Session Block A
(12:00 PM – 1:30 PM)
A1: The Harm of Removal
Laura Vogel (AOC) 7 Jacob D’Annuzio, JD (OPD)
“Harm of removal” is a blanket term that encompasses the multiple ways a child may be negatively impacted by being forcibly separated from their family. Removal is extremely disruptive to a child’s neurological and socio-emotional development, and, for most children, it is a completely unexpected experience. In this session, participants will explore this concept in greater depth and learn how to apply a best interest lens to child removal situations.
A2: Maintaining the Parent-Child Attachment Relationship for Children of the Incarcerated
Marian S. Harris, PhD, LICSW, ACSW & Deborah J. Purce, J.D.
Children of incarcerated parents can be found in every city, county, and state in this country and in other geographic regions in the world. Parental incarceration tends to prevail in the lives of children who are poor, Black, Indigenous, or other children of color. It doesn’t matter where they live nor their age, the trauma as well as the separation and loss they experience are very real and cut right to the core of their well-being. Recent statistics show that 2.7 million children in the United States have an incarcerated parent. A very strong attachment relationship lays the foundation for healthy brain development and serves as a protective factor for children. The focus of this presentation is the significance of the parent-child attachment relationship and the extent and ramifications for children when this relationship is disrupted because of parental incarceration. Children of incarcerated parents are at risk for a number of negative outcomes that will be discussed. However, this presentation will also include what caregivers, social workers, child advocates, attorneys, teachers, etc. must do to support children whey they experience this adverse childhood event. The importance of children maintaining contact with their primary attachment figure during incarceration and ways to facilitate this contact will be discussed including parent-child visits, available services, interventions, programs, etc. Findings from a research study with a sample of incarcerated fathers will be presented. A synopsis of a family reunification group for mothers that was started by one of the presenters at a minimum security prison in Washington State is also a integral part of this session including trauma and attachment issues.
A3: Letting Go of the Control: Moving from Agency-Centered Planning to Family-Centered Teaming
Debbie Marker, MSW & Brandi Otto, MSW (DCYF)
This session will explore moving from a power and authority-based system of practice to one that empowers family teaming and equity in case planning for families.
A4: Supporting Educational Success for youth in care
Peggy Carlson (DCYF) & Stacey Klim (OSPI)
Join OSPI and DCYF for an informative session on supporting academic success for students in foster care. This session will highlight the collaborative effort between school districts, child welfare and community-based organizations in Washington to align policy, improve practice, and support educational stability and success for students in foster care.
A5: Advocacy Through Report Writing
Tracey Czar, et al. (Pierce County Child Advocate Program)
This workshop will discuss a advocate’s advocacy through writing. The workshop will aim to help advocates improve court report writing as well as communicating via email. Advocates will learn how to write a fact based report and why that is important. Advocates will also learn about communicating via email and text and how those communications can negatively/positively impact their advocacy.
A6: Food & Hygiene: Common behaviors exhibited by youth with a history of trauma
Zia Freeman, MA, LMHC (Coordinated Care)
This training is for those treating, supporting and caring for children who have experienced trauma. Many times these behaviors are seen as opposition and stubbornness. Participants will be able to identify and comprehend how trauma affects childhood development and behaviors in regards to food and hygiene issues. This webinar will discuss the reasons behind these trauma driven concerns, as well as offer several practical and easy ideas to help both caregiver and child with humor and creativity.
Session Block B
(1:45 PM – 3:15 PM)
B7: Safety Analysis 101
AOC Safety Framework Team
The American Bar Association’s publication, Child Safety: A Guide for Judges and Attorneys, is an excellent tool to help dependency system partners develop a common understanding of assessing and discussing safety in child welfare cases. The SAFETY FRAMEWORK provided by this session helps courts addresses the fundamentals of assessing safety, safety planning and case planning. The intended audience is judicial officers, attorneys and others in the legal community, but understanding the fundamentals of the SAFETY FRAMEWORK is relevant to any agency that interacts directly or indirectly with the child welfare system.
B8: Using Attachment Theory and Research to Assess and Support Children and Parents involved in the Child Welfare System
Dr. Amy Claridge, Professor and Program Coordinator; Central Washington University
This session will provide an overview of Attachment Theory and research, considering the impact of stress and trauma on attachment development and challenges related to attachment among children involved in the child welfare system. We will discuss considerations for how child advocates might integrate attachment theory and research into assessment and intervention strategies with children and parents, both during separations and when planning for reunification.
B9: Applying Critical Thinking in Child Welfare
Dee Wilson, MSW
This session provides an overview of critical thinking and its application to child welfare, summarizes Daniel Kahneman’s account of automatic thinking and deliberate thinking, and discusses ways of combating confirmation bias, halo effect and other heuristic biases. Describes pattern recognition and explains how intuition can become a source of expertise with child welfare specific examples.
