In season 2 of Overloaded: Understanding Neglect, we will be confronting complex challenges like poverty, social isolation, and systemic racism that overload families as we explore our Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities’ four Critical Pathways, our roadmaps for discovering and developing innovative solutions to these wicked problems. Through the first year of our Strong Families initiative, which included season 1 of this podcast series, we were able to align the insights and experiences of those who know these issues best with the evidence that has shown promise in advancing meaningful solutions. This collaborative effort identified four critical pathways – Economic Stability, Social Connectedness, Community Collaboration, and Workforce Inclusion and Innovation - that will shape the future of our initiative that aspires to reduce family separations for reasons of neglect. Join me, Luke Waldo, as I explore these Critical Pathways with research and policy experts Clare Anderson from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Mark Cabaj of From Here 2 There, Tim Grove of Wellpoint Care Network, Linda Hall of Wisconsin’s Office of Children’s Mental Health, my Institute colleague Josh Mersky of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Rebecca Murray of Wisconsin’s Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, Jermaine Reed of Fresh Start Family Services, Liz Weaver of the Tamarack Institute. Additionally, we will shine a light on these Critical Pathways through the lived experience experts of many of my close colleagues at Children’s Wisconsin’s child welfare and child maltreatment prevention programs and the caregivers with whom they have worked closely. We believe neglect is preventable. Take a journey with us on our Critical Pathways to discover some of the strategies that can help us make that belief a reality for our families and communities. The conversations begin on Wednesday, December 6th when we premiere the first episode of season 2 of Overloaded: Understanding Neglect wherever you listen to your podcasts. Then come back each week on Wednesday to listen to the rest of the series.

Overloaded: Understanding Neglect – Season 2Show Notes: Episode 1 – Understanding the Critical Pathways with the ICFW TeamToday’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Gabe McGaugheyMeghan ChristianMegan Frederick-Usoh Leah Cerwin:00-2:25 – Luke Waldo – Opening Credits and Introduction2:26-2:45 – Luke and Gabe McGaughey Opening 2:46-2:58 - Luke – Why do you believe that we need an approach like Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities (SFTCCC) right now to address neglect?2:59-3:35 – Gabe – Neglect has remained stubbornly persistent as the primary reason for family separations into the child welfare system, and accounts for around 70% of all child removals in Wisconsin and nationally.3:36-3:39 - Luke – Can you talk more about how neglect is a complex challenge?3:40-4:29 – Gabe – Neglect’s complexity illustrated by unstable housing. “Are there things we can learn from efforts in different communities that could be generalized into policy or systems change?” 4:30-4:35 - Luke - How would you describe SFTCCC? How are you hoping it works?  4:36-5:15 - Gabe - “In many ways, SFTCCC is about preaching to the choir, but we want to get the choir to sing the same song, on time, and in tune to support lasting change.” Prevention efforts across the state aren’t a highly structured, connected, or funded effort like Child Protective Services. We want to create a network of changemakers that can connect their efforts and communities to others doing similar work across the state. Creating a network of prevention efforts provides the opportunity to cultivate not only lessons learned and new ideas, but policy recommendations generated with the people working closest with these families, and the families themselves. 5:16-5:20 - Luke – How does SFTCCC line up with other state efforts?5:21-5:52 - Gabe - There are several high-quality efforts focused on prevention policy, and we want to help connect and elevate those efforts. This is a 5-10 year objective that will require focus and longevity.5:53-6:12 - Luke - What have we learned so far in SFTCCC?6:13-7:35 - Gabe - People serving families overloaded by stress are working hard, but also see the challenges play out every day. People believe that preventing neglect is possible, and they want to come together to talk about the challenges, and possible solutions, they’re facing. One of the biggest lessons learned is getting other people to think differently about families who are overloaded by stress. How do we start to tell stories differently that help shift mindsets that are barriers to lasting change?7:36-7:48 – Luke – What is the Economic Stability Critical Pathway, and why is it critical in helping us achieve our objective?7:49-9:39 - Gabe – Introducing Economic Stability Critical PathwayEconomic Stability Critical Pathway9:40-10:05 - Luke – What systems, organizational, and community partners have we identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? Who do we still hope to identify and engage?10:06-13:26 - Gabe – Workforce Development Boards, TANF providers, and other partners who haven’t always seen themselves as child maltreatment prevention professionals. We are working to engage housing and anti-poverty partners. Relationship-building will be critical. Poverty-informed care through models like Mobility Mentoring.Mobility Mentoring13:27-13:53 - Luke – Introduction to Meghan and Social Connectedness Critical Pathway13:54-18:56 – Meghan Christian – Impacts of social isolation and social connectedness on how we care for ourselves and families. Social Connectedness Critical Pathway18:57-19:24 – Luke - What systems, organizational, and community partners have we identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? Who do we still hope to identify and engage?19:25-21:44 - Meghan – Those who know that they help prevent child neglect, and those who don’t know yet. 21:45-22:11 - Luke - What will success look like for this Critical Pathway?22:12-25:16 - Meghan – Centering our lived experience. Reliable, resilient networks of organic social connectedness. 