MHBFSA NEWSLETTER FALL 2002

by: Laura Johnson-Hughes

The Michigan Home Based Family Services Association (MHBFSA) is gearing up for the annual conference. This past June, the annual board retreat was held at Brook Lodge Conference center. Three topics consumed the discussion.

First, the board members reviewed the Board Manual and By-laws. These documents have not been formally reviewed or revised recently. The board assessed role descriptions and overall language and made recommendations for changes that reflect the Association in 2002 and beyond. We will present the changes to our membership, at the Board Meeting on Friday, October, 4, 2002, at the conference.

The second primary topic was the upcoming conference. We reviewed the current format for the brochure and brainstormed ideas that would cut printing and mailing costs. Review our new look and let us know what you think. We also processed the numerous tasks in front of us to organize the annual conference. Our format will remain the same, with national speakers, Pat Miles and Patricia Parker, on Wednesday, local presenters on Thursday and a keynote presentation on Friday by Victor LaCerva.

Lastly, we evaluated board accomplishments. We looked at the goals we set this time last year, and looked at how well we achieved these goals. In doing so, we saw that we had a great year. We were able to maintain standards that were important to us and even achieved new tasks as well. For example, the training committee presented a one-day training, in May, with Susan Tohn. The board was able to clarify roles and worked on improving communication. We did well in retaining board members and had more people involved in committee work. All these things combined should help us to bring better resources and services to the membership.

For the next year, we want to maintain our accomplishments. We have also set several new goals. We are moving forward with establishing links on our website. This will allow browsers of our website easy access to other resources and services related to home-based work. We are establishing transition plans for each association role and committee. These procedures will make it easier for new board members to take on responsibilities without missing a beat. We implemented a form that allows us to anticipate and track financial transactions. At the same time, we will be looking at other ways to provide quality services and resources, and be fiscally responsible at the same time.

These are challenging times for the MHBFSA Board. Many of our board members have added responsibilities due to budget cuts and program changes at their agencies. They juggle this with the volunteer work necessary to make the conference and other commitments successful. As we clarify our procedures and recruit additional members to share responsibilities, the aim is to improve the benefits and position of the Association.

So please join us at the Bavarian Inn Lodge in Frankenmuth. Share in the excellent presentations that have been scheduled and enjoy the variety of activities that this location provides. Give us your feedback so we can continue to improve the conference. Even better, let us know if you have some time to volunteer to assist us in achieving the goals of providing services and support to practitioners that work hard every day to offer quality home-based services to children and their families. And don't forget to join me in thanking all the members of the Michigan Home Based Family Services Association Board for being so generous in donating their valuable time and making efforts to achieve the goals that make this organization successful.

Be safe out there - see you in Frankenmuth!!

Patricia Parker will be one of the opening presenters at the Michigan Home Based Family Services Association's annual conference on October 2, with a presentation on "Strength Based Asset Building Services to Families."

Patricia will focus her talk on helping families that have multiple stressors such as crime, domestic violence, poverty, drug and alcohol addiction. These stressors have a devastating effect on the families ability to grow and thrive. Families dealing with multiple stressors, present behaviors that on the surface appear hopeless. In her workshop, Ms. Parker will offer a conceptual framework that focuses on the family's strengths and re-frames their behaviors as resilient, adaptive, protective and functional for people who live in hostile and dangerous environments.

Participants will also become aware of successful approaches to joining with families that have difficulty trusting. You will learn to use a non-deficit assessment tool called S.E.L.F. Support Map. In addition participants will learn to use solution focused interviewing skills to develop outcome based goals that foster positive change for the family.

Pat Miles will also be presenting on Wednesday afternoon. Her topic will be 'Safety Planning in the Midst of Crisis.' The critical skill of developing safety plans with families will be the focus of her presentation. Elements of proactive safety plans will be identified which balance proactive and risk factors as well as incorporating a strengths perspective throughout the crisis.

As a young person, I witnessed some violence in my family and was victimized by violence in my neighborhood. That began to sensitize me to the issues. For about seven years, I worked in a pediatric emergency room in an inner city hospital. The suffering I saw stimulated my desire to help make a difference. When I started working in the NM Department of Health, it became clear that violence was a neglected major public health issue that was killing and harming a lot of young people.

As the father of two daughters, do you see strides toward a less-violent future for our children?

The good news is that all the recent attention to violence prevention is having beneficial effects. Juvenile violent crime is finally beginning to decrease to the lower levels we experienced in the early 1980s. All young people need some basic skills to avoid victimization. In most families and communities, they are still not being taught what they most need to know to protect themselves, including basic information about suicide, firearms, sexual assault and dating violence.

