Session Summaries
Session Information
Thursday, September 24, 2020
10 a.m.–5 p.m. EDT
Plenary Sessions featured national experts, child welfare agency staff and partners, family leaders, and youth in engaging presentations.
Concurrent Sessions were developed to meet individual needs on specific topics, increase understanding, convey information, and provide practical applications.
10:00 – 10:45 a.m. (EDT) Welcome and Opening Plenary
Becoming a Prevention-Focused System: Conversation With National Experts
The opening plenary discussed the importance of primary prevention in child welfare; the public systems approach to prevention; and examples of how states have successfully implemented prevention programs. The session highlighted the need for involving multiple voices and partnerships in the development and implementation of prevention plans, as well as the important role of courts in prevention. Speakers also discussed strategies for developing a robust prevention continuum while continuing to improve services provided to children and families as the needs of the in-care population change following successful implementation of prevention-focused systems.
Presenters
- Jasmine Hayes, Capacity Building Center for States
- Jerry Milner, Children's Bureau
- Amelia Franck Meyer, Alia
- Michael Cull, University of Kentucky
- Vivek Sankaran, University of Michigan Law School
- Elliott Hinkle, Capacity Building Center for States
11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. (EDT) Concurrent Sessions #1
Family Engagement: A Collaborative Process for Systems Change
This session explored the question of how to change a system designed to protect children from their families to one that supports families to keep their children safe and healthy. The session examined the question from several perspectives, including that of a mother and son with lived experience and leaders who set the tone and direction for putting families at the center of child welfare work through strategies such as family finding, father engagement, and icebreaker conversations. Finally, the session highlighted the literal and spiritual interconnection of Native families and methods to engage families in a trauma-informed manner.
The second half of this session contained an interactive “Roll Up Your Sleeves” segment that helped participants think through how they could apply the concepts and strategies presented. Participants engaged in discussion using an appreciative inquiry approach, which helped them focus on identifying where family engagement strategies and programs are already working well within their system, begin to analyze why, and think about how to amplify and expand successes.
Presenters
- Denise Moore, Capacity Building Center for States
- Kodi Baughman, Foster Care Alumni of America
- Dennis Alford, Kansas Department for Children and Families
- Eugene Schneeberg, National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse
- Robert Friend, National Institute for Permanent Family Connectedness, Seneca Family of Agencies
- Marilyn Bruguier Zimmerman, National Native Children’s Trauma Center, University of Montana
Going Behind the Scenes: Effective Partnerships for Primary Prevention
This moderated “fishbowl” discussion offered participants a behind-the-scenes glimpse of effective collaboration to help them gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of effective collaboration from multiple perspectives. Partners highlighted their journeys and shared their experiences of the adaptive challenges they faced in building the relationships and capacities needed to be an effective partner. The session also presented suggested strategies for avoiding pitfalls and addressing speedbumps along the way to implementing effective partnerships for primary prevention.
The second half of this session contained an interactive “Roll Up Your Sleeves” segment that helped participants think through how they could apply the concepts and strategies presented. Participants engaged in discussion using an appreciative inquiry approach, which helped them focus on identifying where family engagement strategies and programs are already working well within their system, begin to analyze why, and think about how to amplify and expand successes.
Presenters
- Julia Jean-Francois, Center for Family Life
- Kathryn Conroy, Kenworthy-Swift Foundation
- Pebbles Edelman, Partnership for Strong Families
- Patricia Medlock, Florida Department of Children and Families
Moderator
- Paul DiLorenzo, Capacity Building Center for States
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (EDT) Concurrent Sessions #2
Developing and Measuring the Success of a Comprehensive Prevention Framework
This session explored strategies for developing a comprehensive community prevention framework across all levels of prevention and examined how the impact of systems in the prevention framework can be analyzed and measured through data analysis and continuous quality improvement.
Developing and understanding the effectiveness of prevention programs require a sustained collaborative investment in preventing abuse and neglect at the community level. Major factors in the success of prevention programs include the collection and thoughtful use of data to inform what services will best meet the needs of children and families and to measure successes and opportunities for improvement. Session participants heard child welfare agency leaders, private providers, courts, and families who have been involved in these efforts discuss their challenges, successes, and visions for building a more prevention-focused system in the age of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA).
Presenters
- Amelia Franck Meyer, Alia
- Marina Havan, District of Columbia, Child and Family Services Agency
- Sharafdeen Ibraheem, District of Columbia, Child and Family Services Agency
- Kelly Wagner, Michigan State Court Administrative Office
- Lynn Bullard, Van Buren County Court, Michigan
Moderator
- Amanda Cruce, Capacity Building Center for States
Building Prevention-Centered Systems: Key Leadership, Workforce, and Community Roles in Shifting and Sustaining Culture
This session paired child welfare leaders with community partners to showcase the importance of successful collaboration and engagement for implementing prevention-focused systems. Presentations focused on developing an agency culture and climate that support prevention to successfully implement the provisions of FFPSA and build a prevention continuum. Presenters discussed strategies for building a prevention-focused agency culture and climate while simultaneously working on collaboratively spreading the vision for prevention beyond the borders of child welfare agencies and into the community. Presenters also highlighted examples of agency- and community-driven culture shifts and ways to develop the collaboration needed to sustain efforts in the long term.
Presenters
- Jacqueline Martin, New York City Administration for Children’s Services
- Caryn Resnick, New York City Administration for Children’s Services
- Emily Lopez, Graham Windham – O.U.R. Place (Organizing to be United and Resilient)
- Deborah Shropshire, Oklahoma Department of Human Services
- Lindsay Laird, Arnall Family Foundation
- Kimee Wind-Hummingbird, Children and Family Services Administration, Muscogee (Creek) Nation
- Candace Fleming, Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development
Moderator
- Dee Bonnick, Capacity Building Center for States
2:15 – 3:30 p.m. (EDT) Closing Plenary
What Is Urgent? Taking the First Steps Toward Change
The closing plenary reviewed actions that can lead to building authentic, collaborative, and prevention-focused child welfare systems. Participants heard multiple perspectives and considered strategies for effective collaboration between child welfare agencies and community partners in the provision of prevention services, considered how prevention-focused systems can improve child welfare outcomes, and developed ideas for incorporating the principles of FFPSA into state and territory plans. Following the presentations, young adult and family representatives facilitated a discussion that explored the urgent first steps toward change.
The second half of this session contained an interactive “Roll Up Your Sleeves” segment that helped participants think through how they could apply the concepts and strategies presented. Participants engaged in discussion using an appreciative inquiry approach, which helped them focus on identifying where family engagement strategies and programs are already working well within their system, begin to analyze why, and think about how to amplify and expand successes.
Presenters
- Jennifer Skala, Nebraska Children and Families Foundation
- Judge Trent Favre, Hancock County Youth Court, Mississippi
- Kristin Zagar, Virginia Department of Social Services
- Andrew Crawford, Bedford County Department of Social Services, Virginia
- Michaela Guthrie, Capacity Building Center for States
- Michael Huesca, Capacity Building Center for States
- Marilyn Bruguier Zimmerman, National Native Children’s Trauma Center, University of Montana
