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STRATEGY #1: Support for Strengths Based, Family Focused Practice.
A. Enhancing initial engagement an assessment for families reported to the State Central Register to reduce repeat incidents of maltreatment (Also see "Differential Response" Strategy).Action Steps:
- Examination of subsequent reporting requirements and procedures.
- Expand the use of the Risk Assessment Profile (RAP) statewide.
- Continue to provide training on safety and risk through RAP implementation.
B. Family conferencing and early engagement.
Action Steps:
- Review family group conferencing models and promote expansion.
C. Enhancing family supports.
Action Steps:
- Explore additional systems supports for locating fathers.
- Explore use of parent advisors/advocates for families with children in care.
D. Strengthening case planning and service plan review processes.
Action Steps:
- Explore ways to improve the effectiveness of case planning and service plan review.
E. Strengthening family visitation (with parents and siblings in care).
Action Steps:
- Disseminate a practice paper regarding visitation.
- Develop a self-assessment tool to aid in improving visitation practices.
- Identify the supports necessary in CONNECTIONS to support visitation.
F. Promoting placement stability and child well-being through improved assessments of children's behavioral and mental health needs.
Action Steps:
- Strengthen the processes to assess each child's behavioral and mental health needs at time of placement
G. Supporting the role of foster parents in promoting safety, permanency and well-being.
Action Steps:
- Analyze data regarding moves between placement settings.
- Examine casework contact requirements and recommend changes as appropriate.
- Assess the unmet needs of foster parents and ways to reduce barriers to services.
- Distribute a model foster parent manual.
- Develop a foster parent training and support needs assessment instrument.
- Continue support for shared parenting models (birth and foster parents).
H. Enhancing quality assurance and continuous improvements in practice.
Action Steps:
- Develop district-specific data profiles and assist with interpretation of profiles.
- Revise current monitoring instruments to gather qualitative data regarding practice.
- Distribute revised instruments for use in self-assessments.
STRATEGY #2: Concurrent Planning Implementation.
Action Steps:
- Develop and distribute updated policy and practice guidelines.
- Develop strategies to increase understanding and participation in concurrent planning.
- Strengthen the Case Plan to support concurrent planning.
- Modify pre-service training for foster parents to incorporate concurrent planning.
- Continue to support local concurrent planning initiatives.
STRATEGY #3: Safety and Well-Being of Children in Congregate Care.
Action Steps:Work to improve the quality of child care staff in congregate care facilities.
Identify effective models of programming for youth in congregate care.
Identify ways to better support components of successful independent living programs.STRATEGY #4: Permanency Options.
Action Steps:
- Submit permanency legislation regarding Child Welfare financing, continuing jurisdiction over children placed through CPS proceedings or voluntarily, time frames for TPRs of abandoned infants, and others.
- Implement components of permanency legislation that is passed this year.
- Modify regulations in the areas of independent living, adoption subsidy eligibility, and concurrent planning.
STRATEGY #5: Adolescent Services and Outcomes.
Action Steps:
- Establish a workgroup to explore family-centered strategies for adolescents.
- Explore regulatory changes to promote permanency for adolescents.
- Develop a policy paper and practice guidelines focused on strengthening services to adolescents.
- Develop a strategy to monitor provision of independent living services and outcomes, including the development of new tools, as needed.
- Monitor the provision of independent living services and outcomes.
STRATEGY #6: Development and Piloting of a Differentiated Protective Services Response to Allegations of Child Maltreatment (Dual Track).
Action Steps:
- Propose legislation to implement a demonstration project of dual track CPS response.
- If legislation is passed, plan and implement the demonstration project.
- Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the demonstration project.
STRATEGY #7: Workforce Development: Staff Recruitment, Retention and Development.
Action Steps:
- Continue work with Schools of Social Work to offer professional education, conduct research regarding effect of higher education in child welfare, develop a caseworker recruitment video, and study workforce retention.
- Continue the work of the Maximum State Aid Rate Workgroup.
- Develop strategies to better understand workforce issues.
- Increase the accessibility of child welfare training for staff who can't attend training.
- Explore the use of the intranet and internet to exchange information of practice
- models.
- Design the annual training plan to support implementation of the PIP.
- Support an increase in the number of child care staff available in congregate care facilities.
STRATEGY #8: Workload Management Support.
Action Steps:
- Continue support for case process reviews.
- Automate and provide efficiencies, where possible, in the Case Plan and related documentation in CONNECTIONS.
- Explore the supports casework supervisors need to implement the practice changes in the PIP.
STRATEGY #9: Improving the Statewide Information Systems.
Action Steps:
- Continue with CONNECTIONS development.
- Continue with development of the Data Warehouse.
STRATEGY #10: Tribal Consultation.
Action Steps:
- Develop a formal schedule for ongoing dialog with Tribal leaders.
- Develop a broad based distribution of educational materials/tools related to the Indian Child Welfare Act.
- Provide training on the Indian Child Welfare Act through teleconferencing.
- Add additional culturally relevant content to Common Core and CPS training curricula as needed.
- Establish an OCFS Native American Services Committee.
STRATEGY #11: Improve Relationships and Interface between the Family Court And the Child Welfare System.
Action Steps:
- Convene a Court Strategies Liaison Team.
- Using current data, identify steps in the court processes that are barriers to timely permanency.
- Determine what data is available from the courts and how it can be used to identify areas that might benefit most from changes.
- Identify model counties and those in need of improvement; develop workflow analyses for larger districts.
- Explore the expansion of promising court programs underway in New York State.
- Continue efforts to provide cross training between courts and child welfare.
- Determine the steps that have been effective in expediting appeals in termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings.
- Add questions on Permanency Hearing to the IV-E survey and gather information.
STRATEGY #12: Improve Cross-systems Collaboration and Increase Service Array and Access.
- Action Steps:
- Continue to support & expand the Integrated County Planning (ICP) efforts.
- Continue to support the Coordinated Children's Services Initiative (CCSI).
- Support enhancements to the CCSI initiatives.
- Support implementation of the Child Welfare Financing Proposal.
- Review the Interstate Compact Process and identify any barriers to timeliness and effectiveness.
6/19/02