Promising Practices

Module Six STEPS participants identified Promising Practices that staff is utilizing currently or will be using in the near future.  Below is a summary of responses:

• Supervisors should get to know individual youth
• Consider the importance of life-long connections
• Consider what life connections can provide, not what they cannot provide
  • For example, the neighbor might be able to take the youth overnight once a month
• Empower youth
  • Involve youth in all aspects of planning and decision making
  • Listen to what youth are saying
  • Involve youth and parents in planning
  • Keep youth involved in permanency plans
  • Include youth in training forums for social workers and resource parents
  • Create (look for) opportunities for youth to be involved, to advocate, and to speak out
  • Keep process youth driven
  • Make use of a variety of media, such as videos and digital stories, so youths’ stories are seen and heard
• Family Team Meetings/Family Group Conference
  • Carefully prepare for family team meetings
  • Bring family members to the table, from the very  beginning
  • Think about what would be best for the youth and the family
  • Would a smaller meeting be more appropriate?
  • Allow family members to invite participants to the meeting
  • Allow family to have alone time during family group conferencing
• Set up family forums
• Incorporate group care conferencing
• Support collaborative learning and teaming processes
• Do not be in a hurry to change goals for a placement decision
• Utilize Eco-maps, to identify potential resources
• Build strong connections with the educational system
  • Raise awareness of educational needs.
  • Promote educational advocacy and continuity
• Partner with community-based agencies
• Strengthen relationships with courts and schools
• Partner with provider agencies, such as mental health organizations and medical programs
• Provide post-permanency supports such as linkages with health and educational systems
• Raise awareness of the necessity of good health care for children
• As a supervisor, work with staff to understand broader issues, and engage others to help reduce stress
• Be mindful of associations and biases during clinical review and supervision
• Offer training for all levels on an ongoing basis
• Acknowledge that there has been a shift in practice and that permission has been granted to connect with birth families, therefore more support is provided for thinking creatively
  • Support relationship between foster parents and birth parents
  • Encourage family-to-family introductory meeting
  • Make a special effort to help youth reconnect with their birth families
• Require participation from foster parents
• Familiarize foster parents with Preparing Adolescents for Young Adulthood (PAYA) Training
• Support and educate foster parents to prepare youth for college
• Utilize home study as an opportunity to provide training
• Utilize family-based services for foster homes
• Utilize family search networks
• Perform case mining with family search
• Explore appropriate matches
  • Youth/workers
  • Youth/foster homes
• Be mindful of the importance of helping youth remain in their community
• Organize opportunities for youth to connect with other youth in similar situations
• Recognize that youth cannot live independently: Provide opportunities for interconnectivity
• Identify continuity as a priority
• Involve attorneys in the process
• Think of fathers as a resource (an historically untapped resource)

Participants Identified:

Implications for Practice
Youth Voices - What Can We Do Better (According to Youth)
Issues and Barriers
Training Needs
Issues for Further Considerations
Things to Do - Request for Changes