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The Network

Teleconference Program • What Are Teleconferences • Past programs

Click here to listen to the recording of the previous Peer-to-Peer calls.

Below are descriptions of our 2008 teleconferences. Register by phone at 1-800 HELPKID (435-7543), email us at or click here to register online. We strongly encourage participants to register in advance and to review handout material on this webpage prior to the session.

All teleconferences are held at: 2:30 pm Eastern • 1:30 pm Central • 12:30 pm Mountain • 11:30 am Pacific • 10:30 am Alaska • 8:30 am Hawaii

PLEASE NOTE: If you use a dial up modem these files take a long time to download so order the CD from Marti Snyder at 1-800-435-7543 or helpkids@usm.maine.edu

2008 Spring Teleconferences/Webinars

Being Successful: Meaningful Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Families with Substance Use Disorders: A Two-Part Webinar Series
- April 24: Moving Forward: Using Tools and Technical Assistance
- May 6: States and Communities Sharing Their Experiences: Strength and Hope for Recovery for Children and Families

Recruitment and Retention of a Qualified Workforce: A Three-Part Series (Parts 1 and 2 offered this Spring; Part 3 to be offered Fall 2008)
- April 29: Issues and Promising Strategies: Recruitment and Retention
- May 20: More Promising Strategies: Recruitment and Retention

May 15: Lessons Learned: PIP Development
June 3: Building Systems of Care to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes
June 17: Enhancing the Service Array in Child Welfare
June 26: Building An Effective Child Welfare Training System

April 24: Moving Forward: Using Tools and Technical Assistance
Part 1 in the series "Being Successful: Meaningful Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Families with Substance Use Disorders"
Presented by the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare and the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
This session will highlight the resources available to agencies through the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW), and how these resources have been used to improve services to families affected by substance abuse. Hear a national perspective on strategies that work, and learn about practical tools that can be used to build collaborative efforts and stronger systems for identifying and successfully treating these families. Presenters will discuss the NCSACW’s 10 element framework for success, and the range of resources available: expert consultation, peer to peer networking, tools, publications, group facilitation and training. Find out how you can access this ongoing technical assistance, and about the Center’s In-Depth Technical Assistance resources.

• Nancy Young, Director, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, Irvine, CA
• Cathleen Otero, Deputy Director, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, Irvine, CA
  
  Note: For this session, participants will be able to connect to a website to view a presentation in addition to calling in on an audio line. Watch for an email with instructions for participating!

Teleconference Evaluation Form

Audio Files: Listen as MP3 (20 MB)

Handouts
- Agenda and Contact Information
- Moving Forward: Using Tools and Technical Assistance (PDF or PPT)
- 10 Element Framework Summary
- Summary of Five National Reports
- NCSACW Technical Assistance Products
- NCSACW Products in Development
- SAFERR-Understanding Substance Abuse

Follow-up Information
- Regional Partnership Grantees by State

April 29: Issues and Promising Strategies: Recruitment and Retention
Part 1 in the series "Recruitment and Retention of a Qualified Workforce" In 2003, recognizing the impact of workforce issues on outcomes for children and families, the Children’s Bureau funded eight five-year projects to develop models of effective child welfare staff recruitment and retention. This series will feature information from those projects. In this first session, presenters will provide data on national trends in the child welfare workforce and the multiple costs of workforce issues for agencies, children and families. They will also provide an overview of promising strategies developed by the grantees to improve recruitment, selection and retention. A child welfare administrator who has taken a comprehensive approach to addressing workforce issues will discuss the steps taken and the difference this has made in a Colorado county.

• Freda Bernotavicz, Senior Research Associate, Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine
• Cathryn Potter, Director, Butler Institute for Families, University of Denver
• Mary Berg, Child Welfare Director, Jefferson County Department of Human Services, Colorado

Teleconference Evaluation Form

Audio Files: Listen as MP3 (18.6 MB)

Handouts
- Agenda and Contact Information
- Recruitment and Retention of a Qualified Workforce: The Foundation of Success (PowerPoint presentation)
- The View from the Agency Perspective (PowerPoint presentation)
- Recruitment and Retention Grantee Descriptions
- Visit the new workforce development webpage on this website for links and
resources

May 6: States and Communities Sharing Their Experience: Strength and Hope for Recovery for Children and Families
Part 2 in the series "Being Successful: Meaningful Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Families with Substance Use Disorders"
Presented by the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare and the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
This session will highlight agencies that have built their capacity across child welfare, substance abuse treatment and courts, to screen, assess and treat families with substance use disorders. Hear how these sites got started in their collaborative efforts, the steps they took to strengthen their systems, and the technical assistance that has helped them along their way. Each site will also share lessons they have learned about overcoming the barriers to collaboration and to building a network of identification, referral and treatment services.

