policy for her staff and is reachable by cell phone at any time. She realizes how demanding and intense the work is and wants to be available when needed to support her staff. When workers have completed their visits with families, she is right there with praise and acknowledgement. She has even paid out of pocket for gift certifi cates for workers who have done a great job. To be proac-tive in her supervisory role, she tracks data about worker visits from SafeMeasures (a web based data reporting tool) to support

conversations about visits, in supervision and unit meetings. This is to have an open and supportive conversation about cases. And if a worker is behind with their visits for the month, she assists the worker in fi nding solutions and ensuring that the visits get done—whatever it takes to keep kids safe.

Many worker caseloads have decreased recently, and Ms. Martin has observed how this has allowed for the workers in her unit to make more frequent visits, which provides for more time to practice social work and support families, address the reasons that led to the Department’s involvement, and keep kids safe. She encourages workers to make as many visits as possible, and the workers’ professionalism and commitment to families helps them accomplish the extra work, despite all of the other demands of the job. The proof of this is in the data: although many units in the Department have high compliance with face to face visits, no other group of workers has done it as well and as consistently as this Family Maintenance unit.

Thanks to the unit for their efforts; keep up the great work! ■

Getting the Job Done

(contiued from front page)

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Janette Bormann at bormaj@acgov.org.

5

D C F S P r e s s W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

DCFS held our 11th Annual Adoption Day on November 20, 2010, which is also National Adoption Day. Thousands of children were adopted across the country on this special day. Since 2000, Adoption Day events occur in cities and counties nationwide to highlight the need for permanency for children and youth who are living in foster care. This year, at our Adoption Day, over 40 children and youth were adopted. The Flores-Coleman family shared their story as part of the opening program.

When she was in Junior High, Corinne Flores was given an assignment-- write your own obituary. She wrote that she had adopted many children in her lifetime. Corinne shared that she may have been infl uenced by the Debolt family (who adopted 19 children), when they visited her church when she was a girl. Corinne just knows that she always

November is National Adoption Month!

wanted to adopt. When she met Tony, he agreed with the plan.

Corinne and Tony raised their son Derek, and it was when he went off to college a couple of years ago that they contacted AASK (Adopt a Special Kid) and began to explore adoption. While most prospective adoptive families are thinking of babies. Tony and Corinne were thinking of a teenager. They were both already 50 and thought that made the most sense. And they knew of the need. So many teenagers are growing up in foster care without a family to support them into adulthood. Some friends said ‘Oh, a teen will only be in your home for such a short time’. But the Flores’ see no limits on parenting-they think of parenting as forever. They met Christon at an Alameda County Dumisha Jamaa Project event. With invaluable support from their Dumisha Jamaa Permanency

The Flores-Coleman FamilyPhoto by Robin Fryday

Worker Kevin Mapp, their Adoptions Child Welfare Worker Melissa Ryan, Project Permanence staff, and their AASK social worker Jill Eickmann, Tony, Corinne, Derek and Christon have become a family. At a time when most young people are working on separating from family, a few days before his 18th birthday, Christon was adopted. Now they are family forever. ■

In September 2010, Alternative Family Services (AFS) was awarded a three year contract to provide visitation services to Alameda County foster youth and their families. Plans are actively underway to open The Family Center in early 2011. This family-friendly visitation center will be located in East Oakland and will be accessible by public transportation.

A full range of visitation services will be provided by AFS, including Therapeutic Visitation, Supervised Visitation, Observed Visitation, Purposeful Visitation, Safe Exchange, and some transportation services. Visitation services will be offered to families with youth of all ages, in a family friendly environment. Visits will be supported for youth with their parents, siblings, and other important relatives and people in their lives. The Family Center will serve children and youth who are in all programs within the Department. It will house a children’s library, a kitchen and dining room, and a comfortable space for caregivers- a place where they will be able to access

The Family CenterOPENING EARLY 2011

the internet, share resources, or browse materials in a library while waiting for children who are visiting their families.

Updates will be provided over the next several weeks regarding:

• Details regarding the Family Center opening• Upcoming training opportunities for staff and

providers, • Visitation referral procedures• Visitation center guidelines• Ways to get involved in planning

Interested Child Welfare staff are invited to participate in the planning for the Family Center.

December 9th, 2010 9-11 a.m.Emerald Room, 5th fl oor , 401 Broadway, Oakland

Please RSVP to Robin Luckett, lucker@acgov.org ■

Visitation is a valued and necessary part of family-centered service.The quality of family visitation is considered the strongest predictor of reunifi cation.

D C F S P r e s s W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

6

Have a Question About Your Medi-Cal or Other Benefi ts?

Call the Foster Care Information Line at 510-268-2500 during regular business hours.

Our customers let us know that they want to be able to reach a live voice when they have questions. So, we responded by creating the information hotline.

In the world of eligibility, customer service is our overall con-cern. DCFS staff value the external customers we serve and make every attempt to ensure our staff provides the best cus-tomer service. In Foster Care eligibility, we have established the Foster Care Information Hotline to assist providers in an-swering general Foster Care eligibility questions.

This past August, DCFS employees and managers gathered at the San Leandro Marina to celebrate the efforts and hard work from staff for children and fami-lies. The day was warm, perfect for bar-beque and the outdoors.

Loads of Fun at the 2010 DCFS Staff Appreciation Picnic

Carol Collins & MeChelle Hamilton-Gilford

FANTASTIC FOOD

Managers cooked up food for all, working tirelessly. It tasted great and was made all the better in the presence of good com-pany. And for the fi rst time, some staff entered into a dessert making contest. Although each coveted the contest’s fi rst prize, in the end only one could win.

After careful deliberations, a distin-guished panel of food tasters awarded MeChelle Hamilton-Gilford fi rst prize for her Chocolate Marble Gooey But-ter Cake. Judge Sandra Black found it to be a “sweet, creamy, butter rich” dessert. All three judges agreed on the dessert’s worthiness, as Judge Kathrina Rashid observed that the “textures and fl avors really complemented each other. I could taste the butter in the crust, the cream cheese was smoothly discernable, and the chocolate was pleasantly folded in, but not overpowering . . . a perfectly-balanced presentation.” As Judge Ja-son Johnson described it, “What made the brownie unique was its crunchy, buttery crust. The crust complimented the creamy texture of the chocolate and cream cheese. Absolutely delicious! I would pay for this dessert!”

With such a fantastic cake, will anyone be able to match its deliciousness next year?

GOOD MUSIC

Once again, the brave and talented pro-vided fun and excitement with karaoke. Although attendees also experienced

Karen Benjamin-Dozier & Laurel Manfredi

karaoke last year, no one could have been prepared for the contest winner: Laurel Manfredi’s fantastic rendition of a classic from 1992. Anyone else out for a day at the marina may have been shocked—but pleasantly surprised—to have heard such a great performance, free of charge.

The other contestants performed admi-rably, with many displaying wonderful vocals. None, however, could match the winner’s combination of surprise and sheer awesomeness. ■

The Foster Care Information Line will provide you with infor-mation to such general questions as:

• Why didn’t I receive my monthly VRU Notice?• Why did payment stop for a child in my home?• Does my foster child have Medi-Cal coverage? • I am a health care/mental health care provider.

Why was my Medi-Cal claim has been denied?

The providers will have the opportunity to speak to someone immediately and obtain information regarding their outstand-ing payments and Medi-Cal problems. ■

Call the Foster Care Information Line at 510-268-2500 during regular business hours.