No Place Like Home1st Site Visit

Larimer County, COCompiled Focus Group/Meeting Notes

January 24th-25th, 2012_________________________________________________________________

Data Meeting

Present: Taryn Davids, Business Analyst; Joe Schreurs, Business Analyst Supervisor; Denise Suniga, Deputy Division Manager; Donna L. Parrish, NPLH Training Lead; Heather Allan, NPLH Project Coordinator; and, Lisa Merkel–Holguin.

Q1: Cost analysis - what information is currently being collected?

Tracking cost per meeting Cost of salaries Cost of service dollars by program areas Can break data per family or by the life of the case. Also do general costs.

o None of these costs are in TRAILS, all in Excel spreadsheetso Only services and OOH placement is in TRAILSo It would need to be a separate design but in a spreadsheet

Salaries are tracked by unit o FGDM is based on an average but there are not any time records. This is just tracked

as a general cost.

Q2: Grant proposal outlines use of SDM score to select high risk cases. Do you use this?

They do not use this and are not familiar with the term SDM NCFAS score is in TRAILS but they don’t use it as it was intended

o Workers fill it out in when they get back to the office in 10 mino Was designed to be administered in homeo There is a committee to get rid of this tool although it is a validated tool and available in

TRAILS ARCH-predictive model on children that received CORE services. Use the safety and risk scores

for proxies. They have validated the assessment tools as a result. On PA5 (assessments at the beginning and close)

Q3. How do you track family meetings in TRAILS?

Meetings are tracked in TRAILS (FSRT, FUM, FGC) through CORE service authorizations FSRT- one day, open and close

o Entered under the oldest child and then the clients that participate are listed

o TRAILS now allows you to name who the actual service was foro Can have multiple meetings listed in TRAILS

FUM and FGC are open at the begin and close at the conclusion of the meetingo If the meetings change, they will go in and change it in TRAILSo FUM’s you can have multiple meetings but will only show one start and end date

Each contact area states who actually attended Does the child have to be at the meeting to be marked as participated?

o Because it is about the child, the child may not always attend and this can be trackedo Service auths=who benefits from the meeting/service

Not linked to contacts but can get there in a round about wayQ4. Client satisfaction?

Entered into survey monkey sans the comments Not linked to cases

Q5. Is there any other data that is being collected but not entered into TRAILS?

No

Q6. Collecting any poverty data?

No, but using proxies from TRAILS. Using some Q’s from the risk assessment CBMS collects income information but the two systems don’t interact.

Q7. If as a result of an FGC, a kid is placed with kin, can this be tracked? Any links to see if a family member attended an FGC, if they are more likely to become a placement option?

Depends on the data set that’s being collected because a new report may have to be created Already have data from federal categories for the 1451 work The ideal is that we have a customary report to pull everything that AHA needs

Q8. Propensity score matching-want to compare cases that received fx. meetings to similar situated cases. How will the matching be done?

Most FAR meetings do not received FSRT’s Looking at high or moderate risks and saying FAR cases have to get some sort of fx. meeting

(FUM or conferencing) A lot of cases don’t have actual conferences, except for FAR cases The matching will be done post by using the 4 proxies

o We may need to think about the sample size with JF and KC to yield the best resultso Data collection in late summer

Q9. What kind of technology do staff have access to in the field?

All paired team workers have tablets- 6 months

They are ideally entering data into TRAILS in real time (they have a “mifi”)o Some connection issueso So they can alternatively enter the notes in real time and then copy them into

TRAILS from word All face-to-face meetings are required to go into TRAILS Facilitators enter meeting notes in TRAILS also (listed as secondary workers) demographic information on collaterals (not main family members) is not collected

o % of missing data on demographics? Safety assessment- score will indicate a need for a plan (happens first) FSRT for developing/refining of safety plans

Q10. When the randomizer is removed, how will this impact the flow?

They are at 90/10 (90% assignment to FAR and 10% to investigations). Were at 80/20 for most of the grant so they do not anticipate any major shifts.

Focus Group Objectives:1. To understand the organizational and community context for FGDM implementation.2. To understand the FGDM practice framework.3. To understand FGDM meeting preparation.4. To understand FGDM meeting characteristics including model fidelity.5. To understand the FGDM meeting follow-up process.

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Focus Group NotesCaseworkers #1 (Intake, Ongoing, Foster/Kin)

Administrator: Heather AllanNote taker: Donna Parrish

1. Please describe the evolution of FGDM use in your jurisdiction, including: (Objective 1)Signs of Safety was a piece of literature that was influential.

The same supervisor has run the FGDM team for 10 years; started with her. There was the Oregon model that came out. Then, took on the FGC model from NZ. Purpose was to engage families better. We saw outcomes of not engaging families.

Now there is a team of 10 or more FGDM coordinators/facilitators.

Signs of Safety came on secondly as a philosophy. Intake worker more police-like. Always have to make professional judgments, and we still have to do that.

We would see the professionals come around the table, make decisions, and then we would take these decisions to the families. We realized that as a department we weren’t seeing the outcomes for families that we wanted. Families needed to be at that table too.

Resistance from attorneys and therapists, “You cannot tell families what you are saying about them!”

Pitfall—when a family meeting turns into a staffing.

a. Various models of FGDM being implemented, and how the models build on each other, or not?FSRT: Emergent basis, plug family into those slots. Come from a child protection assessment. Need to immediately plan.

FUM: Involving more people who are working with the family (coaches, foster parents, ask family to invite their support people, clergy)—do planning and updating at those meetings.

FGCs: I see the goal that we are trying to move toward FGCs, and it embodies the philosophy that families know best about themselves.

b. Supporters and critics?GALs seem to struggle with families doing a lot of their own planning. Some groups are critical as they should be. GALs tend to be more resistant than other professionals.

Foster parents: When they have to engage with the family origin, it can be difficult. Can work through this.

Caseworkers: May become resistant because if families are deemed moderate or high risk based on the risk assessment, then the policy will be that you have to do a family meeting.

When a family meeting isn’t productive then it impacts the relevancy of other future family meetings. Example: foster parents need information from people in the building about court, etc.

What makes a productive meeting: preparation ahead of time, people have a shared knowledge and can move forward.

Sometimes family meetings are not needed. Especially FAR cases, when you are out in the field, you are gathering the family.

I like family meetings because they are positive. You have a facilitator. It reinforces other conversations. You can elaborate on the themes. After first 15 minutes, the anxiety decreases. Sometimes it helps engage families in the services.

Families: Scared of DHS, and fear of the unknown.

Rewarding to the family—move from an awful FSRT to an FGC. It is a moment of celebration. When you get to the end, you see the success of the family meeting.

