Sr. Helen Murphy Research and Professional Conference

Friday, November 2, 2007

Critical Transitions in Child Welfare

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

Placement Experience and Outcomes for Children in Out-of-Home Care

This workshop will review recent findings from the National Survey of Child & Adolescent Well-Being on a nationally representative cohort of children who entered out-of-home care. Key topics will include the impact of placement stability and kinship care on behavioral outcomes for children three years after placement. Policy-relevant implications will be reviewed and a lively discussion will be encouraged.

David Rubin, MD MSCE
Director of Research & Policy
Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection & Health The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Does a Child's Aggression in Foster Care Predict Post-Discharge Aggression: Implications for Permanency Planning in Child Welfare

This workshop will describe the association between initial aggression while in care and post placement discharge in children living in foster care. The presenter will highlight ways to reduce child aggression and to promote successful child adjustment following discharge from foster care.

Attachment Theory: Can it Predict Successful Foster Home and Adoption Outcomes

The workshop will focus on a unique study of the developing attachment relationships between previously maltreated children and their new adoptive parents. Implications for attachment relationships with foster parents and successful foster home outcome will also be discussed. Clinical implications will be discussed with a view on how to assess change and the impact of trauma in both parents and children's attachment styles.

Community Partnership for Better Results for Children and Families

This workshop will explore how community coalitions can work together and in partnership with public agencies and their contracted partners to achieve better results for children and families. The Administration for Children's Services has been partnering with communities for over 10 years with limited resources and mixed results. Come and explore why now there is an opportunity to deepen this work and influence practice at the local level.

Anne Williams-Isom
Deputy Commissioner
Administration for Children's Services

Family Team Conferences/Team Decision Making: Improving the Placement Decision Making Process for Children and Families

ACS and provider agencies have been implementing a new practice model of Family Team Conferences, based on the Family to Family Team Decision-making (TDM) practice. Participants will learn how team decision-making can be an invaluable tool when making critical decisions about transitioning children into or out of placement. Presenters will provide an overview of the TDM process; the goals, benefits and challenges; roles and responsibilities of meeting participants; stages of the meeting; the importance of building consensus as part of the process; and critical decision points when planning transitions. Presenters will offer a variety of examples of how ACS and provider agencies are implementing Family Team Conferences using this model, including Child Safety Conferences, Placement Preservation Conferences, Goal Change Conferences, Reunification/Discharge Conferences and Pre-Adoption Conferences, as well as a national perspective on the implementation of the Family to Family TDM model.

Fayette Bennett
Borough Director
Office of Family Permanency Team Conferencing
Administration for Children's Services

Helene Etienne
Child Safety Conference Coordinator
Administration for Children's Services

Robert Martinez
Borough Director
Office of Family Permanency Team Conferencing
Administration for Children's Services

Suzanne Barnard
Senior Operations Manager
Family to Family Initiative
Annie E. Casey Foundation

Empowering Children and Families: Building Adoptions That Work

Family Focus Adoption Services, a twenty-year-old special needs adoption agency, describes its extremely successful techniques for moving older children and youth into adoptive families. The Child and prospective family each have their own advocates during the visiting process, and are equal participants. Families and children come together in solid permanent family life, and disruptions are at a minimum. This workshop offers both practical advice and the belief system that feeds the techniques.

Maris Blechner
Executive Director
Family Focus Adoption Services

Retaining Culture During Periods of Transition in Child Welfare

Child welfare scholars and practitioners argue that good child welfare practice requires assessing the functioning of the family and its members within the social context. Such an assessment must consider the variable of culture as a protective factor that may enhance the psychosocial well-being of children. This workshop will examine the impact of culture on positive mental health outcomes of children and adolescents who are transitioning through the child welfare system. Strategies and tools for formulating culturally-competent direct service plans will be reviewed. Culture will be appraised as a core construct of competent child welfare practice.

Manny J. Gonzalez, PhD
Associate Professor
Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service

Advocating for the Special Education Needs of Children in Foster Care

The workshop will highlight the special educational needs of children in foster care and how the foster care professional can successfully negotiate the New York Board of Education system. A brief overview of the Early Intervention, Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE), and the Committee on Special Education (CSE) will be presented, and a discussion of best advocacy practice and troubleshooting on behalf of children in foster care will be discussed.

Regina Schaefer
Social Work Director, Education Unit
Administration for Children's Services

Maya Cooper
Attorney, Education Unit
Administration for Children's Services

Preparing Youth for Adulthood and Living Outside of the Child Welfare System

This seminar will present the New York City ACS goals and objectives in the Preparing Youth for Adulthood program and describe effective interventions to assist in meeting the stated goals. A model developed by the Youth Advocacy Center in New York City for working with youth on the development of self-advocacy skills and career planning will be highlighted. A panel of youth participating in the program will present on their experiences participating in the program and their ideas about programming to help prepare them to live outside of the child welfare system.

Paul Pitoff, JD
Co-Founder and Director
Education of Youth Advocacy Center

Chuck Caputo, MPS, CPHQ
Director of CQI/Staff Training and Youth Development
New York Foundling

Jane Feyder, MSW
Coordinator of Youth Development
New York Foundling

Identifying Factors Contributing to Positive Foster Parenting: How to Help Prevent Foster Home Disruption

This workshop will consist of a panel of foster parents who will describe their experiences and how they have learned to overcome and deal with child behavioral problems and systemic issues. A treatment intervention model to prevent foster home disruption will be presented. The treatment model identifies risk factors contributing to foster home disruption and assigns appropriate therapeutic interventions to promote successful outcomes.

Cynthia Blake, CSW
Brooklyn Regional Director of Foster Care Services
New York Foundling

Mel Schneiderman, Ph.D.
Director, Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection
Director, Mental Health Services
New York Foundling