• Nancy K. Young, Director, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
• Cathleen Otero, Deputy Director, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
• Larry Pasti, Director, Bureau of Planning & Intervention Design, Strategic Planning & Policy Development, New York State Office of Children & Family Services
• Dan Griffin, Court Operations Analyst- Chemical Health, Minnesota Judicial Branch, State Court Administrator’s Office, Court Services Division
• Robert Long, Administrator for Access and Outpatient Services, Kennebec Behavioral Health, Maine
• Michael Brennan, Policy Associate, Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy, Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine

Note: For this session, participants will be able to connect to a website to view a presentation in addition to calling in on an audio line. Watch for an email with instructions for participating!

Teleconference Evaluation Form

Audio Files: Listen as MP3 (20 MB)

Handouts
- Agenda and Contact Information
- States and Communities Sharing Their Experience: Strength and Hope for Recovery for Children and Families PowerPoint Presentation (PPT or PDF)

From Minnesota:
- Catch the Vision Tool Kit
- Parent Partner Handbook
- Statement of Shared Values
- Training Plan

From Maine:
- Memorandum of Understanding
- Pamphlet: Universal Substance Abuse Screening for Families in the Child Welfare System
- Strategic Plan

Additional materials from these states and other sites are available at the website of the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare

May 15: Lessons Learned: PIP Development
The PIP development process provides an opportunity for child welfare systems to move forward and the field has learned many lessons about this process in the past several years. This teleconference will highlight approaches that have helped agencies develop and implement comprehensive PIPs that involve critical stakeholders and focus on the key systemic themes related to improving child and family outcomes. For example, the benefits of a PIP Kickoff meeting and an early start on planning and collaboration will be discussed. Join the call and learn how you can make the most of the CFSR and PIP process for your child welfare system!

• Peter Watson, Director, National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
• Steve Preister, Associate Director, National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
• Lynda Arnold, Director, National Resource Center for Child Welfare Data and Technology
• Members of the Federal Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) Team

Teleconference Evaluation Form

Audio Files: Listen as MP3 (20 MB)

Handouts
- Agenda and Contact Information

Background Materials
- Program Improvement Planning and CFSR Kickoff sections of the CFSR Training and Technical Assistance Package

May 20: More Promising Strategies: Recruitment and Retention
Part 2 in the series "Recruitment and Retention of a Qualified Workforce"
In this session, teams from three states will describe the promising strategies they have used to improve recruitment and retention of child welfare staff. All of these sites have implemented innovative initiatives that have had a positive impact on the child welfare workforce. They have addressed the array of issues that are critical to retaining staff – targeted and realistic recruitment and screening, strengthening supervision, leadership training, mentoring and organizational development. This session will include time for discussion, during which the other grantees and other agencies can share their experience and additional approaches that have been effective.

• Nancy Dickinson, Jordan Institute for Families, UNC School of Social Work, and North Carolina Agency Representatives TBA
• Virginia Strand, Children FIRST, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service and Connecticut Agency Representatives TBA
• Kathleen Coulborn Faller, University of Michigan School of Social Work and Agency Representatives TBA

Teleconference Evaluation Form

Audio Files: Listen as MP3 (19.8 MB)

Handouts
- Agenda and Contact Information
- Recruitment and Retention Grantee Descriptions

From North Carolina:
- The Right Match

From Connecticut
- Initiating and Sustaining a Mentoring Program

From Michigan:
- Recruitment and Retention of Child Welfare Staff

Backgroud Materials
- Vist the new workforce development webpage on this site for links and resources

