ASFA TRAINING PROJECT PHONE POLL OF CHILD WELFARE AGENCIES

Rhode Island

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: Almost everyone is well grounded in certain aspects of ASFA, for example timelines and expediency. We are still struggling with the concurrent planning aspect because that is a major practice shift for us.

b. Supervisors:

Comments: As the managers and administrators focus on ASFA, the supervisors will also.

c. Workers:

Comments: Our workers are practicing ASFA everyday, probably without knowing that they are. They see things like expedited timelines and concurrent planning as doing 'my job' instead of in the constellation of ASFA requirements.

2. Based on your agency's experience to date, what skills do you think managers, supervisors and workers need to have to implement ASFA?

a. Managers?

• Management---they need to be able to organize the work, to teach the skills, to cheerlead and to get staff the resources they need to be successful.
• Leadership---they need to convince staff that ASFA is great and that we're focusing on the right things for children when we focus on ASFA.
• Negotiating
  

b. Supervisors?

• Communication with workers
• Minding timelines
• Supervising more closely

c. Workers?

• The skills are already there. What we are changing is the emphasis---this is now all about the child.
  

3. As part of your ASFA implementation has your agency undertaken any activities in the following areas:

• Agency structure? No Yes
  If yes, please describe.
  We are rethinking our approach to recruiting and training foster parents. Traditionally foster parent training has been linked with licensing or staff training. We have recently linked our pre- and post adoption services units and increased the staffing of resource family development from 2 to 6. We have hired a chief casework supervisor to manage this unit and to coordinate long term planning for the development of all placement resources. The newly created group will handle recruitment and training of pre-adoptive, concurrent and traditional foster parents and visiting resources. Along with this organizational change comes a philosophical change---when we recruit resource families, we are asking the broad question…how can you help us? Do you want to be a visiting resource? A short term foster parent? A concurrent placement family? An adoptive parent? Also, we are now going to train all foster parents on the concept of concurrent planning.
  
• Internal communication? No Yes
  If yes, please describe
  We set up an ASFA implementation committee that has formed sub-committees to work on issues such as family conferencing, case plans and relative foster care licensing. This has helped us better focus and coordinate our attention on a variety of ASFA related topics.
  
• Performance appraisals? No Yes
  If yes, please describe.
  
• Job descriptions? No Yes
  If yes, please describe.
  We have Family Service workers and the one family, one worker concept.
  
• Staff recruitment? No Yes
  If yes, please describe.
  
  

4. How do you handle staff training on ASFA?

a. Please describe the training.

We recently did ASFA training as part of a larger effort to train staff on regulations. There was no overall, coordinated training effort specifically devoted to ASFA.

b. Who does the training?

Staff development.

c. Is the training just on ASFA or is it incorporated into other training that you provide?

Incorporated into pre-service training for new workers.

d. Have you done any training with or for the courts? No Yes
If yes, please describe.

The Courts have done their own ASFA training with their own money. We are starting to work with the courts around the issue of concurrent planning and are having some foster parents meet with judges and talk to them about their experiences with concurrent planning.

5. 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?

It is getting better and better all the time. We have built the technical requirements of ASFA into RICHIST (the SACWIS) and are getting regular management reports. I can get on-line and see what needs to be done for each case.

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

6. What has worked best for you in terms of supporting staff as they implement the ASFA requirements?

The Child and Family Review with the feds has been our most effective intervention. We were the 13th pilot.

For the past several years, we focused on SACWIS---developing it, implementing it and trying to work with it. We had a lot of staff resistance and many workers felt that their work was more about RICHIST than about families. When the Child and Family Review came along, it helped us shift our focus back onto practice and children and see RICHIST as a tool to help us with that. The review instrument was so strong and such a good teaching tool that all of a sudden, as we were implementing it, the lights went on and folks clearly saw casework again and the elements of good casework. The review helped us see ASFA as good casework practice.

7. What do you view as barriers to your agency's support for staff as they implement the requirements of ASFA?

The services have to be there.
We need to keep the staffing levels up; vacancies impair our ability to get things done.
We still butt heads with the courts way too much, which can cause cases to drag on far too long.

8. (For County based systems only.) To what extent does the fact that your state is county-based impact your ASFA implementation?

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

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