2. What types of FGDM meetings are used, in what order, and for what populations? (Objective 2)

a. Are there case characteristics that are necessary for or encourage FGDM referral?Family support system is the biggest predictor for success. I want “them” to outnumber “us.” Sometimes, it is difficult to get families to broaden out. Families have the expectation that their support system won’t be there for them.

FSRTs if used as a springboard to other meetings, and used to invite other family members…it can be an encourager to bring more family.

When you can recruit their support system, we have greater success. Magic happens.

Saddest ones are: undocumented families; ones that don’t have family nearby.

DV ones, with significant restraining orders, are difficult.

When school age children come and you don’t want them to hear everything, so we have child care issues.

Rely on the skill of the facilitator…we as caseworkers rely on the facilitator. We need to be purposeful in who we invite.

People talk ahead of the meeting, how can we plan for certain instances. Preparation—how can we be sensitive, etc.

3. What activities are involved in meeting preparation? (Objective 3)Depends on the content and the purpose of the meeting. Placement/TPRs require more preparation. Every family is different.

Caseworkers give coordinators/facilitators the heads up about the situation.

FUMs: facilitators will do the phone calls ahead of time, and that is helpful to the caseworkers. Caseworkers do some of the prep work.

FGCs: facilitators do the preparation work. One area that the department could improve is prepping more extended family members for FGCs. Very time intensive.

FSRTs: caseworkers do the preparation. No prep work on the FSRTs. Facilitators don’t even know the purpose going into the FSRTs.

Facilitators are to keep the same families over the life of the case.

4. How do staff facilitate collaborative partnerships with families during meetings? (Objective 4)? Try to keep professional people to a minimum.

Don’t have all the professionals sit next to each other. Spread out.

Leverage positive relationship with Grandma.

Try to remind the family that all of us are human—any of us could fall into their situation. Try to keep it real on a human level.

Some self-disclosure is helpful.

Chit-chat around current events. Try to find connections with each other at the start of the family meetings.

I say, “This is your meeting.” This is a team; we are all on the same team and we will work together.

Having the family start the meeting. FUMs—family can come in with an opening statement. Let them take charge. Balancing out what took place

Strength finding with family at different points (in their homes, in family meetings, etc.)

I had a lot of success with FGCs. Family expectations were a lot tougher than the department’s expectations. Then they feel like, “I agree with this, because I helped develop it.”

Mixed messages around FUMs/FSRTs: you cannot invite them without the mom’s permission. Discrepancy in understanding whether you can invite family who is out there without Mom’s permission. Different supervisors and different facilitators have perspectives on this issue.

a. What efforts are made during meetings to address family culture, world views, and values during FGDM meetings? Native American family from Pine Ridge. I was facilitating the meeting. It was a Mom with post-partum. Mom had a psychotic break. They took custody of the child. They weren’t looking at the Native American father. Had an emergency family meeting. The elders, extended family came down from the reservation. The spirituality came through in the meeting. Mom was in the hospital on speaker phone. Mom was deferring everything to the elders. She respected her elders; supervisor was concerned. Lesson: not to make assumptions.

We start asking questions about culture…and families are offended.

We don’t always take into account culture—especially with Hispanic families (who live multi-generations in one household).

Spiritual diversity, socio-economic: assumptions are made. How we connect and if they see us as empathetic.

If we don’t have culturally competent resources in the community, it is very hard. Several children who are undocumented—very difficult to get resources for them. Have to dig deep.

Focus Group NotesSupervisors #1 (Intake, Ongoing, Foster/Kin)

Administrator: Donna ParrishNote taker: Lisa Merkel-Holguin

1. Please describe the evolution of FGDM use in your jurisdiction, including: (Objective 1)a. Critics?I don’t recall much negative feedback from anywhere about family meetings. Other professionals and community members seem to feel more involved. They may not agree with the result of a meeting, but the process they like – because they have an opportunity to have their voice heard both in the meeting and with the feedback forms.

I can think of an example where a therapist was unhappy because they didn’t like the level of transparency we were looking for from them re: risks to children based on Mom’s mental health. That’s the main one I can think of. Generally, I’ve heard mostly positive feedback – from GALs, etc.

There is a lot of flexibility in where/when we have meetings, which people like.

At the beginning there was anxiety to move from ‘staffing’ model where professionals met alone to talk about the family to bringing the family in with family meetings. But once they participated, they seemed to come around. Now that we’ve been doing it for so long, it’s hard to remember what it was like without it.

Challenge can come in when we have difficult personalities in the family and then it’s hard to facilitate and keep it productive. We’ve struggled to keep the purpose clear and focused. Criticisms I’ve heard are around those types of challenges, which might always happen.

Other criticisms or worries have been from family or other participants about having children there. So even if they can’t be there we’ll try to have them present in other ways, like letters. We’ll safety plan with kids there and teach them about non-verbal cues they can give us if they need a break.

2. What challenges to using FGDM exist?Language barriers. Especially with translators or bilingual staff – we can’t always guarantee that staff can be available – we struggle with that.

We’ve been flexible about changing the process when we’ve needed to, to try to make sure there is an available facilitator to meet the family need. We’ve looked at policies to see if it needs to be changed over time.

It has been harder to get FGCs set up than other types of meetings. They are really time consuming and extra work. Probably hard for facilitators to coordinate these meetings in a timely way. I’ve only been to a handful of FGCs but tons and tons of the other meetings.

With all of the prep work that has to happen and all of the family members that have to be met with it is hard. By the time we’ve prepped everyone with the original purpose of the meeting the need of the meeting might have changed – but everyone was prepped for that original purpose. So we’ve tried to do that model, giving families private time, during FUMs – so we don’t go through whole long process to prep for an FGC.

3. What type of resources are available to support staff in FGDM?When new workers come in they can be as nervous for meetings as for testifying in court. They are the front line workers who have to be at that table no matter who else is there representing the agency. It can be painful. Naturally, from doing it often and having it be successful, it gets better. Prepping before the meeting and having someone there to support them in the meeting is helpful.

Having participated in facilitation trainings, facilitators are taught to help workers prepare. They can be helpful in preparing and supporting caseworkers. Supervisors can fill that supportive role too.

I love, as a supervisor, attending FSRTs with workers, especially newer works to role model how we talk to families in meetings about our concerns and bottom lines. It also helps me get to know the families that my workers are working with. Even experienced workers can have anxiety about certain situations that may arise in a family meeting. It can also help to have conversations with facilitators before a meeting to let them know if there are issues that may come up – DV or conflict – to let them know that we are anxious about this, not to bias them.

Each RED team has a coach trainer assigned to the team to help new workers or specific situations with any worker – sometimes they will attend meetings (or other situations) to help role model and provide support – can shadow or be shadowed. This started 6 months ago. Workers and supervisors can request the coach. New workers automatically get a coach for 3-6 months.

Having a great facilitator can make all the difference – keeping a meeting running smoothly when situations could have gotten out of hand. It’s partly personality but also training and support. Feel very fortunate.