June 3: Building Systems of Care to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes
This teleconference will explore the value of systems of care for child welfare and highlight a new resource available to enhance the capacity of leaders to build these systems. Systems of care involve fundamental shifts similar to the changes that are part of many system reform efforts and central to the child and family services review process – towards coordinated, family-centered, strengths based, and individualized services for children, youth and families. We will hear about efforts to implement these reforms through the leadership of a State child welfare system, and presenters will highlight the components of the new curriculum Primer Hands On - Child Welfare: Training for Child Welfare Stakeholders in Building Systems of Care. Primer Hands On can be used in its entirety as a two day intensive training, or it can support training on particular aspects of systems of care by drawing on specific modules. Primer Hands On can also provide information, resources and examples to leaders working on pieces of reform efforts. We’ll also describe how the Primer Hands On materials can be used in conjunction with technical assistance (TA), and the TA available to agencies on building systems of care.

• Steve Preister, Associate Director, National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
• Sheila Pires, Partner, Human Service Collaborative
• Katherine Lazear, University of South Florida
• Lisa Conlan, Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health
• Rebecca Huffman, Program Manager for Regional Training Centers, Staff Development Team, North Carolina Department of Social Services

Teleconference Evaluation Form

Audio Files: Listen as MP3 (19 MB)

Handouts
- Agenda and Contact Information
- Primer Hands On - Child Welfare Table of Contents
- Building Systems of Care: A Primer for Child Welfare and Primer Hands On - Child Welfare: The Skill Building Curriculum (PPT)
- Building a System of Care in Child Welfare: North Carolina (PPT)

Backgroud Materials
- Visit the NRCOI website for Primer Hands On: Child Welfare information

June 17: Enhancing the Service Array in Child Welfare
Co-sponsored by the National Resource Center on Child Welfare Data and Technology (NRC-CWDT)
Is your agency challenged by a lack of adequate services to meet needs? This teleconference will highlight a process agencies can use to bring together a broad group of stakeholders to assess and enhance the array of services available to children, youth and families. Presenters will describe the steps in the process designed to build the capacity of systems at the local, regional and state level to meet individualized needs and achieve improved outcomes. The service array process has recently been revised and updated. This call will highlight the technical assistance services available to agencies in this process and the experiences of agencies engaged in it.

• Steve Preister, Associate Director, National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
• Melanie Swisher, Community Collaborative Partnership Coordinator, Division of Children and Adult Services, West Virginia
• Sue Hage, Program Manager, Regulatory Management, Division of Children and Adult Services, West Virginia

Teleconference Evaluation Form

Audio Files: Listen as MP3 (17 MB)

Handouts
- Agenda and Contact Information
- Enhancing the Service Array in Child Welfare (PPT)
- Service Array Training Modules

Background Materials
- Assessing and Enhancing the Service Array in Child Welfare (2 page fact sheet)
- Enhancing the Service Array in Child Welfare: Assessing the Capacity of a Jurisdiction/State to Meet the Individualized Needs of Children and Families and Creating and Implementing a Resource and Capacity Development Plan: A Description of the Process
- Achieving Successful Outcomes for Children: A Rationale for the Service Array Process and a Listing of the Capacities a Jurisdiction Needs to Flexibly Meet the Needs of Children and Families in the Child Welfare System
- Visit the NRCOI website for Service Array Materials and Tools

June 26: Building An Effective Child Welfare Training System
The value of training and professional development in a child welfare agency cannot be overstated. During this teleconference, the presenters will describe what an effective child welfare training system looks like - from both content and structural perspectives. Additionally, they will provide an analytic framework that a child welfare agency leadership team can use to assess the extent to which its training system produces a range of professional development opportunities resulting in a positive impact on children’s safety, permanency, and well-being.

• Susan Kanak, Policy Associate, National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
• Susan Maciolek, Senior Project Manager, Massachusetts Department of Social Services
• Lori Herz, Senior Trainer, Rhode Island Child Welfare Training Institute

Teleconference Evaluation Form

Audio Files: Listen as MP3 (20.6 MB)

Handouts
- Agenda and Contact Information
- Training System Catalyst Event Timeline and Evolution of Training System Structure (PPT)

Background Materials
- Building Effective Training Systems for Child Welfare Agencies

updated on 07/09/2008

National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement
Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy
PO Box 15010, 400 Congress St., Portland, ME 04112
1-800-HELPKID (435-7543) • fax: 1-207-780-5817