Fathers and Continuous Learning in Child Welfare Project

Instrument 11: Site Self-Assessment

A Breakthrough Series Collaborative for

The purpose of the information collection is to understand the extent to which improvement teams have engaged in Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) activities. The Fathers and Continuous Learning in Child Welfare (FCL) project team will use this information to better understand your current organizational structure and help identify teams with similar and different strengths and challenges.

The average estimated public reporting burden for this collection of information is about 20 minutes per domain. Providing this information is voluntary, and all responses that are collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. This report will be completed once at the beginning of the BSC and once at the end. Improvement teams will submit one completed form per team.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this information collection is 0970-0531 and the expiration date is 07/31/2022.

Engaging Fathers and Paternal Relatives in Child Welfare

Purpose

This self-assessment tool is designed to help your improvement team evaluate the systems and processes you currently have in place to help engage fathers and paternal relatives. It is organized based on the five key domains described in the Collaborative Change Framework. We recognize that your team is a partnership that includes individuals who facilitate different kinds of engagement with fathers and paternal relatives. Thus, this self-assessment can help do the following for your team:

1. Help consider the multiple components of effective father and paternal relative engagement.

2. Construct a shared frame of reference and develop a common language and understanding about the level of functioning of your organization across the five domains of the collaborative change framework.

3. Identify key successes, challenges, and priority areas for improvement.

The results of this self-assessment will be shared with the FCL project team, faculty coaches, and other advisors who will be supporting your team throughout the collaborative. This will develop their understanding of your current organization and enhance their ability to coach your team effectively and efficiently.

We will also share these self-assessments across teams at Learning Session 1 and at the end of Session 3 to help teams identify areas of strength and areas for improvement. After completing the self-assessment, your team should think about priorities based on your identified areas of need.

Your team might even generate ideas and strategies for change during this self-assessment process. Keep track of those change ideas, and bring them to the first learning session to share with the group. The tool is not intended to help you think about how to improve, however; it is designed to help you assess your current organization and teams.

Instructions

• It is important that the members of your improvement team complete this tool together.

• Each table below outlines one of the five domains identified in the collaborative change framework. Each domain is broken down into goals and the strength of progress toward goals is being evaluated on a four-point scale.

• Use your judgment to determine how well your organization performs in each domain. We encourage you to be honest about where your organization is right now recognizing that different agencies and organizations can have different strengths and areas for opportunity. This exercise will help the team prioritize the areas needing the most attention and to building an improvement plan. You will complete this initial self-assessment and then use this tool again to reassess your progress at specific points in time over the course of the collaborative.

• For each practice, please use the “Comments” section to note specific examples or to explain why you chose the score you did.

SCORING GUIDELINES AND CONSIDERATIONS

To complete this self-assessment, select the point value (1–4) that best describes your current overall agency or organization’s level of functioning. When scoring change concepts within each domain, please base your scoring on the following anchors:

Practice seriously challenged, or no strategies developed 1	Practice somewhat challenged, or strategies untested 2	Practice shows strengths, or strategies being tested 3	Practice very strong; strategies well developed and tested 4
Our practices have numerous barriers and challenges. There are few or no known policies, procedures, or daily practice examples for this concept. We have few policies or procedures developed in this area to establish staff capacity and could benefit from a significant amount of technical assistance.	Our practices have some challenges and barriers. This area is of concern for our system and could require technical assistance, policy development, establishment of protocols, and practice implementation to improve our skills here. Or We have developed a strategy for this area, but have not yet implemented it.	Our practices have some strengths, and we are functioning with some success in this area. We have some policies and procedures in place that most staff follows. We have developed and implemented strategies that are showing promise, and this will continue to be an area of focus.	Our practices have numerous strengths. We currently have practices, policies, and protocols in place that are all staff use on a daily basis. Our current practices, policies and protocols yield positive results for the families we serve.

Domain 1. Support community, system, and agency environments that value and respect all fathers and paternal relatives

Goals and change concepts	Score (1–4)	Comments
Goal 1. Create an organizational environment and climate that strongly emphasizes the value of fathers and paternal relatives in children’s lives
A. Support a physical office environment that feels welcoming to fathers and paternal relatives
B. Demonstrate the value of actively engaging fathers and paternal relatives during placement and reunification activities by clearly articulating the agency’s mission, policies, and materials
C. Provide ongoing education to staff about the value of engaging fathers and paternal relatives in children’s lives
D. Provide ongoing supervision to staff to enhance their ability to effectively engage fathers and paternal relatives
Goal 2. Develop an atmosphere where the voice and active engagement of fathers and paternal relatives influences an inclusive environment
A. Offer peer mentorship and support to fathers and paternal relatives
B. Solicit, respect, and affirm the varied perspectives of fathers and paternal relatives
C. Invite fathers and paternal relatives to give the agency feedback to guide system improvement
D. Develop and foster leadership and advocacy programs for fathers and paternal relatives
Goal 3. Actively promote and integrate inclusive practices and the value of fathers and paternal relatives within the community
A. Provide education and coaching to system partners that promotes the values of having fathers and paternal relatives involved in children’s lives
B. Partner with other agencies and providers to promote and support fathers’ involvement