Now that we’ve had RED teams going on for so long and caseworkers have had experience facilitating internal meetings – now when they go to family meetings, they are more comfortable speaking in front of the group.

We’ll also role play with our staff to address worries and concerns – I’ll pretend I’m the Mom and you’ll be you.

The training for facilitators when they start is important, but we have struggled with that. Their supervisor tries to get trainings where she can. There is the conference once a year. We’ve had consultants once a year. We have them co-facilitate to learn from each other and balance skills and personalities and strengths.

The strength of this process in terms of paperwork and processes in meetings is consistency. That way there is no surprises – language is consistent across not only meetings but their job. Facilitators have often been caseworkers before and can help coach workers in meetings and in preparation.

Sometimes facilitators will meet with caseworkers before the meeting to help prep for FGCs – would be helpful if more was done for FUMs too. But then that’s more of a time commitment from facilitators.

Facilitators used to consistently ask me when I was a worker for any issues or concerns I had leading up to a meeting.

4. What types of FGDM meetings are used, in what order, and for what populations? FSRTs come first then FUM and an FGC later toward the end of the case. [How common to receive all three, what progression?]A lot of cases have every type of meeting. The FSRTs are designed to address emergencies. The hope is that we move through other type of meetings from FUMs to FGCs. The county has struggled getting FGCs done in a timely manner - more time intensive and workers may fall back into FUMs. As a county, it would be better to move in the direction of more FGCs and I think we’re trying – research has shown to be more effective.

I think we’d like to do more FGCs but they are harder to do. [Why?] People are more productive when there’s a crisis so once that has passed and we’re having an FGC, motivation is lower. FUMs are nice when it’s unclear if FGCs are going to happen or are appropriate – they are in-between to FSRTs and FGCs while we figure that out.

They build on each other because FSRTs often have a lot of professionals at the table and as we move through the meeting types it does become more family driven by the time we get to an FGC. By then we have more family supports.

5. What activities are involved in family finding?Workers will ask at beginning of a case about who a family would want invited to a family meeting. We’ve been doing a lot of genograms in FSRTs, which has helped. We just have to push for it – like when it’s a lot of maternal family involved we can get comfortable there with supports but we still have work to do around engaging more extended or paternal family.

We ask in the beginning of the case and Mom or whoever tells us. And sometimes we forget to keep asking. I’ve seen when a parent has said that there aren’t any supports but then when it gets to the genogram we’ve found over 20 family members. The way that you ask makes all the difference – and then issues around confidentiality turn out not to be an issue as much. Then a worker sees that and can change their practice to do it better in the future.

The use of the genogram has really helped to show where the holes our in our work family finding. And it starts the conversation in a non-threatening way. We used to just ask kids or parents, “Who is in your family or who lives in your house” and that wasn’t the best.

On the Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT) we have a family advocate who goes to the home to prep the family about what they can expect for a FAPT meeting and she will do the genogram, which is really helpful when a family is saying, ‘all my bridges have been burned.’ She asks questions about ‘if there was an accident tomorrow or a death, who would you call’ or ‘if you got married who would you invite.’ Having her ask and not a caseworker seems to be less threatening to families.

6. How do staff address family culture?Staff has started asking about it which is a good start!

It’s hard when you’re on a home visit on a DV case to ask but in meetings it’s a nonthreatening place to do it and families are often proud and want to share.

The timing really helps too – it can help when it comes right after the genogram because it goes ‘who they are,’ to ‘what’s their lens. “Cultural considerations” is a part of the meeting and RED teams. It’s being drilled at the supervisor level and workers are getting it. Things that come out in that cultural consideration conversation can be significant.

Really listening for those cultural pieces to try to be aware and respectful is something that we try to do so we’re hindering it in our planning.

[How to you care for issues around power, privilege, and race/ethnicity in family meetings?]

I don’t think we know what we’re doing. I don’t know how to deal with it. We put it on the board and we talk about it. But we can grow around what to do with that information – we don’t know what to do with it. We want to be sensitive and that can lead to not talking about it as much – we are overly cautious and don’t know how deep to go and how it could affect the case or permanency.

One of the challenges is that we are limited in our service providers and there aren’t choices in our community of Spanish-speaking/Hispanic service providers. We recognize that this is an issue and are trying to expand are service array. But it influences our family meetings because we want to direct families to services that meet their cultural needs and we don’t have them – it’s embarrassing. It’s awful to have to send a Spanish-speaking family to a service that can’t work with them.

In a recent case of sex abuse with a 10 year-old, she was going to disclose. We had to wait too long for a Spanish-speaking interpreter then he showed up and was a man and she didn’t disclose at that time. You lose so much when you can’t discuss your trauma or emotion in your native language and have people understand – the words aren’t there in English and we do our clients a disservice. Our community mental health provider only has 1 Spanish-speaking therapist.

Issue has been when Spanish interpreters/translators don’t translate directly – we’ll have the family tell us, ‘that’s not what I said.’ Some will wait for a family to finish speaking and give their own summary. That’s hard to deal with as a facilitator. I’ll look at Mom because she’s the one speaking and then the interpreter is trying to make eye contact with me – what is the correct etiquette when a translator is present? Should I expect them to translate word-for-word? I think so.

We’re coming along and learning but there’s a long way to go. Even how we talk so much in our own jargon, “DV” with “FOC” – it’s not in the family’s language. There’s a disconnect. We’re learning to communicate again with all types of families. It used to be where we would never share a meal with a family – it was considered a boundary crossing. Now we recognize that it can be respectful of a family’s culture to share a meal.

We as individuals only know what it looks like for our (white) families to meet and have norms. We go into a family meeting and expect it to look the same, we set it up the same and structure it the same for all families – we are lacking cultural knowledge.

For other types of cultures – German, etc. – people’s interest seems piqued and will look up cultural practices before going out to the home. Then if another case comes in workers will talk to each other about what they’ve seen.

7. Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about FGDM practice in your jurisdiction?They work really well, we love them. Why didn’t we always do them? Before them it was a disaster.

Doing casework without them vs. with them shifts a huge burden off of the caseworker and accountability on the family – shared accountability with family, schools, doctors, friends.

Makes me wonder why there is more turnover now when the system is so much better now – more supportive and less burden on caseworkers.

Our facilitators are awesome. They have such a high skill level. Their supervisor is great. It wouldn’t work if they weren’t at the level they are at – people would hate it and refuse to go.

Focus Group NotesSupervisors #2 (Intake, Ongoing, Foster/Kin)

Administrator: Lisa Merkel-HolguinNote taker: Donna Parrish

1. Please describe the evolution of FGDM use in your jurisdiction, including: (Objective 1)a. Starting year? Has it been used continuously since then?

1998: Started FGCs.

