Honoring Emancipated Youth (HEY)evidence based practices http://www.heysf.org Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:18:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 New Fact Sheet: What Works for Programs for Older Youth http://www.heysf.org/new-fact-sheet-what-works-for-programs-for-older-youth-3296.html http://www.heysf.org/new-fact-sheet-what-works-for-programs-for-older-youth-3296.html#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:20:15 +0000 Dana Mandolesi http://www.heysf.org/?p=3296 [from Child Trends Research Update 3/11/10] Recently, HEY received notice that this publication had recently been released. Currently, HEY is working on a project to help redesign San Francisco's ILP service delivery to align with best practices that have been proven effective by research. This article lists methods and practices that are 'evidence based' - meaning scientific tests have been done and have proven and quantifiable success rates. See the article below for a list of some programs that work well for older youth. A new Child Trends fact sheet, What Works for Older Youth During the Transition to Adulthood, examines the role that programs for older youth can play in promoting positive development and subsequent self-sufficiency in adulthood. It synthesizes the findings from 31 rigorous evaluations of programs; all of the programs evaluated youth outcomes during the transition to adulthood (ages 18 to 25), but programs varied in the ages of targeted youth. Among the findings: • Education and career programs can be effective, especially for low-income youth and for youth targeted from younger ages. • Specific intervention strategies, such as mentoring, case management, and providing child care for young parents, are associated with program success across youth outcomes. • Substance use and reproductive health programs have not consistently been found to be effective for this age group. RELATED RESEARCH FROM CHILD TRENDS Summaries of over 420 evaluations of programs that work (or don't) to enhance children's development and additional fact sheets that synthesize "what works" are available at www.childtrends.org/WhatWorks. Related posts:
  1. Characteristics of Effective Summer Learning Programs for Low-Income Youth
  2. Evidence-Based Programs in Action: Policy and Practice Insights from a Success Story
  3. Supporting Youth in Transition to Adulthood: Lessons Learned from Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
]]> [from Child Trends Research Update 3/11/10]

Recently, HEY received notice that this publication had recently been released. Currently, HEY is working on a project to help redesign San Francisco’s ILP service delivery to align with best practices that have been proven effective by research. This article lists methods and practices that are ‘evidence based’ – meaning scientific tests have been done and have proven and quantifiable success rates. See the article below for a list of some programs that work well for older youth.

A new Child Trends fact sheet, What Works for Older Youth During the Transition to Adulthood, examines the role that programs for older youth can play in promoting positive development and subsequent self-sufficiency in adulthood. It synthesizes the findings from 31 rigorous evaluations of programs; all of the programs evaluated youth outcomes during the transition to adulthood (ages 18 to 25), but programs varied in the ages of targeted youth. Among the findings:

• Education and career programs can be effective, especially for low-income youth and for youth targeted from younger ages.
• Specific intervention strategies, such as mentoring, case management, and providing child care for young parents, are associated with program success across youth outcomes.
• Substance use and reproductive health programs have not consistently been found to be effective for this age group.

RELATED RESEARCH FROM CHILD TRENDS

Summaries of over 420 evaluations of programs that work (or don’t) to enhance children’s development and additional fact sheets that synthesize “what works” are available at www.childtrends.org/WhatWorks.

Related posts:

  1. Characteristics of Effective Summer Learning Programs for Low-Income Youth
  2. Evidence-Based Programs in Action: Policy and Practice Insights from a Success Story
  3. Supporting Youth in Transition to Adulthood: Lessons Learned from Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

