This lunch and learn will discuss the Kinship Caregiver certification process. This will educate DCFS Child Welfare staff on who should be referred for certification, what is required when a referral is sent to Home Development, and what Kinship Caregivers need to know about the process. This should help streamline the referral process and timely certifications for Kinship Caregivers. Certification of our Kinship Caregivers can strengthen permanency for the children we serve. OBJECTIVES: Learn the kinship certification referral process to ensure proper and timely certifications Understand the policy regarding kinship referrals for certification Learn talking points to educate kinship caregivers and assist them through the process.

In this training, we will dive into our effort to further incorporate the Child Welfare Assessment and Decision Making Model into daily practice both internally and with our legal stakeholders, court orders and reports have been developed and/or revised to reflect the core definitions and concepts of the model. These documents are a result of an extensive amount of collaborative work with the Louisiana Supreme Court's Court Improvement Program, the Pelican Center for Children and Families, and other legal stakeholders across the state for at least one year. The documents/templates reflect this collaborative effort by weaving together child welfare practice with the state and federal requirements for each proceeding. At the heart of this effort is providing guidance and tools to facilitate alternatives to foster care, and/or achieving timely safety and permanency, all when safely able to do so. Of particular importance are templates for Instanter Safety Plans, Instanter Orders with custody to a relative or other suitable individual, and Protective Orders.

Whether using forms, child welfare databases, or a case record, choosing what to document and how can seem overwhelming for child welfare workers. Knowing how to determine what information to document and how and where to write it is an important skill. This course will help you become more confident when sharing information about the case and more knowledgeable about what you need to capture during your contact with families and other stakeholders. Documentation provides child welfare professionals an opportunity to write clear evidence of what is happening with a specific case. The worker must paint an objective picture of the case. Therefore, it is critical that child welfare professionals clearly and objectively document contacts with families, services provided, essential data, and obtain written reports from professionals and collaterals that are pertinent to the case. This course includes some points for effectively managing documentation and adhering to Agency policy and timelines. It is important to note that at any time a case record could be transferred, pulled for a review, or subpoenaed by the court, therefore case information should be entered into the correct databases and updated timely. Objectives: - Explain the importance of timely and objective documentation. - Prepare accurate and clear documents and reports - Assure documentation adheres to agency policy and timelines.

This thirty minute training will help orient you to Open Table and the Open Table Model. The Open Table Model is a reflection of the human potential of every person. Through relationship and accessing social networks, a group of trained volunteers empowers an individual or family with complex challenges to implement their plans to develop the better lives they envision for themselves and their children. Open Table uses this model in it's programs implemented into communities to train congregation members or small groups of volunteers to form a support family called "tables." These table members transform their vocational and life experiences into tools for our marginalized youth who are transitioning out of foster care. The transitioning youth uses these tools and relationships to develop and achieve their life goals.

Family Preservation Team Meetings (FPTM) are a core strategy to engage family and community members in safety and placement-related decision making, a critical aspect of child welfare work. These meetings aim to improve the agency�s decision-making process; to encourage the support and �buy-in? of the family, extended family and community; and to develop specific, individualized interventions to meet the unique needs of older youth. Family Preservation Team Meetings bring youth, family and community members to the table together with the professionals when the agency is considering removal of a youth from the home. The meetings focus on whether removal is warranted and, if so, where the youth would go. Facilitated by non-case carrying, experienced child welfare staff, the goal is to seek consensus on a plan that protects the youth and preserves family relationships. Today, more teens are coming into care for reasons not directly related to abuse and neglect. They are landing in child welfare placements because of parent-child conflict that threatens the youth�s safety and well-being. Because the family dynamics are not necessarily directly related to maltreatment, it suggests that an in-home or community-based response may be more appropriate in such cases. Target Audience and Training Design This 30 minute Webex is designed to prepare front-line DCFS workers and supervisors for their role and participation in Family Preservation Team Meetings. Staff will become familiar with the FPTM stages and process and will explore their role before, during and after the Meeting. The session emphasizes the values and benefits of engaging the family�s natural networks as resources for safety planning and when necessary, placement. Learning Objectives: - Participants will be able to demonstrate and/or describe the goals of a Family Preservation Team Meeting and why DCFS is implementing FPTM case circumstances that would require or trigger an FPTM and how to make a ...

Jamerika Haynes, owner of Clever Jam Communications, leads a discussion on the experiences of black girls in foster care and the challenges they may face. Jamerika provides insight on the topic by sharing the personal challenges she overcame while growing up in foster care. Participants will also hear how her foster family and adoptive family helped her develop into the woman she is today.