2004: Agency moved to a philosophical change—Family Options. Foster families mentoring birth families. Spent time thinking about the front end meetings. Took 18 months to create the FSRTs.

2006: FSRTs came into play.

FUMs: will fit within two weeks of a request. They can happen at any time in the life of the case.

FGCs: sometimes won’t work because of a timeframe. Worker needs it to happen more quickly.

b. Various models of FGDM being implemented, and how the models build on each other, or not?FSRTs: initial meeting, held quickly, meant to get the family in here as quickly as possible (with DNNs, court)

FUMs: more of an ongoing meeting. Sometimes once a month, as needed, or every six months.

FGCs: more family driven; lay down our bottom lines, and family is given their own time and then we go back into hear the family’s plan

Family assessment and planning meetings: for kids going into residential.

Circles of support: for kids who are aging out, to build a support system for those kids when they are moving on.

FGDM staff are flexible; meetings can be facilitated off-site. We have held meetings in other states. We will fly a key family member into Colorado for a meeting. Or, we can give them gas money, etc. Admin/discretionary dollars.

We’ve done that at hospitals (do them at critical care staffings). How can we get this kid home. Drug exposed babies. Meth example.

2. How do you believe workers’ characteristics (background, years of experience) and attitudes relate to the use and timing of FGDM meetings? (Objective 2)If workers see success, they are more likely to refer.

Newer staff are more likely to refer; hard to break thought patterns of older staff.

New worker: It is actually easier when families problem solve, workers take less ownership. Role model how to participate in the meeting. Skill to support and confront families in the same meeting. Compassion and accountability.

Saved a lot of time; very refreshing; FUM meetings were my favorite. Hard to triangulate. So much nicer to do cases in the more transparent.

Threat is moving to FGCs: some workers don’t trust families; don’t believe families should be making the decisions. Need caseworkers to be the voice of how well it went. Recent wave of how to sell FGCs. They know FGCs take a lot longer. Need to retrain/reeducate.

3. What activities are involved in meeting preparation? (Objective 3)FSRT: Worker says, “Who do you want to bring to the table.” Often times, we don’t know who will walk in the door. Sometimes, the worker will invite grandparents or birth parents.

FGCs: 20 hours per meeting on average; it depends on the number of participants. Facilitators do the preparation and it must be face to face for FGCs.

4. Who is invited to and who attends FGDM meetings? (Objective 4)Challenge: getting family to come. Time constraints are difficult. At the onset of cases, there is animosity between family and between the family and agency

Lawyers are difficult…try to discourage them from participating.

Family— we ask, “Who would you want to take care of your child if you had an accident tomorrow and you couldn’t.” As a caseworker, you are trying to figure out who is a support for them.

Facilitators/coordinators will push caseworkers to find out who else needs to be invited.

Will say, “Give me a reason as to why your Mother really cannot be there” if Mom is putting up resistance to grandma being invited.

Something to be said about kids being present when people are planning about their lives.

If Mom says she didn’t was Dad there, or your sister, etc., I was okay with that and didn’t push it. Then, I saw it worked when they were there. It took some conversations for me to be comfortable with kids present (protective—didn’t want kids to be re-traumatized).

There used to be the case staffings…professionals sitting around discussing, and then the families come in after the meeting. We won’t do these meetings anymore.

We adjust during the meetings (example, DV situation where Dad had to be asked to leave).

Difficulty scheduling the meetings. Workers are working a lot of later days/evenings. These mostly happen after hours.

Who has to be at the meeting: The caseworker has to be there. GALs won’t come after 5, so they can send a letter. Not going to reorganize the time just for them.

5. How do staff facilitate collaborative partnerships with families during meetings? (Objective 4)?

a. What efforts are made during meetings to address family culture, world views, and values during FGDM meetings? The facilitators prompt: “Tell me about your family culture; what you do, what you value?” What can you tell me about your family that we need to know so that we can meet your needs?

What are the barriers to asking, “Who are you?” Have a hard time understanding why the race/culture issue and discussion is so difficult here. A lot of assumptions that are made about white families. I think people don’t know how to self-identify. Even if the word “race” isn’t an okay word to use.

FGDM staff keep a thermometer/pulse. Right after the genogram, they make sure the family is asked.

6. How are staff able to maintain FGDM model fidelity in the face of challenging situations? (Objective 4)Facilitators don’t touch every case. It is the FGDM staff’s job to help guide other workers and their engagement skills.

Agency/family have needs: agency needs to be flexible.

Hold fidelity: for FGCs.

Safety comes first and foremost. If it isn’t working, then we stop it. All comes down to the role modeling—trying to model expectations and behaviors between supervisors, workers and families get to see the role modeling as well.

Workers can get uncomfortable and distraught with the family dynamics. Help workers see

DV case: heard Dad sending intimidating messages to Mom over the phone. Hung up the phone on Dad.

7. What does the service referral and provision process look like in the follow-up period? (Objective 5)Facilitators are good at getting to the specifics of plans. Not always on the worker.

Will pull up the meeting plans in the consults.

Ongoing/intake worker is writing up the safety plan. Develop the risk statement every time.

Revisit the family meeting notes.

Evolution where family members are taking more responsibility and now responsibilities are shared among agency workers and family.

Ask the family what they need to hold each other accountable, instead of service heavy plans.

Better when family are giving feedback about the services; we can hold people accountable to their own plans.

8. Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about FGDM practice in your jurisdiction?

Have to keep growing with DV cases and conferencing.

Consistency in facilitators: everybody is good. Make sure we get the risk statement, make sure we ask the cultural question, etc. (differences in personality and styles)

We need to keep training the caseworkers. Intake and ongoing workers have to be on the same page. Bottom lines of the agencies change depending on who worker the worker is.

Peer support…how can you tap into the resources and skills of others?

Focus Group NotesCaseworkers #2 (Intake, Ongoing, Foster/Kin)

Administrator: Heather AllanNote taker: Donna Parrish

1. Please describe the evolution of FGDM use in your jurisdiction, including: (Objective 1)Not sure when it started but guessing around 2005 because it was a better way to engage families in the decision making process.

2. What successes and challenges to using FGDM exist in your community and how are they addressed? (Objective 1)Facilitators ask about cultural considerations during the meeting. If a child is in placement or going to placement, they ask about traditions, etc. Interpreters are used.

It is an area that can be improved (location usually at DHS, hours,) we can look at having them in homes, churches, etc….sometimes this is a technical issue and you may need to call someone in but the family does not have a phone of not enough chairs, can the lawyers get there.

Some families have requested to have them at a DHS office because it is more neutral.

Have done them in house and churches. FUMs happen at homes, with Hispanic families, they prefer to have them at home so they can cook items.

