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December 2006 |
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E-Update
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Highlights
for Leaders and Partners of Strengthening Families Illinois |
Strengthening Families Illinois would like to wish you a safe holiday season and a Happy New Year! If you have comments or suggestions, please send us an email.
In This Issue
New York City Learns from Illinois
This month, staff of New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services visited Chicago to learn how Illinois works with young children in the child welfare system. Their plans to improve their own system include launching a Strengthening Families project with learning networks across the five Burroughs. While in Chicago, they visited the Carole Robertson Center for Learning (one of the CSSP’s exemplary programs and an SFI pilot site) to learn first-hand how a Strengthening Families center operates and how the initiative has been implemented. They also learned about other Illinois early childhood initiatives, such as the Children’s Mental Health Partnership, Project Connect, and Erikson Institute’s Fussy Baby Project. To learn more about New York City’s Administration on Children’s Services, click here.
New MWLC Training Helps Reach Parents at Critical Time
Childcare providers can tell when a family is under stress, but only if they know how to see the signs. And they can help families get support to prevent abuse and neglect, but only if they know how to talk with them about sensitive subjects. The latest trainings from the Midwest Learning Center for Family Support help staff develop these crucial skills: Recognizing and Responding to Signs of Family Stress and Communicating with Families. After testing at the Partnership for Quality Childcare and at Carole Robertson Center for Learning, the trainings were given for the first time at Chicago’s Lawndale / West Side SFI Network. Every learning network will schedule both trainings next year. Next on the list of training topics is Collaborating with Child Welfare Agencies. To learn more or to schedule a training, click here.
DCFS Early Childhood Programs Synthesized in Paper
By implementing the lifetime approach, DCFS has made it a priority to provide appropriate services to children 0 to 5 from the moment they enter the system. In a recently published monograph, former Director Bryan Samuels describes how the department’s early childhood initiatives, such as Strengthening Families Illinois and the School Readiness Project, support that philosophy and are a key strategy for preventing child abuse and neglect and keeping families strong. To download the monograph, click here or visit the SFI web site.
Training Deepens Practice in Kane County
When early childhood providers at Two Rivers Head Start were trained on the Protective Factors in November, they weren’t surprised by what they heard. “The training validated [the Head Start] philosophy of partnering with families,” says Mary McCarty, a mental health consultant at the center. McCarty is an SFI learning network member and helped deliver the training. While the message wasn’t new, she says, it was crucial because it “made connections to the bigger picture and research behind it,” she says.
Like other SFI networks, Kane County members are working to spread the SFI training to more and more staff at their centers. This training reached 24 staff from ten centers as well as staff from other local agencies, all of whom “walked away understanding the importance of developing relationships with the families they serve in the community,” says McCarty.
Other Pilot Site Updates:
Chicago: The Carole Robertson Center for Learning (CRCL) continued spreading SFI training across their multi-site agency by providing all of their lead teachers with Stronger Together training at a recent weekend retreat. This followed a Protective Factors training for their entire staff of 186 earlier this fall. Educational Lead Teacher Barbara McMurray called the training “refreshing.” She came back with many new ideas for connecting with families that she has been sharing with the teachers she supervises. “It reinforced the importance of building those strong relationships with the parents, kids, and staff.”
Evanston: The Evanston Learning Network has held several successful family events and is continuing its Stronger Together training. The latest session took place on December 13. DCFS staff in the region have been hosting the trainings at their office and participating in every session.
Peoria: Staff in Peoria’s learning network have been getting “caught Strengthening Families.” Those who were “caught” received coupons for an end-of-the-month raffle.
Southern Cook: A number of centers have been struggling with enrollment issues and have had to let go of staff, which has hampered their ability to participate in the learning network. SFI and south Cook County’s hub coordinator are working with schools and Head Start programs to solve the problem. If you are part of (or know) a program in south suburban Cook County that would be interested in helping to strengthen this network, please contact Senior SFI Consultant Lina Cramer.
Southern Illinois: All three sub-hub learning networks have been meeting regularly across the southern region. They have been addressing their action plans and are preparing reports on their progress.