What are four small steps we can take in our daily lives to make a large step towards a less-violent society?

My book Pathways to Peace is based on peacemaking strategies at the level of the self, the family, the community and the larger culture, so I'll give an example from each of these arenas. 1. How do you start your day? Try beginning with a few minutes of quiet time, meditation or prayer to set the intention to create a deep well of peace in your life that can be tapped during more stressful moments. 2. Do some reading or attend a workshop to improve your own parenting skills. Love is not enough. We create peaceful families by paying attention to a variety of essential communication skills. 3. What problem is your local school facing in terms of violence? Volunteer to be a mentor for only an hour a week with a young person experiencing some difficulties. The ongoing presence of an older caring adult can make all the difference in a young person's ability to be resilient. 4. We get a lot of inaccurate information about each other. Examine your own racist attitudes, and share a meal with someone you would not ordinarily spend time with. Embrace cultural diversity in your choice of food, music, or entertainment.

Can you briefly summarize your philosophy on life?

I view the world from a humanistic perspective. We are here to help each other, not hurt one another. There are countless opportunities each day to choose peace instead of violence: interacting with our children, driving in the car, engaging in our work, being a good neighbor. As human beings, we all want to decrease our suffering and increase our happiness. We can learn that, in the end, it is the small acts of kindness and caring we bring to our personal interactions and relationships that makes a difference.

If you had the time and resources, how would you combat violence on a large scale?

Violence in America can best be conceptualized by imagining a picture puzzle. Each piece - poverty, racism, alcohol and other drugs, media, breakdown of family supports - has its own unique contribution to the problem. The message of Pathways to Peace is that each aspect also has a range of solutions that will create the shift we all desire. Sometimes the family is the training ground for the next generation of violent individuals. I think the most important focus needs to be ending the cycle by giving families the support they need to function in healthy ways. I would put a lot of resources into the front end of human development. Home visiting programs, helping daycare centers institute policies that promote emotional fluency and cooperative behavior, teaching conflict resolution in the schools and providing mentors and mental health services to the huge numbers of children who are "untreated victims of violence", and are at most risk for repeating those behaviors as they get older. There are many good examples of programs around the country that are already engaged in these types of initiatives. They just need to be strengthened and replicated.

A major objective of our service provision to families is to conduct family assessments informally and respectfully while supportively exploring issues that have contributed to the family's situation. As part of the assessment process, workers observe family interactions, their involvement with their support system and the community at large. This is all accomplished while considering factors related to individual members in order to understand and work effectively with the family in their particular situation. Identification of the family's strengths is also an important component of our services. It is our philosophy that with a strength-focused approach, a worker can focus on the positive characteristics that families have from a position of genuine respect for the qualities families bring to an intervention. When this respect is communicated to a family, it facilitates a connection between the service provider and the family. Overall, there was common agreement by group participants that service delivery was a positive experience. The general opinion being that all felt as if they had been treated with respect. Respondents conveyed satisfaction that services rendered had been culturally sensitive and that their workers supported their beliefs and values.

The family-centered and strengths-based practices embedded in the FIA Family Preservation Programs are consistent with philosophical shifts occurring within child welfare. There was a great deal of positive response when the group was asked about their involvement with services and whether or not they had been drawn in as participants and partners in the program intervention process. This information provides some sound evidence that FIA is meeting their goal of engaging the family as willing partners in goal information.

The majority of participants agreed that services they received had been very good to excellent. There were numerous positive responses regarding service delivery, coupled with praise for program workers.

The key recommendations for change which were consistently cited by group participants were:

1. Suggestions that program services be made available prior to a problem situation escalating to crisis levels and a CPS referral;

2 A need for more program publicity and public awareness messages to reach out to troubled families;

3. The public school system should be staffed with family advocates;

4. There should be more programs tailored for positive family activities; and

5. The perception that workers caseloads are too high and should be lowered.

Group participants said they enjoyed the sessions, appreciated the opportunity to express their opinions, and conveyed positive feelings just knowing that FIA was interested in what they had to say. Though the cited findings certainly cannot be interpreted as conclusive; they are based upon the results of discussion and interaction with some of our program consumers. The collective perspectives were quite informative and the thoughts shared on the subject matter may prove helpful in evaluation of service delivery, programmatic changes and/or in the development of new programs.