B10: Supporting Kinship Placements
Kati Brown, MJ (Alliance Cares)
Renatta Watson, Foster and Kinship Licensing Initiatives Manager (DCYF)
Washington State has shifted to prioritizing kinship placements for children placed in out-of-home care. This workshop will explore the historical practice of intentionally separating children from their families of origin, address harmful myths on kinship placements and discuss the positive impacts of children remaining with their families of origin. Attendees will learn about legislative changes that are resulting in the increase in the number of children placed in kinship settings and an increase in the number of kinship caregivers who are licensed. An overview of the new pathways to licensure for kinship caregivers and the supports available to them are core components of this session.
B11: Why Fathers Matter and What we Can do to Support their Success
Anne Stone MA, MPA (DSHS)
Fathers play an important role in their child and family well-being and yet often our systems of care provide little support and may even work against their success. This workshop will look at what we know about the critical role of fathers and father figures and how we can help to reduce biases that send messages to dads that they are not a valuable member of the family. The Washington Fatherhood Council aspires to support fathers to be the Dads they aspire to be for their child(ren), family, and community.
B12: Youth Suicide Prevention
Zia Freeman, MA, LMHC (Coordinated Care)
This session provides an overview of the topic of suicide, signs and symptoms, and how caregivers and professionals should respond in times of crisis. The training will dive into the rates of youth suicide, risk factors, and proactive steps to take for prevention. Will include a discussion on self-harm.
Session Block C
(3:30 PM – 5:00 PM)
C13: Advanced Safety Planning
AOC Safety Framework Team
This highly interactive session will feature more complicated safety scenarios involving children and families and how advocates can maintain parent-child safety while still being able to maximize parent-child engagement and present those arguments to the court. Participants should be well versed in the safety framework in order to fully participate.
C14: Who Knew Health Insurance Could be so Helpful?! Key Resources and Support for Kids and Families Provided by Coordinated Care
Michelle Wiley-Bunting, Colville-Sinixt
Health Liaison, Apple Health Core Connections Coordinated Care of Washington
Coordinated Care’s Apple Health Core Connections plan is Washington’s only Medicaid Managed Care Program serving children and youth in foster care and adoption support, alumni of foster care (ages 18-26), reunified families and Unaccompanied Refugee Minors. We have a specialized team of experts in child welfare, trauma-informed care, and navigation of Medicaid to get each youth the right care at the right time. This session helps system professionals know how to work with our team to access and use covered physical health, mental health and substance use disorder treatment services, as well as pharmacy, vision, and dental benefits. We’ll also share unique, value-added benefits like our Harvest Bucks by Coordinated Care ™ program that gets more healthy foods onto the table and our “adolescent 2 Adult” program which supports youth transitioning into adulthood.
C15: It’s Not a Race-It’s a Marathon: The Pursuit of Understanding Systemic Racism and the Need to Advance Racial Justice for Children and Families in Child Welfare
Shrounda Selivanoff, Office of Public Defense
In our current state of perpetual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion trainings, an individual may believe that one or two racial-focused activities renders that the work is complete, and they are ready to pursue racial justice for children. But what if you utilized the steps to train for a marathon? Let’s start at the beginning of moving toward a quest to understand and ultimately conquer the goal of running a marathon. You couldn’t qualify even to run the race with one or two days of training underneath your belt, let alone be prepared to stay in the race, and you certainly wouldn’t complete the marathon. It’s essential to slow down and understand what we are pursuing when one begins the journey to understand and ultimately impact racial justice for child welfare-involved families. In this workshop, participants will learn why seeking racial justice is genuinely in the children’s best interest and a few strategies to support families as you continue to strive to seek opportunities to train for racial justice.
C16: What are the current permanency options for children?
Debbie Marker, MSW (DCYF), Carrissa Greenberg, JD (AAG)
While reunification is paramount, sometimes it’s difficult for parents and children to successfully reunify in the foreseeable future, and other options for a child and family’s exit from the dependency system need to be explored and recommended. This session will question myths around the different flavors of permanency and provide you resources for knowing what permanency options (adoption? guardianship? What’s RGAP? What about higher ed?) are the best fit for youth.
C17: Coping with Holiday Stress
Zia Freeman, MA, LMHC (Coordinated Care)
All of us can feel stressed around the holidays. This stress can be amplified by feelings of grief and loss for youth in foster care, kinship and early adoption. Behaviors often emerge between November and January that can add additional issues to the holiday expectations. This training will help participants identify holiday stress that children in new homes feel, create a healthy environment for the holidays, and how to help youth, caregivers & professionals cope with ideas to share.
C18: What you need to know about fentanyl
Bob Lutz, Washington Department of Health
This session will discuss the impact of fentanyl on users and safety planning around exposure and toxicity.