Florida's Center for the Advancement of Child Welfare Practice

Children brought to the attention of child welfare services are not always accommodated by the standard service array. Cultural diversity, developmental disabilities, and varying degrees of trauma-related symptoms are among the issues that must also be included in a best practice knowledge base, innovative skill set, and system of care strategies. The Center serves as the gatherers and facilitators of such important knowledge and offers the most current research and technology to advance Florida’s child welfare practice. An innovative statewide informational Web portal provides access to a comprehensive database, a variety of training and consultation options and advanced interactive components. Center staff interact “virtually” with customers to provide timely assistance and support with questions about using the Web portal or trouble-shooting any technical challenges they may encounter.

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Don Policella, Coordinator, Research Programs/Services
813-974-8531

Evaluation of Florida’s Title IV-E Waiver

In 2006, Florida was awarded a 5-year title IV-E Waiver, allowing federal funds, previously restricted to out-of-home care, to be spent flexibly on a wide array of child welfare services. The waiver allows foster care funds to be used in a manner that best meets the need of the child and family in order to expedite the achievement of permanency; maintain child safety; increase child well-being; and reduce administrative costs. This permits funds to be used for child welfare services including prevention, diversion from out-of-home placement through intensive in-home services, reunification, when this can be accomplished safely and permanency.

FMHI is under contract with the Florida Department of Children and Families to conduct a semi-annual evaluation of the Title IV-E Waiver. The evaluation is comprised of a process study that analyzes Waiver implementation and changes in child welfare practice, a cost study, and an outcome study. The evaluation will also identify innovative child welfare programs and practices being implemented by the Community-Based Care lead agencies as a result of the IV-E Waiver.

Locally, the Community-Based Care lead agency, Hillsborough Kids, Inc., has implemented two programs consistent with the goals of the IV-E Waiver; the Family Assessment/Support Program (FASP) provides in home intervention and community referrals for high-risk families and Family Stabilization and Placement Services (FSPS), administered by Camelot Community Care, provides in-home counseling and crisis intervention to families in an effort to improve placement stability.

Amy Vargo, Assistant in Research
813-974-5356

BIG SKY: Bridging Information Gaps Regarding Services for Kids & Youth

This project is studying the services and supports provided to children with mental health challenges who are placed in foster care in the state of Florida. The study seeks to identify the complex combination of individual, family, and systems-level factors and circumstances that impact the medications, and services that children in the child welfare system receive. The expectation is that by clarifying these factors, and the relationships among the factors, a systemic formulation will emerge to improve the quality of care and identify best practices.

Robert Paulson, PhD, M.S.W., Research Professor
813-974-3117

Examples of Implemented Culturally Competent Community-Based Research

This research initiative is focused on providing data that will help researchers and practitioners better understand and assess the community-based family support systems to meet the needs of children and families in African-American communities.

Richard Briscoe, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
813-974-6413

Family Dependency Treatment Court Program
With estimates that substance abuse is a factor in more than half of all foster care placements, the demand continues to grow for dependency courts, child welfare systems, and treatment providers to provide treatment that is appropriate in breaking the cycle of substance abuse and child maltreatment. Hillsborough County recently received funding from SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) to develop more intensive substance abuse services and more structured referral services to adequately address the issues of individuals in the dependency drug court. MHLP is working with the 13th Judicial Circuit Court and Goodwill-Industries, Inc. on the Family Dependency Treatment Court program, which brings together an interdisciplinary team to develop a comprehensive case plan so that parents have a better chance to achieve sobriety and ultimately keep their families together.

Behavior Analysis Services Program
Established to provide training and support to caregivers of foster children by Certified Behavior Analysts, the Behavior Analysis Services Program encompasess 10 counties in 7 Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) Districts. Staff will recruit, hire and supervise behavior analysts in each of the assigned districts, and will build a network of supports to promote positive and effective interactions for caregivers and child victims of abuse, neglect, or abandonment.

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FMHI directs a Master's Program in Applied Behavior Analysis, designed to meet the growing needs in Florida and nationally for practitioners who can work effectively within systems to improve the quality of services in the fields of developmental services, education, child protective services, rehabilitation, mental health, and business and technology. The 42-credit-hour master's degree provides coursework and practical supervision across three colleges (College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute).

National Center on Youth Transition (NCYT)

The Mission of the National Center on Youth Transition is to improve practices, systems, and outcomes for transition-age youth and young adults (14-25 years of age) with emotional and/or behavioral difficulties (EBD). The Center:

* Actively provides consultation and capacity building activities with personnel, youth, family members, and other stakeholders in communities, agencies, and states as they fully plan and implement transition supports and services across the transition domains of education, employment, living situation, personal adjustment, and community-life functioning

* Designs and conducts evaluations to improve the effectiveness of transition programs and outcomes for young people with EBD and their families in collaboration with communities, agencies, and states

* Formulates and disseminates effective practices, programs, and policies to inform stakeholders of factors associated with the development and sustainability of effective transition systems for these youth and their families

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Hewitt "Rusty " Clark, Ph.D.
Professor
813-974-6409

Graduate Certificate in Children's Mental Health-Distance Learning

Beginning August 2006, the University of South Florida began offering the first-ever distance learning graduate certificate in children's mental health to help prepare leaders in Systems of Care. Systems of Care organize a network of mental health and support services to serve the growing numbers of children whose emotional, behavioral, and developmental needs are not being met.

Sponsored by FMHI, the certificate's course content provides current knowledge about effective service delivery to graduate students seeking specialized training in children's mental health, and professionals in need of retooling in order to keep pace with the fundamental changes that have taken place in the field. A variety of distance learning methods enrich students' learning experiences as they encounter diverse perspectives of faculty, both within USF and external to the university, as well as those of national experts recruited to address special topics through seminars and electronic discussions. This will be particularly useful to rural areas, where the recruitment and retention of child welfare workers is especially problematic.

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Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health Tampa Bay Region

Their goal is to build a comprehensive array of services and supports that meet the individual needs of children with emotional, behavioral, and mental disorders and their families. Families are equal partners with community providers at all levels of program planning, implementation and evaluation.

Larry English
813-974-7930