Title IV-E Child Welfare Training and University Partnerships: Transforming State Child Protection Services into a Trauma-Informed System

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18060/21323

Keywords:

Title IV-E, child welfare, trauma, secondary traumatic stress, social work education

Abstract

Children who are involved in the child welfare system have experienced trauma, and research indicates that parents of those children also frequently grapple with their own unresolved trauma. In addition, child welfare workers face high rates of secondary traumatic stress. Federal legislation from 2011 requires states to conduct universal trauma screening on children in foster care. The Administration on Children and Families (ACF) urges state Child Protection agencies (CPS) to become trauma-informed, however, many states still struggle to integrate a trauma focused practice model. This article describes the outcomes of a national, empirically driven, Core Concepts in Child Trauma for Child Welfare curriculum utilized in a Title IV-E university partnership program to teach graduate level child welfare agency supervisors. Findings suggest that the graduate trauma course demonstrates statistically significant gains in confidence, and also has a profound impact on the agency’s transformation into a trauma-informed system

Author Biographies

Robin Hernandez-Mekonnen, Stockton University

Assistant Professor of Social Work,

Faculty, Child Welfare Education Institute

Dawn Konrady, Stockton University

Director, Child Welfare Education Institute

References

Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (2012, April 17). Promoting social and emotional well-being for children and youth receiving child welfare services. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF-CB-IM-12-04, Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/laws_policies/policy/im/2012/im1204.pdf

Ai, A. L., Foster, L. J. J., Pecora, P. J., Delaney, N., & Rodriguez, W. (2013). Reshaping child welfare’s response to trauma: Assessment, evidence-based intervention, and new research perspectives. Research on Social Work Practice, 23(6), 651-668. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731513491835

Berthelot, N., Ensink, K., Bernazzani, O., Normandin, L., Luyten, P., & Fonagy, P. (2015). Intergenerational transmission of attachment in abused and neglected mothers: The role of trauma-specific reflective functioning. Infant Mental Health Journal, 36(2), 200-212. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21499

Blake, A. (2016). Commissioner’s Monthly Report: December 2016. New Jersey Department of Children and Families. Retrieved from: http://www.nj.gov/dcf/childdata/continuous/Commissioners.Monthly.Report_12.16.pdf

Bride, B. E., Jones, J. L., & MacMaster, S. A. (2007). Correlates of secondary traumatic stress in child protective services workers. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 4(3/4), 69-80. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J394v04n03_05

The Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act, Pub. L. 112–34, § 1 (2011).

Corbin, J., & Strauss A. (2007). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Felitti, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (2014). The lifelong effects of adverse childhood experiences. Chadwick’s Child Maltreatment: Sexual Abuse and Psychological Maltreatment, 2, 203-215.

Felitti, V., Anda, R., Nordenberg. D., Williamson, D., Spitz, A., Edwards, V.,.… Marks, J. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14, 245-258. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8

Figley, C. R. (Ed.). (1995). Compassion fatigue: Secondary traumatic stress disorders from treating the traumatized. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Guzkowski, J. (2015, September 24). Social work education key to retaining foster care workers, advocates say. Retrieved from Youth Today http://youthtoday.org/2015/09/social-work-education-key-to-retaining-foster-care-workers-advocates-say/

Hanson, R. F., & Lang, J. (2016). A critical look at trauma-informed care among agencies and systems serving maltreated youth and their families. Child maltreatment, 21(2), 95-100. doi: https://doi-org.ezproxy.stockton.edu/10.1177/1077559516635274

Kim, S., Fonagy, P., Allen, J., & Strathearn, L. (2014). Mothers’ unresolved trauma blunts amygdala response to infant distress. Social Neuroscience, 9(4), 352-363. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2014.896287

Kisiel, C., Fehrenbach, T., Small, L., & Lyons, J. S. (2009). Assessment of complex trauma exposure, responses, and service needs among children and adolescents in child welfare. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 2(3), 143-160. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19361520903120467

Klain, E. & White, A. (2013). Implementing trauma-informed practices in child welfare. ABA Center on Children and the Law. Retrieved from Child Welfare http://childwelfaresparc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Implementing-Trauma-Informed-Practices.pdf

Ko, S. J., Ford, J. D., Kassam-Adams, N., Berkowitz, S. J., Wilson, C., Wong, M., Brymer, M.J., & Layne, C. M. (2008). Creating trauma-informed systems: Child welfare, education, first responders, health care, juvenile justice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39(4), 396-404. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.39.4.396

Layne, C. M., Ippen, C. G., Strand, V., Stuber, M., Abramovitz, R., Reyes, G., ... & Pynoos, R. (2011). The Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma: A tool for training a trauma-informed workforce. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(3), 243. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025039

Lipka, M., & Graham, T. (2004, February 19). NJ reveals broad plan to fix DYFS: Tragic cases have lent notoriety to the agency. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved from http://articles.philly.com/2004-02-19/news/25373708_1_child-welfare-panel-plan-housing-subsidies