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Calendar
- January 4: Hub Coordinator Meeting
- January 10: Evanston Learning Network Stronger Together Training, Evanston
- January 17: Peoria Learning Network Recognizing and Responding to Signs of Family Stress Training, Peoria; Kane County Learning Network Meeting, Dundee
- January 18: Building Resiliency Workgroup Meeting, Chicago
- January 24: Evanston Learning Network Stronger Together Training, Evanston
- January 30: Chicago Learning Network Meeting, Chicago
- February 2: Quality Assurance Sub-Group Meeting, Chicago
- February 5: Evaluation Workgroup Meeting, Chicago
- February 14: Evanston Learning Network Stronger Together Training, Evanston
- February 15: Hub Coordinator Meeting
- February 28: Evanston Learning Network Stronger Together Training, Evanston
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What's Our Impact?
Stay tuned for a preliminary report on the impact of the Strengthening Families Initiative! Metropolitan Chicago Information Center is working on the report. They started in November by interviewing people involved in the initiative—such as leadership and workgroup committee members, staff of learning networks programs, representatives of DCFS, and SFI staff. The report should be finished in January.
Ramping Up for Growth in Training
As the demand increases for SFI training, the knowledge behind the initiative is being passed to more and more trainers. SFI and the Midwest Learning Center for Family Support—which creates and provides the training—want to make sure all trainers are fully prepared and that training quality is maintained. SFI’s Leadership Team and Professional Development and Training Workgroup are developing a quality assurance system for Strengthening Families curricula. They hope to model it after the Illinois Trainer’s Network, developed by the of Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
Childcare Nurse Consultants Train to Community Partners
Action for Children has started training community partners and home daycare networks on the Protective Factors. Childcare nurse consultants have already conducted two trainings in the last month, reaching over 100 providers. Action for Children has tentatively scheduled two additional trainings in February and March as well. The group has signed a memorandum of understanding with SFI to provide the trainings over the long term.
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Refill Your Tank: Are You Carrying Baggage?
This is part of a series of strategies for “refilling your tank” by Marcia Zumbahlen, Ph.D., Infant Child Mental Health Specialist and SFI Consultant.
It is easy for feelings to flow between teacher and child and teacher and family. Sometimes, early childhood providers need support to manage the feelings that might be flowing out of them. I recall seeing this in action when I was called to help with a toddler who was biting other children.
Previously, pick-up had been a joyful time for this child’s parents. They had looked forward to hearing about how their son had built a block tower or loved finger-painting. But now, pick-up meant getting another note explaining that he had bitten another child. They cringed to hear words like “biter,” “aggressive,” and “bully” used to describe their son.
In the center, I noticed that many of this little boy’s attempts to connect with the teacher and with other children were ignored. Most of her comments to him were negative. The girls, on the other hand, received lots of positive attention, often because they were sitting on her lap. I wondered how this teacher felt about boys and girls and how her own experiences may be influencing her.
I noticed that the teacher spent most of her day not smiling—but when I commented on her beautiful name, she smiled brightly. She normally just went about her tasks, but when I patted the boy affectionately on the head, she slowed down and noticed. These reactions told me she was open to being open.
Over time, I learned how the teacher struggled at home with her own preschool son, whom she was raising on her own. She still carried so much pain from her husband’s departure. I let this teacher know how special she was and that she deserved a space to be recognized. When she has that space, I believe, she will be able to do the same for this little boy and his parents, who knew him best.
For 10 ways to identify the baggage you bring, click here.
Thanks to …
Action for Children, Carole Robertson Center for Learning, Illinois Family Partnership Network, Partnership for Quality Childcare, and Voices for Illinois Children for hosting SFI Workgroup and sub-group meetings ... Candice Anderson, Marilyn Bartlett, Susan Grundberg, Alison Harte, Selena Higgins, Nancy Martin, and Elizabeth Roberts from the New York City ACS for their recent visit and Courtney Clark, Jackie Dortch, Tim Gawron, Andria Goss, Kathy Grezelak, Cary McCann, Margret Nickels Paul Langevin, Loukisha Smart-Pennix, Terry Weck, and the Carole Robertson Center for Learning for providing presentations in support of that visit ... Tanya Smith for welcoming SFI to it's recent intact meeting ... Beverly Clark, Leonnette Coates, Jackie Dorth, Rebecca Lawrence, Valerie McDaniels for their help with enhanced referrals ... all of SFI's Learning Network hubs and centers for their continued commitment ... and the many other people who contribute their time and support to strengthen Illinois children!
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