25:17-25:36 – Luke and Meghan – Thank you25:37-26:06 - Luke – Introduction to Megan Frederick-Usoh and the Workforce Inclusion and Innovation Critical Pathway26:07-29:53 - Megan Frederick-Usoh – Introduction to Workforce Inclusion and Innovation Critical Pathway. Burnout and turnover in our child welfare system have a profound impact on the families that they serve. Moral injury. Diversity and inclusion strategies need to address the lack of representation in our workforce. Workforce Inclusion and Innovation Critical Pathway29:54-30:40 - Luke - What systems, organizational, and community partners have we identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? Who do we still hope to identify and engage?30:41-32:58 - Megan – Lived experience partners. Child welfare professionals. Mandated reporters. Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity. We hope to engage more lived experience partners, particularly Peer to Peer Support Specialists. 32:59-33:51 - Luke - What will success look like for this Critical Pathway?33:52-34:51 - Megan – Shine a brighter light on the importance of caring for and diversifying our workforce, and the relationships between our workforce and families.34:52-35:24 - Luke and Megan – Thank you35:25-35:48 - Luke – Introducing Leah Cerwin and the Community Collaboration Critical Pathway35:49-37:05 – Leah Cerwin – Introducing Community Collaboration Critical PathwayCommunity Collaboration Critical Pathway37:06-37:24 - Luke – What systems, organizational and community partners have we identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? Who do we still hope to identify and engage?37:25-39:43 - Leah – Individuals and families with lived experience, mandated reporters – law enforcement, school staff, medical staff -, and judges and legal parties.39:44-39:53 – Luke – What will success look like for this Critical Pathway?39:54-41:37 - Leah – Equity. Service and systems accessibility.36:01-36:20 - Luke and Leah – Thank you41:57- 42:12 – Luke – Thank you and transition to what we’ve learned and our call to action.42:13-42:48 – Luke – What have we learned?42:49-45:05 – Gabe – Mindsets are often some of the biggest challenges and opportunities to meaningful systems change. Are families neglecting their kids, or are our systems and communities neglecting their families?45:06-45:22 - Luke – What’s our call to action?45:23-46:50 - Gabe – Call to action – Build new relationships and trust within and across systems and communities.46:51-47:26 - Luke – Thank you and closing47:27-48:54 - Luke – Closing CreditsJoin 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.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.

ICFW Podcast - Overloaded: Understanding Neglect – Season 2Show Notes: Catalyzing Community Change - Episode 2 - with Liz Weaver and Mark CabajToday’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Liz Weaver – Co-CEO, Tamarack InstituteMark Cabaj – Founder and President, Here to There:00-:08 – Mark Cabaj – “Programmatic interventions help people beat the odds. Systemic interventions change their odds.”:09-5:17 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to Collective Impact and Field Catalyst Winning the War on PovertyVibrant Communities Ending Poverty5:18-6:27 – Liz Weaver – Community is at the center of everything in my career.Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction6:28-8:02 – Mark Cabaj – “Programmatic interventions help people beat the odds. Systemic interventions change their odds.”Sustainable Livelihoods Framework8:03-8:53 – Luke – What role does Tamarack play in an initiative like Vibrant Communities Ending Poverty?8:54-12:49 – Liz – Collective Impact: Context matters. Relationships and ambition within communities to make changes to complex problems like poverty matter. Developed a learning community within 12 communities. Process of reflection to develop a poverty matrix to understand the depth and experience of those living in poverty in a learning community.Opportunities 2000Building Youth FuturesClimate Transitions12:50-13:43 - Luke – Taking lessons learned and frameworks from previous efforts like Vibrant Communities Ending Poverty to drive new efforts to address complex issues like climate change. What role does Here to There play in community change efforts?13:44-17:57 – Mark – Why is clear, but how is not. Scaling. How do we take all this complexity and put it into a 10-year plan? “Plan the work, then work the plan.” Learning by doing. Align distinct actors. Michael Quinn Patton: “Traditional evaluation can be the enemy of social innovation and change.” Introduced us to Developmental Evaluation, real-time feedback to affirm your direction or change it.Developmental Evaluation - Michael Quinn Patton17:58-19:06 - Luke – Putting a pin in the Developmental Evaluation conversation to revisit the challenge of meeting the urgency of the moment while also being able to take the time to evaluate what is working and what is not. 19:07-20:53 - Luke – How do we translate Collective