]]> http://www.heysf.org/new-fact-sheet-what-works-for-programs-for-older-youth-3296.html/feed 0 San Francisco’s System Improvement Plan 2010 for Child Welfare Services http://www.heysf.org/san-francisco%e2%80%99s-system-improvement-plan-2010-for-child-welfare-services-2833.html http://www.heysf.org/san-francisco%e2%80%99s-system-improvement-plan-2010-for-child-welfare-services-2833.html#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:52:18 +0000 Dana Mandolesi http://heysf.org/?p=2833 [from Dana Mandolesi, HEY Project Manager] As part of the requirements to receive federal funding for foster care and supportive services for families, Child Welfare Services (CWS) must complete a tri-annual System Improvement Plan (SIP). The SIP consists of a multi-tiered review and analysis of current practices and a commitment to implementing new evidence based practices and phasing out older initiatives that do not have proven successes in serving foster youth and their families. As part of HEY’s work to help connect and convene systems, I attend the Core Team Meetings for the SIP. The Core Team is made mostly of people that work for CWS, but community partners, contracted agencies and other concerned community members are invited to attend. At today’s meeting, the Team focused on one specific issue that San Francisco needs to improve: timeliness to adoption and concurrent planning. When trying to improve ‘Timeliness to Adoption’, CWS means they are trying to reduce how long a youth is in foster care before they are adopted. This is a difficult statistic, because San Francisco, like most places, primarily is interested in reunifying youth with their own parents – letting them go home. However, for some youth, reunification is not an option, and adoption is the second best choice. The problem arises when CWS focuses all their energy of reunifying a youth with their parents – but that reunification doesn’t work out. The youth is left in some type of foster care for all that time, and then the process has to start over to find a suitable adoptive family. As a response to this problem, CWS wants to improve ‘concurrent planning’. Concurrent planning means planning for two case scenarios at the same time: possible reunification and possible adoption. This way if the youth cannot reunify with their parents, they can immediately transfer their focus to the already developed adoptive plan – and the youth can leave foster care much quicker. During the Team meeting today, CWS talked about developing milestones to implementing many initiatives to support concurrent planning and successful reunifications. First, every program and initiative needs to have good and better data reporting, so the results are recorded appropriately. Second, San Francisco does have some programs that have shown to reduce time in foster care, and those need to be systematized and supported throughout all cases and workers in CWS. Third, initiatives and practices that have evidence to support their usefulness or success rates should be discontinued and replaced with practices that have been proven to improve outcomes for adoption and reunification. Today, the Core Team talked about multiple existing initiatives that work to improve timeliness to adoption, and new evidence practices they are considering implementing. Among some current promising and successful strategies were:
  • A program to recruit and train potential foster and adoptive families through the San Francisco Unified School District
  • The development of materials and brochures about services for families pre- and post-adoption
  • Training foster parents to be mentors for biological parents
  • Reducing reassignment of Child Welfare Workers
Among some new programs that have proven success records in other places were: The Core Team meets again in 2 weeks, and the topic will be ‘Reentries into Foster Care’.   Stay tuned for an update. Related posts:
  1. San Francisco’s Child Welfare System Improvement Plan
  2. San Francisco Human Services Agency System Improvement Plan: Youth on Probation
  3. New Report: Achieving Permanency for Children: Timely Adoption Practices in Child Welfare Services
]]> [from Dana Mandolesi, HEY Project Manager]

As part of the requirements to receive federal funding for foster care and supportive services for families, Child Welfare Services (CWS) must complete a tri-annual System Improvement Plan (SIP). The SIP consists of a multi-tiered review and analysis of current practices and a commitment to implementing new evidence based practices and phasing out older initiatives that do not have proven successes in serving foster youth and their families.

As part of HEY’s work to help connect and convene systems, I attend the Core Team Meetings for the SIP. The Core Team is made mostly of people that work for CWS, but community partners, contracted agencies and other concerned community members are invited to attend. At today’s meeting, the Team focused on one specific issue that San Francisco needs to improve: timeliness to adoption and concurrent planning.

When trying to improve ‘Timeliness to Adoption’, CWS means they are trying to reduce how long a youth is in foster care before they are adopted. This is a difficult statistic, because San Francisco, like most places, primarily is interested in reunifying youth with their own parents – letting them go home. However, for some youth, reunification is not an option, and adoption is the second best choice. The problem arises when CWS focuses all their energy of reunifying a youth with their parents – but that reunification doesn’t work out. The youth is left in some type of foster care for all that time, and then the process has to start over to find a suitable adoptive family.

As a response to this problem, CWS wants to improve ‘concurrent planning’. Concurrent planning means planning for two case scenarios at the same time: possible reunification and possible adoption. This way if the youth cannot reunify with their parents, they can immediately transfer their focus to the already developed adoptive plan – and the youth can leave foster care much quicker.

During the Team meeting today, CWS talked about developing milestones to implementing many initiatives to support concurrent planning and successful reunifications. First, every program and initiative needs to have good and better data reporting, so the results are recorded appropriately. Second, San Francisco does have some programs that have shown to reduce time in foster care, and those need to be systematized and supported throughout all cases and workers in CWS. Third, initiatives and practices that have evidence to support their usefulness or success rates should be discontinued and replaced with practices that have been proven to improve outcomes for adoption and reunification.

