ASFA TRAINING PROJECT
PHONE POLL OF CHILD WELFARE AGENCIES
2003

Massachusetts

1. How would you rate your agency's staff in terms of their understanding of ASFA requirements? We are particularly interested in the level of understanding of managers, supervisors and workers. Please rate their understanding on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being 'poor' and 5 being 'comprehensive'.

a. Managers:

Comments: Managers at the area and regional level are very aware of the requirements of ASFA and the impact on practice.

b. Supervisors:

Comments: Supervisors are aware of the ASFA requirements, especially around timeframes and the requirements to look at a child’s goal at specific points in a case.

c. Workers:

Comments: Workers are aware of ASFA requirements and have been able to incorporate the timeframes and other aspects of ASFA into their day to day casework. Adoption staff are particularly aware of these issues.

2. Following are some of the skills that managers, supervisors and workers need to have to implement ASFA. Please rate each of these on a scale of 1-5 with one being 'do not need it' and 5 being 'extremely important.'

a. Managers:

Case work skills:

Collaborative skills

Understanding requirements of ASFA

Understanding how to implement ASFA requirements

Using data effectively

Other, please specify and rate:

b. Supervisors:

Case work skills:

Communication skills:

Collaborative skills:

Understanding how to implement ASFA requirements

Using data effectively

Other, please specify and rate:

Ability to balance best practice with the requirements of ASFA on an case by case basis

c. Workers:

Case work skills:

Collaborative skills

Communication skills:

Understanding how to implement ASFA requirements

Using data effectively

Other, please specify and rate:

3. In the past year, since our earlier survey, as part of your ASFA implementation has the agency undertaken any activities in the following areas:

Agency structure? No Yes
If yes, please describe.

Internal communication? No Yes
If yes, please describe.
The Deputy Commissioner has been very actively involved in reviewing practice at the area and regional level. She continues to meet regularly with the Regional Directors around case practice issues. The Director of Recruitment and the Foster Care Manager meet regularly with staff in statewide and regional meetings.

Performance appraisals? No Yes
If yes, please describe.
The Assistant Commissioner is meeting with Regional staff to design quarterly reviews that will examine the pattern of time in care, specific permanency related casework events, and barriers to permanence in each region.

Job descriptions? No Yes
If yes, please describe.
The Department is negotiating with the Union to clearly define the caseloads and responsibilities of family resource workers. Improvements in handling inquiries and in the process of screening prospective foster and adoptive families will have a positive impact on the time that children spend in foster care.

Staff recruitment? No Yes
If yes, please describe.

Case Review? No Yes
If yes, please describe.

Comment: The Department’s foster care review unit has efficiently reviewed cases for sometime. Massachusetts has included citizen reviewers, families, and foster parents in the review process.

Foster/Adoptive parent recruitment? No Yes
If yes, please describe.
The Director of Recruitment has expanded the involvement of the business community in supporting and participating in our recruitment efforts. Despite budget cuts, the Department has been able to use television, and public events to do recruiting that is focused on the needs of the children in care. This would not have been possible without the collaboration and support of our corporate partners.

4. In the past year, since our earlier survey, has there been any ASFA training for child welfare agency personnel? No Yes
If yes, go to question 4a. If no, go to question 4e.

Comment: The concepts of ASFA have been incorporated into the training that every social worker hired by the Department receives. Regional adoption coalitions meet regularly and ASFA is often a topic of discussion or specific areas are formally reviewed.

a. What topics were covered in that ASFA training?

The need to manage cases to specific timeframes. Understanding the requirements of ASFA and the exceptions that exist in ASFA. The need to eliminate geographic barriers.

b. Which of the following did you use for the ASFA training?

Statewide training
In service training
Pre-service training
Forums on ASFA topics
Conferences on ASFA topics
Regularly scheduled meetings
Managers train people
Interactive video on ASFA topics
Teleconferences on ASFA topics
Training by federal agencies
Information is circulated about ASFA

c. Who did the training?

Agency/training unit staff
Outside consultants
State university
Court staff
Central office staff
Regional staff

d. Was the training just on ASFA or was it incorporated into other training that you provide?

Incorporated
Incorporated into new worker training
Not incorporated

e. In the past year, since our earlier survey, have you done any of the following ASFA training with or for the courts? No Yes
If yes, continue with this question; if no go to question 4g.

