Highlights
for Leaders and Partners of Strengthening Families Illinois
It has been an active 2007 thus far and there are plenty of new opportunities to partner. If you have comments or suggestions, please send us an email.
National Legislators Learn About Strengthening Families
“Child welfare should be in the business of strengthening families,” DCFS Acting Director Erwin McEwen told the National Conference of State Legislators January 26. Illinois hosted a two-day event introducing the legislators to the Strengthening Families Initiative and the impact of partnerships between early childhood education and child welfare. State Representatives and Strengthening Families contacts from nine states, plus staff of the Center for the Study of Social Policy, attended the event and toured the Carole Robertson Center. Panelists included:
Julie Brem, Hub Coordinator, Peoria
Kay Henderson, Early Childhood Division Administrator, Illinois State Board of Education
Jamilah Jor’dan, President, Partnership for Quality Childcare
Maria Whelan, President and CEO, Action for Children
(Follow link to e-update webpage in order to click on the screen to watch the video of McEwen’s speech using Flash Player or download as Windows Mediaor Quicktime. Download speeds may vary depending on type of internet connection.)
Parent Cafes Cover the "Hard Stuff"
“This was the first time I’ve been able to talk and be listened to and not be shut down or shut out,” said a single father of two. “I am amazed that I have so much in common with the other parents here,” said a mother of two young children and a teenager. “My pride really gets in the way of me getting the help I need for my family,” said another mother of one. These are just a few examples of parents’ closing responses after a recent Parent Café in Kane County. Parent Cafes are parents’ way of building the six protective factors in their own families. The cafes are being piloted by the Strengthening Families Learning Networks and in other settings as part of SFI’s public awareness campaign, Love is Not Enough To Keep Your Family Strong. At the cafes, as parents talk about topics that matter to them, they listen for patterns, insights, and deeper questions. Over the course of the evening, the collective wisdom of the group helps uncover ways to strengthen themselves and their own family.
Love Is Not Enough to Keep Your Family Strong will launch and materials will be available in April as part of Child Abuse Prevention Month. To get involved with the campaign or Parent Cafes, contact us, or learn more about Parent Cafes by clicking here.
Collaboration with University of Illinois Extension: Stronger Together TOT in April
Strengthening Families Illinois and the University of Illinois Extension are partnering to offer a 3rd Training of Trainers on Strengthening Families Illinois’ foundational curriculum Stronger Together: Family Support and Early Childhood Programsdeveloped by Parent Services Project in California. The Extension’s Family Life Educators will be participating in addition to others that are interested. The training will be in Champaign, IL April 17 – 18. Contact usfor application materials, if you would like to participate in this training.
Preschool for All Supports SFI Training
With the deadline for Preschool for All applications approaching on May 3, communities should keep in mind that professional development funds through the program can be used to support SFI training. “Strengthening Families Illinois absolutely compliments everything that we do for young children and their families in Illinois,” said Kay Henderson, Early Childhood Division Administrator at the Illinois State Board of Education at a recent panel for national legislators. Preschool for All funds are available to public school districts, university laboratory schools approved by the Illinois State Board of Education, charter schools, area vocational centers, and some other entities (for the RFP and attachments, click here).
Strengthening Families Implementation In the Works
Strengthening Families Illinois works across multiple domains in the state thanks to the contributions and staff support of its collaborative partners. Five workgroups of the initiative help guide the implementation in specific areas. If you would like to join a workgroup or participate in any of these meetings in person or by phone, contact us.
The Professional Development Workgroupis working on a Quality Assurance system for SFI training with the main goal of maintaining training standards state wide. The workgroup will be meeting again in May.
Building Resiliency Workgroup member John Roope of Caregiver Connections has written a White Paper on the importance of mental health consultation and building protective factors to quality child care. The workgroup will be meeting to review the second draft and discuss policy implications on Thursday, March 22 from 10:00 – 11:30 am at Voices for Illinois Children, 208 S. LaSalle St. in Chicago.
In addition a sub group of the Building Resiliency Workgroup will be meeting within the next month to begin adapting a trauma curriculum developed by DCFS for early childhood providers. If you would like to participate in this process, contact us.
SFI’s Evaluation Workgroup is ready to approve a staff questionnaire tool developed collaboratively with Missouri, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Washington, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, and Maine and the Alliance of Children Trust Funds. The tool was created to assess practice changes among staff at early childhood programs as a result of participating in Strengthening Families. The group will also be working on an exit interview questionnaire for centers that have elected not to continue participation and reviewing a preliminary final report written by the Metro Chicago Information Center. The next meeting of SFI’s Evaluation Workgroup is on Monday March 19 at the Partnership for Quality Childcare in Chicago from 10:00 – 11:30 am.