Miller, E. A., Green, A. E., Fettes, D. L., & Aarons, G. A. (2011). Prevalence of maltreatment among youths in public sectors of care. Child Maltreatment, 16(3), 196-204. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559511415091

National Child Traumatic Stress Network, Child Welfare Committee. (2011). Birth parents with trauma histories and the child welfare system: A guide for judges and attorneys. Los Angeles, CA, and Durham, NC: National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. Retrieved from http://nctsn.org/sites/default/files/assets/pdfs/birth_parents_trauma_guide_judges_final.pdf

Nelson-Gardell, D., & Harris, D. (2003). Childhood abuse history, secondary traumatic stress, and child welfare workers. Child Welfare, 82(1), 5-26.

Noonan, K. G., Sabel, C. F., & Simon, W. H. (2009). Legal accountability in the service‐based welfare state: Lessons from child welfare reform. Law & Social Inquiry, 34(3), 523-568. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2009.01157.x

O'Donnell, J., & Kirkner, S. L. (2009). A longitudinal study of factors influencing the retention of Title IV-E master's of social work graduates in public child welfare. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 3(1), 64-86. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15548730802690841

Perry, B. D. (2009). Examining child maltreatment through a neurodevelopmental lens: Clinical applications of the neurosequential model of therapeutics. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 14(4), 240-255. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15325020903004350

Popescu, M., & Moller, J. (2012). Core Concept Confidence Scale (Unpublished instrument). Available from Fordham University and Hunter College, The National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development, New York.

Popescu, M., Richards, S., Strand, V., & Abramowitz, B. (2015). Core Concepts for Trauma Informed Child Welfare Practice: The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Technical Report, Summer 2015. New York. Fordham University and Hunter College, The National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development.

Popescu, M., Richards, S., Strand, V., & Abramowitz, B. (2016a). Core Concepts for Trauma Informed Child Welfare Practice: Stockton University Technical Report, Summer 2016. New York. Fordham University and Hunter College, The National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development.

Popescu, M., Richards, S., Strand, V., & Abramowitz, B. (2016b). Core Concepts for Trauma Informed Child Welfare Practice, Aggregate Report 2010-2016. New York. Fordham University and Hunter College, The National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development.

Pryce, J., Shackelford, K., & Pryce, D., (2007). Secondary traumatic stress and the child welfare professional. Chicago: Lyceum.

Putnam-Hornstein, E., Cederbaum, J. A., King, B., Eastman, A. L., & Trickett, P. K. (2015). A population-level and longitudinal study of adolescent mothers and intergenerational maltreatment. American Journal of Epidemiology, 181(7), 496-503. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwu321

Richardson, M., Henry, J., Black-Pond, C. & Sloane, M. (2008). Multiple types of maltreatment: Behavioral and developmental impact on children in the child welfare system. Journal of Child and Adolescent Traumatic Stress, 1, 317-330. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/19361520802505735

Schwerdtfeger, K. L., Larzelere, R. E., Werner, D., Peters, C., & Oliver, M. (2013). Intergenerational transmission of trauma: The mediating role of parenting styles on toddlers' DSM-related symptoms. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 22(2), 211-229. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2013.743941

Strolin-Goltzman, J., Kollar, S., & Trinkle, J. (2010). Listening to the voices of children in foster care: Youths speak out about child welfare workforce turnover and selection. Social Work, 55(1), 47-53. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/55.1.47

Thornberry, T., & Henry, K. (2013). Intergenerational continuity in maltreatment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41(4), 555-569. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9697-5

Thornberry, T., Knight, K., & Lovegrove, P., (2012). Does maltreatment beget maltreatment? A systematic review of the intergenerational literature. Trauma Violence Abuse, 13, 135-152. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838012447697

Walker, J. (2007). Unresolved loss and trauma in parents and the implications in terms of child protection. Journal of Social Work Practice, 21(1), 77-87. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02650530601173656

Watts-English, T., Fortson, B.L., Giblet, N. Hooper, S.R. & DeBellis, M.D. (2006). The psychobiology of maltreatment in childhood. Journal of Social Issues, 62, 717-736. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2006.00484.x

Zlotnik, J. (2003). The use of Title IV-E training funds in social work education: An historical perspective. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 7(1/2), 5-20. doi: https://doi.org/10.1300/J137v07n01_02

Zlotnik, J. L., & Pryce, J. A. (2013). Status of the use of Title IV-E funding in BSW and MSW programs. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 7(4), 430-446. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2013.806278

Zlotnik, J. L., Strand, V. C., & Anderson, G. R. (2009). Introduction: Achieving positive outcomes for children and families: Recruiting and retaining a competent child welfare workforce. Child Welfare, 88(5), 7-21.

Downloads

Published

2017-09-24