Today, the Core Team talked about multiple existing initiatives that work to improve timeliness to adoption, and new evidence practices they are considering implementing. Among some current promising and successful strategies were:

  • A program to recruit and train potential foster and adoptive families through the San Francisco Unified School District
  • The development of materials and brochures about services for families pre- and post-adoption
  • Training foster parents to be mentors for biological parents
  • Reducing reassignment of Child Welfare Workers

Among some new programs that have proven success records in other places were:

The Core Team meets again in 2 weeks, and the topic will be ‘Reentries into Foster Care’.   Stay tuned for an update.

By the way, we got these great pictures for free from freefoto.com

Related posts:

  1. San Francisco’s Child Welfare System Improvement Plan
  2. San Francisco Human Services Agency System Improvement Plan: Youth on Probation
  3. New Report: Achieving Permanency for Children: Timely Adoption Practices in Child Welfare Services

]]> http://www.heysf.org/san-francisco%e2%80%99s-system-improvement-plan-2010-for-child-welfare-services-2833.html/feed 1 Bring State-of-the-Art Mental Health Practices to Your Agency http://www.heysf.org/bring-state-of-the-art-mental-health-practices-to-your-agency-2281.html http://www.heysf.org/bring-state-of-the-art-mental-health-practices-to-your-agency-2281.html#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:34:27 +0000 admin http://heysf.org/?p=2281 The Resource for Advancing Children's Health (REACH) Institute - in collaboration with Casey Family Programs and the Annie E. Casey Foundation-has developed new resources to help improve how child welfare agencies address the mental health of children. Training programs REACH is now offering science-based training programs delivered by experts in the child welfare and mental health fields. The programs include: • Mental health screening and assessment • Evidence-based psychotherapies • Youth empowerment (Taking Control) • Parent Engagement and Self Advocacy (PESA) These programs help practitioners reduce inappropriate use of multiple medications, decrease failed placements, improve the likelihood of family reunification and improve risk management. Mental Health Practices Toolkit REACH - along with Casey Family Programs and the Annie E. Casey Foundation - has also developed a new Mental Health Practices in Child Welfare Guidelines Toolkit. It covers: • Screening and assessment • Interventions • Medication • Parent support • Youth empowerment This toolkit provides suggestions and resources for putting the guidelines into action in child welfare agencies. Related posts:
  1. Connecting Mental Health and Permanency: The Role of the Mental Health Clinician—6 BBS CEUS
  2. Responding to the Needs of Children and Families of the Incarcerated in Health and Mental Health Care Settings
  3. Juvenile Justice Mental Health Consultation presents “Mindfulness & Self-Care for Service Providers with Mind Body Awareness Project (MBAP),” free training
]]> New resources provide mental health guidelines for child welfare professionals

The Resource for Advancing Children’s Health (REACH) Institute – in collaboration with Casey Family Programs and the Annie E. Casey Foundation-has developed new resources to help improve how child welfare agencies address the mental health of children.

Training programs
REACH is now offering science-based training programs delivered by experts in the child welfare and mental health fields. The programs include:
• Mental health screening and assessment
• Evidence-based psychotherapies
• Youth empowerment (Taking Control)
• Parent Engagement and Self Advocacy (PESA)
These programs help practitioners reduce inappropriate use of multiple medications, decrease failed placements, improve the likelihood of family reunification and improve risk management.

Mental Health Practices Toolkit
REACH – along with Casey Family Programs and the Annie E. Casey Foundation – has also developed a new Mental Health Practices in Child Welfare Guidelines Toolkit. It covers:
• Screening and assessment
• Interventions
• Medication
• Parent support
• Youth empowerment
This toolkit provides suggestions and resources for putting the guidelines into action in child welfare agencies.

Related posts:

  1. Connecting Mental Health and Permanency: The Role of the Mental Health Clinician—6 BBS CEUS
  2. Responding to the Needs of Children and Families of the Incarcerated in Health and Mental Health Care Settings
  3. Juvenile Justice Mental Health Consultation presents “Mindfulness & Self-Care for Service Providers with Mind Body Awareness Project (MBAP),” free training

]]> http://www.heysf.org/bring-state-of-the-art-mental-health-practices-to-your-agency-2281.html/feed 0