The Pilot Sites Workgroup is meeting on March 19 from 1:00 – 3:00 pm at the Department of Human Services location at 1112 S. Wabash in Chicago to look at plans for Year 3 that will include deepening the Strengthening Families work within the pilot communities, discussing changes in participating programs, and plans for launching a new network in South Cook County.
The Communications Workgroup is rolling out the Love Is Not Enough To Keep Your Family Strong public awareness campaign during April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month. Chicago Children’s Museum, Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois Parents Care and Share Groups, and the Illinois Family Partnership Network are co-sponsoring a launch event at Navy Pier and the museum will offer a series of Parent Cafes starting in May. Contact us, to get involved in the campaign or Parent Cafes.
Other Updates: Hub Coordinators from SFI learning networks will be meeting on March 26 to talk about directions for Year 3, discuss lessons learned, and plan for the upcoming SFI Cross-Site Meeting of Learning Networks on April 22 and 23.
SFI has been presenting to several AOK networks over the past two months and most recently at their quarterly directors meeting. As a result, SFI will be creating a strategic plan for 2008 that will closely link with AOK.
Calendar
March 19: Evaluation Workgroup Meeting, Chicago; Pilot Sites Workgroup Meeting, Chicago
March 20: Southern Illinois Learning Network Meeting
March 21: Kane Couny Recognizing and Responding to Signs of Stress Training
March 22: Building Resiliency Workgroup Meeting, Chicago
March 26: Hub Coordinator Meeting, Schaumburg
March 27: Chicago/Lawndale Learning Network Meeting, Chicago
March 29: CSSP Strengthening Families Pilot Assessment Meeting, Chicago
March 31: Southern Illinois Stronger Together Training, Carterville
Quality Assurance Sub-Group Meeting, Chicago
April 2: Child Abuse Prevention Month Launch, Chicago, Springfield, Edwardsville
April 10: Chicago/Lawndale Learning Network Stronger Together Make Up Training
April 13: PDAC Meeting, Bloomington
April 14: Southern Illinois Learning Network Meeting; Southern Illinois Stronger Together Training
April 17 - 18: Stronger Together Training of Trainers, Champaign
April 19: National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Portland
April 22-23: SFI Cross-Site Meeting, Lisle
April 24: Chicago/Lawndale Learning Network Meeting, Chicago
April 27: Leadership Team Meeting, Chicago
May 10 - 12: Strengthening Families National Summit, San Diego
May 15: Southern Illinois Learning Network Meeting
May 17: Hub Coordinator Meeting
New DCFS Education Policy for Young Wards
It’s official: all wards aged 3 to 5 years old must be enrolled in a quality early care and education program as part of their service plan. An internal group at DCFS that included Regional Administrators, Quality Assurance, Service Intervention, Day Care Licensing, Finance, Communications, and Training staff spearheaded and coordinated the revision to Policy 314. DCFS has written the change into performance contracts and created educational protocols to track and monitor contract child welfare agencies (where 80 percent of those children are served) in enrollment and in stability of preschool placements.
The child welfare system in Illinois has also been advancing Strengthening Families by launching learning networks in each of the six DCFS regions; developing Memoranda of Understanding between all Head Start grantee agencies and DCFS Regions; creating educational materials for child welfare caseworkers on Strengthening Families and the partnership opportunities that exist with childcare providers; including the protective factors in DCFS assessment of caregiver strengths and challenges for all children entering the child welfare system; developing a self assessment for home day care providers; and supporting the “Love is Not Enough to Keep Your Family Strong” parent-led public awareness campaign
Southern Illinois Professional Development Day a Success
Members of Southern Illinois’ Learning Network and other early childhood professionals took part in free Strengthening Families training and learning opportunities on February 16. John A. Logan Resource and Referral Agency (and Southern Hub for SFI) hosted the event and provided two tracks for attendees. Those that have been participating in learning networks the last two years, attended trainings from the Midwest Learning Center for Family Support on Recognizing and Responding to Signs of Family Stress and Communicating with Families. Individuals that were new to the initiative participated in a track that introduced the Protective Factors and an in depth workshop on completing a program self-assessment. Hub Coordinator, Lisa McCuan said, “the training went over really well,” which was indicative of the evaluation.
