On The Right Track Multiple Response System (MRS) and System of Care (SOC)

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On The Right TrackMultiple Response System
(MRS) and System of Care (SOC)

• North Carolinas Child Welfare Reform Model

1, 2008
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What is MRS?

• North Carolinas Child Welfare Reform
• Strengths based structured intake
• Choice of two assessment responses for reports of
  child maltreatment
• Coordination between Work First (TANF) and child
  welfare
• Coordination with law enforcement on cases of
  abuse
• Redesign of CPS In-Home Services
• Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings throughout
  the life of the case
• Shared Parenting meetings

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What is SOC?

• System of Care is not a program it is a
  philosophy of how care should be delivered.
  Systems of Care is an approach to services that
  recognize the importance of family, school and
  community, and seeks to promote the full
  potential of every child and youth by addressing
  their physical, emotional, intellectual, cultural
  and social needs.1

1 United States Department of Health and Human
Services, Substance Abuse Mental Health
Services Administration Systems of Care,
http//systemsofcare.samhsa.gov/
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SOC Supports MRS
SOC MRS
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What is SOC?

• North Carolinas Child Welfare Reform Based on a
• System of Care Model
• Culturally Competent
• Child, Youth, and Family Involvement
• Individualized, Strengths Based Care
• Community Based Services and Supports
• Interagency Collaboration
• Accountability to Results

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What is FCP?

• North Carolinas Child Welfare Reform Based on
• Six Family Centered-Practice Principles of
  Partnership
• Everyone desires respect
• Everyone wants to be heard
• Everyone has strengths
• Judgments can wait
• Partners share power
• Partnership is a process

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SOC and FCP A Crosswalk
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How it Works!
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What is MRS?

• North Carolinas Child Welfare Reform
• Strengths based structured intake
• Choice of two assessment responses for reports of
  child maltreatment
• Coordination between Work First and child welfare
• Coordination with law enforcement on cases of
  abuse
• Redesign of CPS In-Home Services
• Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings throughout
  the life of the case
• Shared Parenting meetings

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Ideas From the Group?
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What is MRS?

• North Carolinas Child Welfare Reform
• Strengths based structured intake
• Choice of two assessment responses for reports of
  child maltreatment
• Coordination between Work First and child welfare
• Coordination with law enforcement on cases of
  abuse
• Redesign of CPS In-Home Services
• Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings throughout
  the life of the case
• Shared Parenting meetings

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Child and Family Team Meetings

• Done MRS / SOC StyleCFT Meetings
• Recognize and respect the family as the experts
  of their own children and that no one knows a
  familys strengths and needs better than the
  family
• Moves away from traditional child welfare service
  planning which is deficits based and assumes
  child welfare worker is the professional by
  trusting and believing that families can solve
  their own problems
• Values the supports (both formal and informal)
  that the family brings to the table
• Is guided by a neutral facilitator to give voice
  to both the family and the professionals

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Your Role in the CFT Meeting

• As Work First Workers You Can Help By
• Being willing to support the family by sharing
  your observations of their progress in the WF
  program, of their successes, of their barriers or
  challenges, and of their on-going needs
• Support the family by discussing how their work
  participation will impact their ability to
  provide appropriate care for their children
• Being willing to be a teacher and a formal
  support for the family to increase the number of
  successes that families experience
• Sharing information with the team about any
  external resources that may assist the family in
  reaching their goal of being successful parents
  and economically self-sufficient citizens

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You are Part of the Equation!
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What is the PIP?

• A plan to continue enhancing child welfare reform
  developed through a collaborative process between
  staff from county departments of social services,
  youth, parents, foster parents, service
  providers, and other child and family serving
  agencies
• It not a new initiative or project it is a
  continuation of the work we have already
  accomplished through MRS/SOC
• Ultimately this plan is about improving outcomes
  for children and families which can only be
  accomplished through collaborative efforts
• A plan whose implementation benefits from
  collaboration among various stakeholders,
  including Work First staff

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Pieces of the Child Welfare Pie
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Local Community Collaborative

• A place within a community where family members
  and professionals can
• complete a community service needs assessment
• share information about community resources and
  plan around service array needs for children in
  the community
• advocate for any special needs

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State Community Collaborative

• The North Carolina Collaborative for Children,
  Youth and Families, through a System of Care
  framework, provides a forum for collaboration,
  advocacy, and action among families, public and
  private child and family serving agencies and
  community partners to improve outcomes for all
  children, youth and familes.1

1 North Carolina Collaborative for Children,
Youth and Families http//www.nccollaborative.org
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The State Collaborative
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Thank You!
Candice Britt, MSW Child and Family Services
Review Coordinator candice.britt_at_ncmail.net R.
Patrick Betancourt Multiple Response System
Coordinator patrick.betancourt_at_ncmail.net North
Carolina Division of Social Services 325 North
Salisbury St. MSC 2408 Raleigh, NC
27699-2408 919-733-4622 / 919-715-6714 fax

• Please feel free to contact us!