Joint training sessions
Agency and court staff have worked together on local level
Court Improvement Project events attended by agency people
ASFA workgroups of agency and court staff
Agency staff have trained court people
Agency published a newsletter for court staff
Other

f. What topics were covered in that ASFA training for the courts?

• Massachusetts has established an ongoing committee that specifically looks at court delays in child welfare cases. The Committee is a Supreme Judicial Court Committee and has representatives from DSS, CPCS, the Attorney General's Office, The Juvenile Court, the Probate Court, the Appeals Court, and the SJC. The Committee meets quarterly and then works on specific projects in sub-committees.
• In addition, this year's Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Annual Child Welfare Conference was devoted to permanency for children. The keynote was the speakout team, followed by a panel that looked at overcoming barriers to permanency for children. All of the workshops were focused on areas that were identified as potential barriers to permanency for children. The Conference participants and panelists were Judges, CPCS lawyers, DSS laywers and others working in the child welfare field.

g. Have you done ASFA training with or for any of the following:

Schools
Health care providers
Mental health providers
Tribes
Other, please specify

h. What topics were covered in the ASFA training?

5. Thinking about future training for your agency and community partners (not just on ASFA), what do you think is the number one training need of:

a. Agency managers:

Intergrating the changes and improvements identified by on-going quality improvement efforts at the area, region, and state levels.

b. Agency supervisors:

The impact of aggressively seeking placement with kin on casework with the child and the family.

c. Agency workers:

Increasing strength based practice in ways that promote the involvement of family and community.

d. Foster parents:

Collaboration with the Department, and the child’s family to decrease disruption at the time of placement and when the child is returned home.

e. Schools:

f. Health care providers:

The Department is working closely with the foster parent support organization, the Department of Public Health, and the Department of Medical Assistance to increase the awareness of the need for readily accessible dental services for child in foster care.

g. Mental health providers:

Efforts are underway to increase cooperation and information sharing between state agencies.

h. Tribes:

i. Courts:

The Department is continuing to work with the courts to on the impact of legal delays in the lives of children in care.

j. Is there any other group you think has a training need? Please specify.

6. How well does your information system support the work of managers, supervisors and workers in implementing ASFA? Please rate the support provided by your system on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being 'poor' and 5 being 'outstanding'.

a. Why did you give your system that rating?

Family Net is a comprehensive system that touches every area of the Department. It has been continually modified to capture information and to allow that information to be extracted in useful formats. In addition to allowing managers to actually read what has occurred in a case, the system has allowed us to develop reports to track a large number of variables. Time in care, time between the establishment of a goal and specific case events, the number of children needing permanent homes at any given time, and other information that allows us to examine our practices.

b. If a rating of 1 or 2 is given, probe as to the status of the SACWIS system.

7. Please rate the importance of the following in terms of supporting staff as they implement the ASFA requirements, with 1 being 'not important' and 5 being 'crucial.'

Training

Increased communication

Resources to support staff

Collaborative efforts with stakeholders

Seeing ASFA as good casework practice

Management support

Revising policy to support ASFA

Monitoring implementation

Other, please specify and rate:

8. Do you see any of the following as barriers to your agency's support for staff as they implement the requirements of ASFA (check if 'yes')?

Lack of resources
Difficult relationship with courts
Staff turnover
Limitations or lack of computer system
Lack of understanding/knowledge about ASFA
Heavy workload
Lack of support
Difficulty meeting ASFA requirements
Large number of cases
Differences in interpretation
Lack of services
Lack of time
Lack of training
Problems caused by a county-based system
Other, please specify:

9. (For County based systems only.) Do any of the following impact your ASFA implementation (check if 'yes')?

Must be responsive to local needs
Lack of uniform practice standards
Communication can be difficult
Approach is fragmented
Limited state control
Limited resources
Other

10. At which point in the Child and Family Service Review process is your agency?

a.

Planning
Statewide assessment underway
Review complete
Working to complete the activities described in the PIP

b. Are there any significant lessons you learned from the CFSR? If so, please describe.

11. Is there anything else that you want to tell us regarding the best way to support staff as they implement the requirements of ASFA and the CFSR?

Do you mind if we call you again if we need additional information?

No
Yes

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