Federal Prevention Resource Packet Available Online
The National Office on Child Abuse and Neglect is making community resource packets available through the Child Welfare Information Gateway as part of April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month. They have included information on the protective factors acknowledging Illinois’ addition of the Parent Child Relationship (Listed as Nurturing and Attachment). Click here for access (Click here for Spanish).
Registration Open for Strengthening Families Summit
The first-ever leadership summit of the Strengthening Families Initiative is fast approaching. May 10–12 in San Diego, the summit will deepen your knowledge and your practice in strengthening families. Presentations and interactive sessions are organized into three major themes: Common Knowledge, Common Purpose, Common Ground; Relationships—The Essence of Our Work; and Making and Sustaining Change. Acting DCFS Director Erwin McEwen will provide a keynote at the summit and will be honored at a special event celebrating the commitment of Illinois’ child welfare department to keeping families strong. Illinois will also be playing a major role in providing workshops and panel discussions throughout the event. Learn more about the Summit program and register online by clicking here.
Strengthening Families Across the Country
CSSP Pilot Project Over: As of December 2006 the initial Strengthening Families national pilot project is complete. Currently CSSP is in the process of conducting final meetings with each of the original 7 states, with Illinois’ meeting taking place on March 29 at 10:00 am. Contact us, if you’d like to participate.
Thanks to a grant from the Mailman Foundation working to develop linkages between child welfare and early childhood education, SFI will have another year of a formal technical assistance relationship with CSSP and intend to work together over the next year to develop materials that will advance Strengthening Families nationally.
Arkansas Develops Quality Rating System: The Strengthening Families Initiative in Arkansas has been linked from the start to systems and policy change. The leadership team for the state Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) Initiative has served as the leadership team for Strengthening Families. As a result, leaders of the ECCS are embedding the principles and concepts from Strengthening Families into systems changes, such as a Quality Rating System that assesses, improves, and communicates the level of quality in early care and education settings. To learn more, click here.
New Hampshire Measures Protective Factors in Pilot: New Hampshire has released a report with baseline information on changes in measures of key protective factors among parents. To read the report, click here.
Refill Your Tank: Raising Awareness of Healthy Provider-Family Attachment
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.
Over the last 10 years of working with early childhood providers, I’ve heard providers talk of many frustrations. Of course pressures at work can be frustrating, (e.g., a boss’s judgment when goals aren’t met), but many of the frustrations I hear are connected to the attachment providers form with families. Difficulties often arise around:
Sensitivity to family dynamics (“They are not taking care of their kids.” “They are not spending time with their kids.”)
Responding to cues (“It’s hard knowing they need the help and finding ways to do that.” “It’s hard waiting for change/not knowing how to get them to change.” “I can’t read what they really need.” “They ask for my help but reject it sometimes.”)
Reliability (“A different caregiver picks the kids up and I can’t keep track of it.” “They’re not on time.” “I can’t handle a parent’s anger that comes out of the blue.”)
Availability (“They are not available when I call them.” “The father just drops his child off and leaves.” “They are not motivated.”)
Using others for coping (“ I don’t know how close to get to them.” “I feel like I give too much.” “They expect too much.” “It’s hard to set limits.”)
Feeling unloved (“There are so many intrusions into my home.” “They have no respect for my house rules.” “They don’t pay.” “They do not respect my time.” “They leave me little time for myself.”)
Notice how these categories parallel the core features of parent-child attachments: sensitivity and responsiveness on the part of emotionally available caregivers can create a source for coping, and without it one can feel “unloved.” Just as a parent-child attachment can become a ball of enmeshed emotions, so too can the attachment between parent and childcare provider. A clinically wise reflective partner can help you examine this set of simultaneous back-and-forth emotions. Click here for some things to consider as you separate what belongs to you and what belongs to the family.
Thanks to …
The National Conference of State Legislators and The Center for the Study of Social Policy for hosting the Strengthening Families Meeting in January ... Julie Brem, Kay Henderson, Jamilah Jor'dan, Director Erwin McEwen, Maria Whelan, Letechia Williams for representing Illinois' early childhood and Strengthening Families efforts at the meeting ... Katie Brandt, Karen Carpenter, and Martha Reeder for sharing some of their Strengthening Families work ... Delacey School and Crittenton Centers for hosting Parent Cafes ... the Carole Robertson Center Staff for welcoming us into their center ... SFI's Learning Networks and Partnersfor their continued support of the initiative ... and the many other people who contribute their time and support to strengthen Illinois children!
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