3. What types of FGDM meetings are used, in what order, and for what populations? (Objective 2)FSRT, FUM, FGC and mediations. The FSRTs are used for crisis, FUM are used at the onset and are continuous and FGC are interchangeable with FUM but allows families to make decisions and not having the courts to make them. FSRT= fast placement when the case first opens and the intake worker will do these.

FSRT determining the resources, rallying of the troops. FUM-now that we are here and have the plan, you can determine the resources and prepare for the FGC. The FGC prepares for after the department. The family has the power

FGC can be used to build a support network, develop plans and re-access them, add to them or change them.

Prior to placement, thinking about the safety concern. With the FSRT, there is an immediate need that should be addressed.

Families that have moderate or high risk or founded has to have an FSRT but the family can choose not to. The worker has to refer and offer.

They put meetings out to families all the time and let families choose. We are encouraged to have them during DV cases as well.

Although families may not want to participate, they encourage it.

4. How do you believe workers’ characteristics (background, years of experience) and attitudes relate to the use and timing of FGDM meetings? (Objective 2)The age of the kid will determine when and how long they are present. It is usually a group consensus to decide what is a “kid topic vs. an adult topic” when families want to bring children, they are encouraged to talk with their caseworker and GAL to make sure that there is a safe environment for the child.

Will let the parents decides because if they have lost custody, they don’t have control over much else.

5. What activities are involved in meeting preparation? (Objective 3)a. Referral process

FSRT comes from The Hub and families are assigned to time slots. FUM anyone can call a meeting, because they are part of the team.

[How often do families request meetings?] There are a lot of families to request meetings because they have questions and will call the facilitator or the worker.

During an FSRT that involves a kin placement, they can start the certification process. If they cannot certify, then that is communicated. Foster parents and kinship placements have different types of certifications.

[Time it takes to prepare for a meeting?]: FSRT- 2 hoursFUM 1-2 hoursFGC- up to 3 hours of longer depending on the family, who shows up and who wants to talk.

b. Role of facilitator vs. worker? Facilitator calls the family after a referral has been made. The facilitators are good at asking us and using motivational interviewing techniques to determine the focus of the meeting and the purpose of the family meeting.

The FCG’s- more extensive for the facilitator to set up because they meet with each person that has been invited.

Facilitators do a good job keeping the focus of the meeting at hand. When there is an incident in the meeting, they are good at sensing the mood or a mental health issue.

Facilitators have allowed people to have their voice despite their mental capacity. When someone shows up with an MH or SA issues, there is limited progress in the meeting. Here have been times when parents are coming down and they are highly emotive but the family has called them on it vs. the department.

For FSRTs, preparation rests more on the worker, they talk to the family. The facilitator goes in with less preparation and a neutral stance.

The facilitator is also neutral and do not have to do any day-to-day case management.

The facilitator is the advocate for the kid, you are their voice when they are not there.

6. Who is invited to and who attends FGDM meetings? (Objective 4)Diligent search, asking the family who else and expanding questions.

If the department has custody, we can make calls to paternal family of the other family that does not have custody. You have to get releases unless the department has custody.

We cannot call a random person up unless the department has custody of the family bring them.

The family decides who comes. It is a mutual thing between the caseworker and the family. Workers have more control on who gets invited. Only the family gets to decide who is in the FGC private family time.

Caseworkers, GALs, workers are always invited but the family gets to decide who else. It’s open in that collaterals that work with families in the community get invited.

There are expectations of who will be there but the bottom line is that family meetings are required at the front, middle and tail end of our practice here.

7. How do staff facilitate collaborative partnerships with families during meetings? (Objective 4)?

Try to develop the risk statement with the family

Facilitators ask families what they would like to see happen.

Depending on the age of the kid, will get their input. Will discuss how to handle emotions with families. Giving them a place and resources to walk away when things get rough during the meeting.

8. What does the service referral and provision process look like in the follow-up period? (Objective 5)

Paperwork is signed at the meeting so services are easier to set up. There is a higher standard for things getting done in terms of referrals. There is a checklist and things are

documented. It has to be done; it is not negotiable because it is good practice but also because at the next meeting, you have to document progress.

With the caregiving families, they have needs and need some help and out of the meeting, they can develop resources and plans to assist things getting done. Resources can go outside of the department of financial, housing, or food vouchers are a couple of examples.

Everyone has to participate in a family meeting so all services are equal.

[How do you ensure that services are culturally relevant?] Sometimes it’s classes and we need to make focus the transition and keep the focus on the child. There might be a different culture or religion. Begin to help the family look at it through the life of the child and if it is not approached in a succinct and respectful manner, it can cause problems. Having conferencing in the home, and community helps. You have to ask the family what is appropriate for them. Ask them what they want and what would be helpful.

[If a Spanish-speaking service is needed, is there enough to meet the need?] There are some but not enough. We should have a sign-on bonus for hiring Spanish-speaking staff. There are 5 Spanish-speaking workers but about 70 workers total. There is also a shortage in the community.

Estes Park has even fewer resources.

9. Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about FGDM practice in your jurisdiction?

Challenges- getting meeting scheduled. Working with the facilitator and sometimes they help.

Getting parents to open up and bring people to talk about the bad things

If the families bring supports with them, they usually leave feeling empowered and less fearful about their time with DHS. Families leave feeling a little more clear and empowered. They see what things will look like and that DHS does not have sole control. It is hard to get people there, especially if they work. Folks in the community don’t understand how important it is to attend a family meeting. They don’t miss doctor appointments or getting their kids to school - but this is very important too.

Kin providers- before it was not felt like their voice were heard but now as the transition happens, families report that they feel more validated. It has been empowering for foster parents also.

A lot of people don’t have the flexibility to leave their jobs without consequences. Court is more important than a family meeting. In the past caregivers were not seen as caring

but workers need to get out of the bankers box to allow for different time other than 8-5 hours.

Focus Group NotesFamily Facilitators

Administrator: Donna ParrishNote taker: Heather Allan

1. Please describe the evolution of FGDM use in your jurisdiction, including: (Objective 1)Started in 1998 or 1999 and it started with our supervisor and one half-time coordinator doing FGC. Not many people used it in the beginning and maybe a year later they added another facilitator. For the most part, we got the toughest of the tough cases when workers had hit a wall with the case – it was frustrating because we felt it would’ve been helpful if we had gotten to work the family sooner. We later changed the process to add FSRTs and then FUMs around 2005? We used FUMs a lot with meth cases. Our format of facilitating has changed over the years – we are way more detailed in our notes and documentation and we ask different types of questions.

Some of the change came because of outcome studies we’ve done. We’ve also changed policy to mandate meeting referrals at different types of cases. Our department head visited other places and learned about successes they had with their practice and brought those changes here. Our management strives for evidence-based practice. There’s been an ebb and flow – we had a time when there were so many cases that we were drowning.

