Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):
Opening quote: Julie Woodbury – Family Preservation and Support Manager, Children’s Wisconsin
Host: Luke Waldo
Experts:
- Ashlee Jackson – Family Support Specialist II, Children’s Wisconsin
- Jennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse America
- Theresa Swiechowski – Family Support Supervisor – Children’s Wisconsin
- Dr. Kristi Slack – Professor, University of Wisconsin School of Social Work
- Bryan Samuels – Executive Director, Chapin Hall
- Tim Grove – Senior Consultant – Wellpoint Care Network
- Bregetta Wilson – Lived Experience Coordinator, Wisconsin’s Department of Children and Families
- Hannah Kirk – Healthy Support Supervisor – Children’s Wisconsin
0:00 – Julie Woodbury – “It’s not somebody else’s problem, it’s everybody’s problem.”
00:14 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to the child welfare system’s organizing principles, systems change and its drivers – policies, practices, resource flow; relationships and power dynamics; and mental models.
4:36 – Ashlee Jackson – Addressing mistrust by clarifying child welfare’s role and goals for the families it serves.
5:50 – Jennifer Jones – Racial disparities in child welfare and access to community supports.
6:35 – Theresa Swiechowski – “Parents don’t wake up and say, ‘Man, I just can’t wait to have mental health issues today…to have my car break down today....to be in a system.” Navigating our systems is really hard, and it can lead to people feeling shame, isolation, and shutting down.
8:23 – Dr. Kristi Slack – The experience of being reported to or investigated by the child welfare system can be traumatic. “If there were other ways to help families that didn’t need to be there, then we should pursue those other strategies.”
8:58 – Luke Waldo – How might we divert overloaded families that may not need child welfare intervention to supportive services that keep their families together and help avoid the trauma and mistrust that comes from family separation? Introduction of next speakers that discuss the challenges presented within our policies, practices and resource flows.
9:44 – Jennifer Jones – Considering the complex relationship between race, poverty and neglect, “by putting an actual bigger emphasis on addressing poverty, we should see, without a doubt, a decrease in neglect cases in the U.S.” We spend $33 billion federally on our child welfare system and only 15% of that on prevention programs. Invest more in anti-poverty and prevention community-based resources.
12:55 – Theresa Swiechowski – Introduction to Children’s Northern Wisconsin child welfare programs. Families are in crisis when she first meets them.
14:37 – Ashlee Jackson – Policies change when their impacts are felt closer to home. How might we treat the impacts of trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences like we have treated the opioid crisis?
15:50 – Luke Waldo – How might we change how policymakers and systems leaders see overloaded families, so that they implement policies that strengthen families and keep them together? Introduction of next speakers that discuss our society’s role with our policies, practices and resource flows.
16:47 – Bryan Samuels – Policy impacts practice. Policy changes need to be made to enable the work at the community level. “Shift resources, shift power, and then ultimately, change outcomes.”
18:25 – Dr. Kristi Slack – If you change policies, change outcomes. Cognitive load makes it more difficult for parents to care for their children. What part of that is society’s responsibility? Economic safety net as a child maltreatment prevention strategy.
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
- CDC’s Essentials for Childhood Framework
- Center for the Study of Social Policy’s (CSSP) Protective Factors Framework
22:33 – Luke Waldo – It’s striking to hear Dr. Slack talk about the social safety net, a concept that assumes individuals or families will fall, as a set of supports that too often barely gets overloaded families above the meager poverty line. Introduction of next speakers that discuss accessibility of social safety net and the impacts of relationships and power dynamics on mistrust between systems and communities.
23:49 – Dr. Kristi Slack – Accessibility of social safety net programs such as WIC and SNAP. Tax credits and direct cash assistance can have sizable impacts on families. Community response such as Family Resource Centers can divert families from the child welfare system.
- Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- Earned Income Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
25:22 – Bryan Samuels – Child welfare needs partners at the table if progress is going to be made. There is a lot of distrust between child welfare and communities.
25:51 – Dr. Julie Woodbury – The power dynamics between policymakers, business leaders, and families has shifted during the pandemic, and the tables have turned as families’ needs and demands have become more prominent. Leveraging those relationships to change the conversation is at the center of collective impact.
27:12 – Luke Waldo – How we think about and see families will determine how we develop policies, how we serve and support them, and how we share power and community with them.
28:30 – Dr. Kristi Slack – Mandated reporters as sources of support rather than surveillance. Community Response models to provide access to needed resources to overloaded families.
- System Transformation through Community Leadership - Chapin Hall
- Wisconsin’s Community Response Program for Families That Have Been Reported for Child Maltreatment – Dr. Kristen Slack et al.
29:59 – Tim Grove – Reporting is subjective and can be impacted by bias. When people are stressed, people may be more likely to lean into their bias. System actors need adequate resources and support to be able to be compassionate and empathic, rather than to lean into their biases.
32:23 – Dr. Julie Woodbury – Model healthy boundaries and support networks with clients, while also doing this with the community so that we can educate everyone to be a protective factor. “It’s not someone else’s problem, it’s everyone’s problem.”
33:58 – Luke Waldo – Introduction of final segment that focuses on those that work in the child welfare system with the intention of being part of a benevolent system, as Tim mentioned earlier, and the many challenges they face. These challenges are often a direct result of our systems’ policies and demands.
35:00 – Bregetta Wilson – System timelines conflict with social timelines – employment, etc. Get to know the family first, as it changes the perspective on who they are.
37:45 – Ashlee Jackson – The services, goals and impact of Family Support program.
39:12 – Hannah Kirk – Educate community on the purpose of child welfare. Community outreach to be more proactive as a system could change relationships and strengthen families.
41:16 – Luke Waldo – 3 Key Takeaways
44:35 – Closing Credits
Join the conversation and connect with us!
- Visit our podcast page on our ICFW website to learn more about the experts you hear in this series.
- Subscribe, rate our show and leave feedback in the comments section.
- Check out our upcoming events.
- Sign up for our Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities initiative and our quarterly newsletter.
- Follow the Institute for Child and Family Well-being on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
You Might Like