All participants agreed that family preservation services (FPS) are designed to meet families' individual needs. The overriding consensus was that FPS gives families a chance to learn new behaviors and make better choices for their children. FPS respects families' values and beliefs, treats parents as colleagues as well as clients and builds upon their strengths; acknowledging that the family is the expert and are able to articulate their needs. All agreed that such collaboration with families could produce a more far-reaching and lasting change than concentrating on weaknesses. It was mentioned that FPS families who previously have had an adversarial relationship with CPS view this respect as an added incentive to change. Though all agreed that the FPS system was far more conducive to change; that safety of children is still of immediate and paramount concern.

There was a lengthy discussion regarding supportive services. The majority of participants shared a common opinion that supports and services MUST be based in the communities where families live. It was also cited that most communities do not have an adequate array of support services to meet client needs. Even when good programs are available; it appears that the demand far outweighs the supply.

Participants were asked to identify service gaps and/or barriers The consistent gaps were cited as: 1) programs' lack a continuum of services and quality assurance; 2) often clients must be sent to another community to receive services; 3) lack of concrete crisis services; 4) appropriate respite care; 5) long waiting lists for mental health assessments; 6) lack of adequate transportation for clients; 7) affordable decent housing; 8) substance abuse programs; 9) credit counseling/budgeting programs; 10) anger management services; 11) special education services; and 12) the procurement of translators for clients who do not speak English.

One gap in services that was discussed is the need for greater outreach and prevention services through FIA. A participant cited that there should be services readily available to address problems before they require long term public intervention. The prevalent opinion is that it is the State's obligation to place greater emphasis on preventing adverse human and social conditions at the earliest possible stage.

Gaps were also cited in the working relationship and collaboration between the schools and service providers in serving children. It was cited that there is a need for more networking to facilitate improved communication among professionals in child welfare and professionals in education.

Lack of adequate employment was cited as a concern, and it was stated that Work first requirements are impacting the client's availability resulting in either overloading the family with too much time involved with our programs or low contact hours. Additionally, some families' experience a loss of income and quality time with their children due to the mandated work requirements (i.e., food stamps cut by more than the added income, childcare expenses, etc.).

The group recommended that there should be a concerted effort to increase critical services and this should be the responsibility of state and local officials. It was also cited that all human services programs should work together to share resources and find the best providers possible with the resources which are available.

Collaborative efforts were discussed. Discussion surrounded the use of collaboration with other programs and different ways to go about doing it. A participant stated that they have developed a resource list. Resource examples cited were: Workers on wheels - who get vehicles, MPCB, Wraparound Community Team collaboration, Domestic Violence Coalition, local churches and service organizations and the Zero to 5 collaborative.

Training was discussed. Many felt there was a need to have further incest/sexual abuse training, and that sexual assault training should be made a separate training. Discussion included the need for special mental health training with a curriculum aimed at teaching ways to support clients with mental health disabilities. Crack exposed and addicted children and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome training was also cited as a training need. Many participants asked about the availability of training for all contracted family preservation programs and not limiting certain training to certain programs. Participants were informed that in the very near future all training curriculums will be offered to all contract family preservation programs, using the FP model.

The group was asked what they felt the biggest obstacles were in performing their job. Answers/Input were:

1. Number of families per coordinator.

2. Concrete services for families, gaps discussed earlier.

3. FFM-flat funding for contracts-competitiveness is very difficult for staff, salaries, etc.

4. FRP-collaborative with other staff, i.e., foster care staff, i.e., Parent/Agency Agreement not known by family, etc., difficulty with engaging foster care staff.

5. Heavy caseloads for some FIA staff-communication issues with POS staff.

The group was asked what they believed to be the highest priority issue in the Michigan Child Welfare System. Responses included: More money in budget, more funding; more funding for prevention service; assessments for children who have been sexually abused, forensic interviewing for children; statewide assessment of impact and outcome of Binsfied Legislation, what were intended and unintended outcomes; longitudinal study of impact of FFM ; coordination of the 4 different programs and how they work together with an assessment of the impact the programs are having on the child welfare system.

Service delivery was the last topic discussed. Service delivery is most productive when all service providers work together with a common goal to help children and families. Family Preservation Program non-traditional hours are unique and an integral piece of successful service delivery. Teamwork is important in all the programs for success in working with families. FP programs are solution focused and person centered in the purest form. In the FP programs, families are the experts and they are involved in decisions made with child and family teaming together with service providers. The FP model is the best method of service delivery out there. We have embraced strength based and person centered service delivery and it works.

During the group session wrap-up, the group was given an opportunity to cite any concerns they might have regarding service delivery. Closing comments were:

1. Need better economic situation-how much to pay workers and help to hire people to begin with.

2. Performance based bidding is needed.

3. Paperwork is mentioned as an issue, still heard as a problem.

4. Turnover among staff is a concern.

5. Program integrity is at stake if some of these factors are not looked at.