FSRTs are our version of FTMs that we use in the beginning of a case or in a crisis situation. FUMs are like FTMs too and we can have them throughout the case. FGCs are the true FGDM model.

[Champions/detractors?]

For true conferences, GALS seem to have an issue with giving the families so much power to make decisions. But I will get GAL requests for FSRTs and FUMs.

Our director is a huge champion.

Families can be the biggest champions – they will refer their friends and other family members. Family members in meetings can be really invested and that’s where it gets really powerful. When family is not invested, the meetings are not likely to be as successful.

It’s been a learning curve and a growing process. Over time people have become accustomed to the practice – they expect that families will have meetings. But there are still some workers and GALs who don’t totally buy-in.

Typically, though, when community stakeholders see the process they leave feeling good about it. We’re still spreading the word.

Parents’ lawyers can be troublesome – they try to make it like a court process. They will sometimes stop the meetings. Overtime some have been exposed enough that they get it’s not

a legal process but about consensus building and are bought-in. But newer lawyers will come in and just stonewall it – then we have to teach them what it is and what it isn’t.

That type of thing happens also with therapists.

2. What types of FGDM meetings are used, in what order, and for what populations? (Objective 2)

a. Are there case characteristics that prevent families being offered FGDM? (e.g., DV, mental health, substance abuse, etc)There is nothing that we wouldn’t have a meeting for – but it is up to the worker to refer. So we don’t bar meetings for sex abuse cases, for example. For almost every traditional case, we have some type of meeting. That has changed a little bit with FAR where FAR cases aren’t necessarily having meetings – we’re not sure why.

b. Worker bias?Yes, we encounter that. We try to do work on the one-on-one level to try and explain benefits and encourage to refer. It helps that workers work so much in teams now – like RED teams and consultation teams – so there is a group of people potentially advocating for family meetings. Workers aren’t operating in a vacuum and they don’t have as much power to decide on their own that meetings aren’t’ good for a family.

We have a mantra that having a family meeting shouldn’t be a privilege – it is a right. And workers are trained this way. We have had so many new workers over the past 10 years.

When division managers push meetings, we get flooded with referrals. When that has happened we’ll ask the worker why they referred the meeting and they’ll say “I was told to.”

That’s the way bias presents itself now – we’ll ask a worker why they referred for the meeting and they say “I was told to.” So then we have to go back and say ‘well, why did they tell you to refer, what do you hope to get out of this…’ and we can get the workers there with those conversations.

3. What activities are involved in meeting preparation? (Objective 3)For FSRTs workers do all of the prep and we just facilitate. We go in with very little information but try to talk to the caseworker beforehand to prepare ourselves. Families might show up and we’ll ask why they are there or what they are hoping to get out of it and they’ll say ‘they just told me to come and bring my family.’ I don’t think the workers necessarily know how to prep a family well for meetings – they’re not trained to do that.

I’ve had caseworkers who, when they have questions they can’t answer, have asked me to prepare families for FSRTs or FUMs and I’m happy to do that.

For FUMs our involvement in prep varies – if the worker seems to have done a good job prepping the family and it’s straightforward then we don’t have to do much. But if there are

some tense family relations then we might make some phone calls to try to diffuse it before the meeting.

Some families like emails, I’m finding. It’s easier to coordinate work schedules for some families over email, for example.

Sometimes we will schedule a FUM at the end of an FSRT especially if it’s a complicated case. That will typically happen 2 months out – if we set them at the meeting it’s less coordinating that I have to do later.

Preparation for FGCs is much more – we have to go to family members homes for ‘key players.’ I would say it can take at least 10 hours to prep. But it also depends on the size of the family – I’ve felt like for some large families it’s taken up to 20 hours to prep. Other times much less.

4. Who is invited to and who attends FGDM meetings? (Objective 4)Family members decide for the most part who gets invited but sometimes the agency will make the call to invite certain key players – like certain professionals. Then it’s our job to try to explain why they should be there. Sometimes a caseworker will provide a laundry list of potential participants and then we will go in and go over the list with the family and see how they feel about each one and if it’s logistical reasons or otherwise that they might not want them there. For some key family members when there’s tense relationships we bring the focus back to the kids and ask parents to shelve their own feelings – ‘it’s not about you, it’s about your child.’ ‘They might not be a support for you but they are a support for your child.’

We also emphasize that family is subjective and could include pastors or friends.

a. What strategies do you have to ensure that the voices of children of various ages and other vulnerable family members are heard?

We get direction to include a child’s voice in one way or another. Sometimes that means they will attend, other times it’s a video of then or having them write a letter or draw a picture. Sometimes it’s a GAL or caseworker or foster parent relaying something a child has said.

Sometimes we’ll have people – maybe therapists – concerned about having children there and re-traumatizing them in contentious cases. We’ve also had families resist having children present ‘they’re too young to be here; they don’t need to hear this.’ As an agency, our stance is that children’s voices need to be included somehow – so we’ll be flexible in how that happens. Maybe kids can be in for part of the meeting.

We understand here that kids live in these homes and know what’s going on – we’re not protecting them from anything by including them. Caseworkers are the worst about not having kids there some times to ‘protect’ them.

I disagree – therapists can be worse. It’s more overprotection than protection.

5. How do staff facilitate collaborative partnerships with families during meetings? (Objective 4)?

a. What efforts are made during meetings to address family culture, world views, and values during FGDM meetings? I think we’re doing a good job and better than we used to be in trying to ask those questions, and using genograms with families at the beginning of a meeting.

It used to be that only if a family made noise about it we would try to incorporate it. But in the past few years we’ve tried to be more intentional but there still seems to be an expectation that families need to fit into our world and not making the effort to fit into theirs.

We’ve been using translators a lot both in meetings and then the notes and evaluations get translated to make it customer-friendly. The slow the process down because we have to wait for the translation but it is not disruptive. They sit next to the family member they are translating for. We’ve used them in cases where families might speak some English but are more comfortable speaking in Spanish.

On a scale from 0-10 where 10 is great, using translators in meetings is a 7 in terms of effectiveness.

I would give it a 5. One of the tools that we have as facilitators is our ability to use our words to diffuse situations and relieve anxiety. With translators you lose some of that power of language. But at the same time offering it probably helps a family feel more comfortable because this is such a white community.

In practice, we talk also talk about services and we try to ensure that if we are sending someone to the workforce center, for example, that there is a Spanish-speaking option for them.

We also will put it out to the family to choose where they want the meeting, as well as who to invite. Having that discussion is so important – if they are spiritual then to bring in that pastor. It’s during that preparation time that a lot of those conversations happen.

I also try to ask when we’re talking about services what they’d like to use. For example: many families are LDS and that church has a lot of resources. So, a caseworker might have a list of therapists but then the client may say well I want to see this therapist through my church – most caseworkers are open to that and when they’re not we can prod with questions to get them there.