Domain 2. Cultivate racial equity for men of color in the child welfare system

Goals and change concepts	Score (1–4)	Comments
Goal 1. Promote personal awareness among staff to acknowledge implicit bias, and implement practices that improve the outcomes of fathers and families
A. Engage staff in regular conversations, education, and coaching about implicit bias and cultural humility
B. Give staff opportunities to discuss issues related to cultural differences during group and individual supervision to address bias in decision making on cases
Goal 2. Acknowledge the impacts of historical, institutional, cultural, and structural racism on policy, practice, and decision making.
A. Clearly articulate through the agency’s mission, policies, and materials an understanding of the impact of historical, institutional, cultural, and structural racism and trauma on how fathers are engaged
B. Give staff opportunities to discuss issues related to racial equity in group and individual supervision
C. Clearly articulating through the agency’s mission, policies, and materials an understanding of the impact of historical, institutional, cultural, and structural racism and trauma on how fathers are engaged
Goal 3. Identify and nurture the cultural beliefs, values, and practices of fathers and paternal relatives, communities, and tribes to drive decision-making processes in child welfare
A. Establish an organizational climate that is humble and responsive to the communities being served
B. Recognize and honor the strengths inherent in the different cultures being served
C. Use culturally appropriate assessments, decision making practices, and anti-racist tools to capitalize on the strengths and needs of fathers and paternal relatives at every decision point in the child welfare service continuum
Goal 4. Collaborate with related systems to identify, address, and change institutionalized racist policies and practices
A. Provide conversations, education, and coaching to system and community partners about institutionalized racist policies and practices, including how to identify them and what impact they have on fathers and paternal relatives
B. Partner with experts conducting racial equity work in child welfare and in other related fields to receive guidance on how to address and change these policies and practices
C. Actively include fathers and paternal relatives of color in identifying, addressing, and changing these policies and practices

Domain 3. Identify and locate fathers and paternal relatives from the first point of contact with the family

Goals and change concepts	Score (1–4)	Comments
Goal 1. Identify fathers and paternal relatives
A. Encourage and engage mothers, children, and other relatives to identify fathers and paternal relatives from the first point of contact with the family
B. Educate community members and other agencies on the importance of identifying fathers and paternal relatives
C. Partner with community members and other agencies to identify fathers and paternal relatives on an ongoing basis
D. Develop and use available technology to facilitate the identification of fathers and paternal relatives
Goal 2. Actively locate fathers and paternal relatives
A. Develop information-sharing agreements with community partners and agencies that allow for data sharing while honoring family confidentiality
B. Collaborate with other agencies to locate fathers and paternal relatives
C. Develop and use available technology to facilitate the location of fathers and paternal relatives

Domain 4. Assess and address the strengths and needs of, and barriers faced by, fathers and paternal relatives

Goals and change concepts	Score (1–4)	Comments
Goal 1. Assess fathers and paternal relatives’ strengths and needs
A. Ensure staff understand the unique strengths and needs of fathers and paternal relatives, and use assessment to build on strengths
B. Explicitly include strengths, needs, and supports in the initial and ongoing assessment of fathers and paternal relatives
C. Integrate the assessment of fathers and paternal relatives’ strengths and needs into the overall and continuous assessment of the child and family
Goal 2. Identify and address barriers to engaging fathers and paternal relatives
A. Ensure staff understand and can appropriately respond to the various situations fathers and paternal relatives can present or experience
B. Identify and address multi-system involvement for fathers and paternal relatives
C. Collaborate with community partners and other agencies to address barriers to engaging fathers and paternal relatives
Goal 3. Provide specialized plans that meet unique needs of families and include fathers and paternal relatives
A. Identify and continuously revisit the various roles fathers and paternal relatives can play in the lives of their children
B. Ensure that family plans reflect the various strengths, needs, and roles of fathers and paternal relatives
C. Include fathers and paternal relatives’ own language and goals in the individualized plans for their children

Domain 5. Continuously involve fathers and paternal relatives throughout the lives of their children

Goals and change concepts	Score (1–4)	Comments
Goal 1. Facilitate fathers and paternal relatives’ preparation for attending and participating in meetings, activities, and decisions
A. Use team-meeting practices, such as family group conferences or family group decision making
B. Engage fathers and paternal relatives in permanency planning meetings and decisions
C. Prepare fathers and paternal relatives to ensure they can be active participants in meetings, activities, and decisions related to their children
Goal 2. Engage and continuously assess fathers and paternal relatives as placement options.
A. Assess fathers and paternal relatives as viable placement options as soon as placement is a consideration
B. Be transparent with fathers and paternal relatives about why they are or are not viable placement options
C. Periodically reconsider fathers and paternal relatives as placement options
Goal 3. Support healthy and productive relationships with fathers and other caregivers
A. Facilitate ongoing communication between fathers and paternal relatives, foster families, and other alternate caregivers
B. Support various roles that fathers and paternal relatives can play in partnership with alternate caregivers while the children are in out-of-home care
Goal 4. Support relationships between fathers and paternal relatives and their children by maximizing the types of and opportunities for involvement
A. Use supportive visitation practices that nurture relationships between fathers, paternal relatives, and children
B. Ensure visits take place in settings that are comfortable for fathers and paternal relatives
C. Create and nurture opportunities for fathers and paternal relatives to connect with children outside of agency visitation
D. Communicate regularly with fathers and paternal relatives about their case progress and how their children are doing. Give them updates, and continue to ask for their input on parenting decisions whenever possible.