Casey Center Gains Momentum

Shelton, CT, 2/15/02: In its first six months of operation, The Casey Center for Effective Child Welfare Practice has moved forward rapidly in several key areas. It has worked closely with Casey Family Services' division directors and department managers, as well as managers and technical assistance providers from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to coordinate planning for technical assistance strategies and activities. The center has built systems to organize, capture and assess the work of Casey Family Services. It also has worked with outside consultants to prepare two informational papers to improve the provision of post-adoption services - one about creative strategies for financing post-adoption services and the other exploring promising practices in adoption-competent mental health services for children and families.

According to Sarah Greenblatt, center director, The Casey Center for Effective Child Welfare Practice will share the findings with the National Association of State Adoption Program Managers to seek their input. "To build our technical assistance capacity, we have asked the Technical Assistance Resource Center (TARC) at the Annie E. Casey Foundation to provide training in peer consultation and other technical assistance strategies with our post-adoption services staff - practitioners who will have a greater ability and comfort to serve as consultants as requests for technical assistance are received," she added.

The Casey Center for Effective Child Welfare Practice (the Casey Center) was launched last year to coordinate the provision of technical assistance regarding lessons learned from Casey Family Services' successful program models, effective programs and practices of other agencies, and sound research and public policies that address the needs of vulnerable children and families. The Casey Center uses a unique technical assistance approach of involving our own practitioners as consultants to share their experiences in planning and implementing effective child welfare services - with an emphasis this first year on post-adoption services.

While engaged in these start-up activities, the center also has coordinated the involvement of Casey's post-adoption staff in the provision of valuable technical assistance in Tennessee, District 12 in Florida, and in Oklahoma. In both Tennessee and Oklahoma, the center is supporting the development of strategic plans for the design and delivery of statewide post-adoption services programs; in Florida, over the past two years it has assisted the district in implementing two education and recreational weekends for adoptive families, and a two-day training conference for community professionals. Several other requests for technical assistance (from the states of Delaware, Maryland, Illinois, Maine and from the New England Association of Child Welfare Commissioners and Directors) are in the exploratory phases of development.