Sometimes families want to open in prayer and we allow that. One pastor was shocked that we would allow it as a government agency but we told them that it was

the families meeting and their choice. It’s great when you can find that family’s personality.

One challenge in addressing cultural stuff is that it’s easy when it’s church stuff or ethnicity stuff. But if it’s something that falls outside of the norm… it can be harder to incorporate or accept that. Example: sometimes we’ll have multigenerational families living under the same roof and kids are sleeping on the floor on air mattresses and it’s crowded. We have these middle class values of ‘it’s too crowded and not OK’ and who are we to tell a family that – to fit them into our box. We’ve also said kids can’t return home until parents are self-sufficient – so it’s not OK that they are living with their own parents (grandparents). We say the kids aren’t safe then. But that’s our values, not theirs and we push that on them. It’s a challenge.

6. How are staff able to maintain FGDM model fidelity in the face of challenging situations? (Objective 4)Our supervisor really pushes us to adhere to the model and we regularly evaluate our practice – we recently went over our meeting notes as a group to make sure there was consistency. Our supervisor is a task master about the model and makes sure that we are adhering to the principles. She makes sure we get training.

But in the face of tricky situations then you need to have flexibility. Maybe we’ll take a break, maybe we’ll redirect if it’s really getting off track. But sometimes, we just don’t get to all the things we planned for because some things are important enough to the family that we spend more time on that. You have to recognize when it’s just spinning or when it’s a really important issue for the family to work through – it’s an art, not a science.

The way we set up our meetings, the agenda, lends itself towards staying on track. We are also all trained in mediation so we can diffuse situations using those skills. We also have formal group supervision and individual supervision and then informal group support.

Our supervisor encourages us to go observe other counties who are doing family meetings to see what their practice looks like. We also have the state forum on a quarterly basis to share experiences and process with other facilitators throughout the state – it’s growing. Now people come and observe us too.

7. Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about FGDM practice in your jurisdiction?I think we fit better with the agency, more accepted, than we used to. It might be because we’ve had so much turnover and workers just know that this is part of our practice. But it’s nice.

Pretty recently, I feel a shift in the amount of respect that we get in the agency. Between all of us, we have so many years of experience. We used to be asked to ignore our experience and just facilitate – to be neutral all the time. Now it feels like we have more liberty to do more work offline and on the side to try to work through cases that are stuck, for example. Or to mention a resource that we know about – sometimes a worker would say we weren’t’

being neutral by bringing up that resource. Now, and it’s part of the way we try to bring it up, there’s more freedom to do that. I understand that we had to work to get to this place but it’s nice to have more ownership of the process and the recognition that we have the ability to do that by workers.

Biggest challenge that I think will be ongoing is that, and it’s also because of turnover, is that you will always have caseworkers who just want to come and tell families want to do. They don’t want to let go and allow the family to make plans and have ownership. Even though it lessens their workload.

I think families are grateful to have a safe place to share things with each other. They’ve thank us for getting them together to talk about issues – a daughter has thanked me for providing the space to tell her Mom what her feelings were about what had been going on.

Focus Group NotesCaseworkers #3 (Intake, Ongoing, Foster/Kin)

Administrator: Lisa Merkel-HolguinNote taker: Heather Allan

1. What successes and challenges to using FGDM exist in your community and how are they addressed?

SuccessesAllow families to make decisions – it’s hard for us to know what works for any given family and families know what works for themselves. And they do a good job and have more buy-in when they get to lead the process.

It’s also more impactful when a relative is there saying ‘this is not OK, what’s been happening’ than just us or a therapist saying it.

That can also stop the manipulation of families lying about what’s on. Sometimes we need to get everyone on the same page to move the case forward – it pushes progress. Other times it’s too complicated to get everyone together.

Families seem to like that it keeps us accountable and that they have a say-so. Some families find it so useful that you’ll have family meetings once a month or 6-weeks – it’s really family driven. But sometimes it’s also agency driven when we refer for them.

ChallengesI struggle when there are rules or policies set mandating meetings. It’s hard to engage people when we’re just having it because we were told to. When a meeting is held because it’s required versus having a specific purpose it’s harder to explain to families why we’re having it and to get their buy-in. It’s better when we get to decide when meetings will be helpful.

Sometimes when there is family contention it can be very one sided – only Mom’s side will show up for example. Or it gets really tense and breaks out into fights and chaos, which is hard.

It’s hard when we can only involve someone over the phone and you are just talking to a speaker – feels weird.

[When do you have to have meetings and what types?]

Every FAR case where you are providing cases services needs an FSRT or you have to have one when there is a placement issue or vulnerable child.

At this point the Director is saying that any moderate or high risk case needs a family meeting of some type.

Sometimes we have to point out our caseloads and if there hasn’t been a meeting in a while we’ll be told to have one. I don’t like that because it takes the decision making away from us to decide when a meeting will be helpful.

I think that came from when a child died and there hadn’t been any family meetings so they decided that all cases should have one.

If you want to have an FSRT in intake then you have to open a case to have a meeting – that is inconvenient and a lot of paperwork. It would be nice to have a meeting with a facilitator but it’s easier for me to do it myself to avoid the paperwork with opening a case.

When there are emergencies and you need a meeting (FSRT) right away it can be hard to schedule the facilitator. If that facilitator doesn’t show up then we can’t count it as a meeting and then it looks like I didn’t have a meeting in this bad situation and it looks bad for me.

That doesn’t happen all the time.

I think the facilitators and their supervisor does a good job of trying to accommodate our needs.

But we try to say that meetings are family oriented but then we say, ‘you have to come or we want you there and these are the times we can have the meeting.’ And this is where we’re having it.

In cases like that if it’s not working for the family, I’ll just hold the meeting myself with the family.

Some facilitators are better than others. If I get assigned a bad facilitator, I’ll just do it myself. We do not get to pick a facilitator – they are assigned based on their availability for an FSRT but then the family has them for the rest of their case.

[Are there certain skills that make a good facilitator?]

The ones who do a great job are organized, they touch base with me beforehand, they understand the risk statements. I appreciate when they are organized and have an authoritative presence.

When they truly stay neutral and don’t fall into case management or case working. It’s too much when they want to add their input.

It’s hard when they won’t intervene when the family is going off on tangents or cut them off in conflict.

Some will ‘play dumb’ – like we’ll tell a family what has to happen and they will ask ‘how should the family do that?’ I can see now that they are trying to ask clarifying questions for

the family when a family won’t do it for themselves– it used to annoy me and some are better than others about doing it in a way that doesn’t make it look like we were disconnecting. They can guide the family from the departments side without seeming like they are on the department’s side when they do it well.

Note taking – when they take good notes it’s helpful but some leave a lot out – it’s multitasking. Listening and note taking. Sometimes there are co-facilitators which makes it easier.

[How do you work with facilitators to have successful meetings?]

There is a formal process for participants, including us, to give feedback to facilitators through feedback forms sent out with notes after the meeting.

Sometimes I’ll ask if I could’ve done something different at the meeting and they’ll nicely let me know – but there are no formal ways to get feedback from them or for us to give feedback to them on their job (the forms are for satisfaction with the meting itself).

We used to be kept very separate from the facilitators which made it hard have conversations offline. But now we’re being mixed back in together which makes it easier but on the other hand, then you might have better relationship with some facilitators than others based on how close you work to them.

[Training and TA for caseworkers for family meetings?]

The academy doesn’t cover family meetings at all. So if you are new you have no idea what family meetings are all about.

I don’t think we do a good job of teaching workers about the different types of meetings and what they’re for and when you should use them.

Turnover makes it hard to keep up on that training too.

In FSRTs it’s incredibly hard to deliver the tough information to families as a new worker without that training or if you’re not comfortable and haven’t seen it. And it’s changed over the years how we’ve done them – we used to dance around an issue and now we put it out there in the beginning bluntly. It takes a lot of training and talent to do that well.

When I started I shadowed and it terrified me to go on my first one – so I brought my supervisor. I didn’t get any training for that though.

We used to do mediation trainings for 8 weeks through CSU – it was an option that wasn’t well advertised – before the academy came along. We used to have a module system where there were certain trainings that were always available for us but that is gone since the academy. But it was helpful because then you felt more skilled to work in the meetings.

Now you can shadow, bring supervisor or a coach to a meeting for support. Sometimes for FSRTs there are 2 workers – intake and ongoing which can be helpful.

I’ve been in meetings where it turned into an investigation because the caseworker wasn’t trained – it was awkward because you could see him struggling, not knowing how to act or what to do.

2. What types of FGDM meetings are used, in what order, and for what populations? For FUMs, they are more to check-in on a case and make sure everyone is on the same page. For FGCs they are for closing a case and come up with Plan A and B or reunification or an alternate placement pan for a kid. FSRTs are used in the beginning of a case or if there is a new incident or placement change for a child.

I agree.

Logistically, you can sign up for a slot for an FSRT and can schedule them for a day or so in advance. For the FUMs and FGCs they are organized by the facilitator so they take longer.FUMs are for ongoing case planning or if risk arises you might have an FUM in a FAR case.

3. How do you believe workers’ characteristics (background, years of experience) and attitudes relate to the use and timing of FGDM meetings? I’m jaded and burnt out and I love them because they take the work off of me.

Me too – but I learned it that way. If I was a new worker I might feel like it’s easier to do it on my own. It matters how you learned it and what experience you have with it. And what facilitators you’ve worked with – some who have been here for 20 years are set in their ways and don’t want feedback about their job. Some really push for having additional meetings and others will argue with me in a meeting about not needing to have one.

The experience you’ve had with facilitators can impact how you refer. They have a great supervisor though who will help if you need it.

When I did ongoing I didn’t like the meetings – I hated sitting in the room with all of those people together. I wanted to meet with them individually instead. Some of that is the facilitator.

I feel the opposite – like those tough families are great for meetings because I can get it out of the way with that one meeting per month, for example. And it’s a good way to track progress in a case and keep accountability if a case is stuck.

Being asked to have a meeting before closing a case is tough for me – it’s hard to get used to.

For characteristics that enable family meetings, you have to be willing to cede a certain amount of control and where you don’t feel like everything needs to be up to you – to allow the family to go their own pace to make progress. That’s when workers feel like family meetings are valuable.

4. Who is invited to and who attends FGDM meetings? (Objective 4)[Does composition vary?]Not really. Based on who family wants to be there and who they have as supports. Because FSRTs are on short notice, whoever is available now will be there. Once we get into FUMs, we’ll see more therapist and professionals to give input on ongoing stuff. FGCs go back to having more family supports again unless we decide there is someone who has to be there. But mostly it’s all the same people who the family identifies.

But for FGCs, because the case has been open longer and you know the family better then there are probably more people than at an FSRT or FUM. We try to have the family outbalance the professionals. And by then the family feels more comfortable allowing more people into the meeting.

[Efforts to engage paternal family?]We’ll do a genogram at the beginning of a meeting with Mom to try to understand who else might be in the picture.

It’s tough when Dad is MIA and you can’t find anything about him in online databases.

But sometimes you’ll find a Dad and Mom will not want him to be invited because he hasn’t been involved – maybe Dad doesn’t pay child support. But then the coordinator thinks Dad should be there because he’s a key player. I’m not sure what the right answer is.

It’s hard when Mom doesn’t want Dad involved because you’ve built a relationship with her and see her point about him not being involved. But we’re also supposed to be so family-centered looking for everyone to be involved.

But sometimes it’s the opposite where Dad is raising the kids and Mom isn’t involved.

Sometimes families will manipulate and say they don’t know who the Dad is and he’s on a John Doe on the record but they clearly know who he is. You can’t make the decision on who the parent is – the family has all the control there.

And sometimes you’ll find a Dad who has been pushed away from the family by Mom and her family so much or he doesn’t want to get involved with CPS and they might end up losing custody or rights or their children.

Sometimes you find Dad and he’s engaged and then we’re able to get them involved with the kids and that’s great.

5. How do staff facilitate collaborative partnerships with families during meetings? (Objective 4)?

a. What efforts are made during meetings to address family culture, world views, and values?I’ve had facilitators who ask at the beginning of the meeting about their values, culture and world view. In the last month or two I’ve seen that more and workers are being asked to ask in the home at the first visit.

There was some type of training recently that seems to have prompted that change in the past few months.

I’ve never been in a family meeting where that has been discussed – maybe the case has been going on so long it just gets lost. What’s hard is to know what to do with that information after you ask about culture. ‘Ok so now I know how you identify but what do I do with it?’

The cultural competence training we used to get was not very culturally sensitive. All we talked about was Hispanic and a generalization of what that is.

Most people get culture. We need more training on how to use that information.

I’ve been trying to ask more in my practice, even when the family is white. Because culture can be more than race or ethnicity – it can include faith and other things. And then asking ‘how will this impact my work with your family?’ Some RED team questions have helped prompt me to re-evaluate my practice around culture. We have a ways to go to do a better job but it’s better than it used to be.

Some training about how to ask those questions would help. It feels like we’re changing what we’re expected to do a lot and one day, we’re supposed to ask about culture – without training, it’s awkward. We never had training on how to ask or have those conversations.

How the family defines culture is different than how we tend to think about it. It encompasses a broad range of things and people can identify a lot of ways. One family said they were loud in response to that question.

But it’s important to respect what families say – to accept that and not tell them ‘that’s not what we mean by culture.’