Impact 2.0 and Lived Experience into more approachable language?20:54-28:56 - Liz – How do we engage the people that are closest to the problems, and authentically hear the barriers and systems they have to navigate? In the Hamilton roundtable, they learned that for anyone receiving financial benefits, there were “982 rules that regulated your life.” “That’s a lot of rules to get a little money.” Communities Building Youth Futures – Youth-led movement still requires strong allies who ask themselves how they are part of the problem and how they can be part of the solution. No blame, all accountable standard. Lived Experience Equity - 50% table of Lived Experience, 50% allies.Collective Impact – FSGCommunities Building Youth FuturesCollective Impact 3.028:57-30:24 Luke – To address the power imbalance, we must aspire to power balance. Story about not building capacity for Lived Experience partner, giving them the language to effectively participate in the process. Balance is not achieved solely by having the same number of people at the table.30:25-31:26 - Liz – Build Lived Experience capacity, compensate them, and create opportunities to build relationships outside of the project itself. How might we change?31:27-31:32 – Luke – Anything to add, Mark?31:33-34:38 - Mark – Collective Impact. It’s often a How problem. 1. Those most affected, know the most about it. 2. Ownership to create allies. 3. Nothing about us, without us. Saul Alinsky. Human-Centered Design.“Nothing about us, without us”The History of Saul Alinsky’s Community Organizing approach34:39-35:20 – Luke – Human-Centered Design led us to the Tamarack Community Change Festival. The ICFW initially learned from IDEO, George Aye, and the Greater Good Studio.Tamarack Community Change FestivalIDEOGeorge AyeGreater Good Studio35:21-37:44 - Mark – Why is it important to be participatory in an authentic way to address issues of power? Participatory evaluation. Ripple effect mapping. “Practices have to be developed to meet the unique context” of our communities.Evaluating Collective Impact: 5 Simple RulesRipple Effect Mapping37:45-38:03 – Luke – Does “Nothing about us, without us” sound as good in Polish?38:04-38:43 - Mark and Luke – Back and forth on the Polish translation.History of “Nothing about us, without us”38:44-40:06 - Luke – How do you define Critical Pathways, and why are they important in community change efforts?40:07-43:45 – Liz – Critical Pathways. Access to affordable transportation in Calgary, which led to the provision of public transportation passes to low-income individuals. Each community picks the Critical Pathways that are most relevant and pressing for their community. For example, one community might prioritize affordable transportation while another focuses on affordable housing.43:46-48:14 – Mark - What are we trying to achieve, and how can we make it explicit? What does winning mean? What is our pathway in getting there? Pathway to employment case study, which utilized the iterative process of human-centered design. Solving one systemic problem can reveal new problems.The Infinite Game - Simon Sinek48:15-51:31 - Mark – Solving one systemic problem can reveal new problems. Zoom in, zoom out. Cities Reducing Poverty - Homeless day laborer pathway (Page 65)51:32-53:06 - Luke – What is a field catalyst?How Field Catalysts Accelerate Collective Impact53:07-53:53 – Liz – Introduces Mark’s work behind the idea of field catalysts and Tamarack 2030 plan.53:54-56:12 - Mark – Field catalyst serves as an intermediary to move a field along from front-line work to collective impact efforts, from public awareness, to practice building, and advocacy.56:13-59:27 - Liz - Field catalyst. How do you support the work evolution that is happening on the ground while also bringing that work up into the system? How do you bring awareness to the system what is working and not working on the ground? This is how my work connects to the systems-level work. Making sense of the patterns to increase and accelerate impact.Bridgespan Group – Equitable Systems Change: Funding Field Catalyst From Origins to Revolutionizing the World59:28-1:01-48 – Luke – Reaction to Mark and Liz’s field catalyst comments. What are the challenges to community change?1:01:49-1:05:36 - Mark – When working on systems change, the best we can hope for is maybe. Most systems' challenges are uncertain, complex problems like raising a kid. Normalize challenges and failures. Challenges or failures might be rooted in scope by trying to accomplish too much without the capacity, and/or lack of buy-in from communities as leadership comes from the outside and lacks trust.“It’s a vocation, community change, not a recipe.” Getting to Maybe: How the World Is ChangedCaledon Institute of Social Policy1:05:37-1:08:53 – Liz – If we aren’t stopping to learn after each failure or success, we are missing out on an opportunity for future improvement.Ecocycle PlanningScarcity Trap1:08:54-1:09:35 – Luke – What are the key strategies or core principles of community change?1:09:36-1:11:25 - Liz – Adapt a set of principles and tools to your context. Readiness. How deep you dive into the complexity of the challenge. Approach. Co-design.1:11:26-1:13:42 - Mark – Self-care. We are in a systems transition, so we need to take care of ourselves, do the best we can, and hand off the baton to those who come after us.1:13:43-1:16:37 – Luke – Closing thoughts and 3 Key Takeaways1:16:38-1:17:34 – Gratitude and 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.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.

Host: Luke Waldo Experts: Clare Anderson – Senior Policy Fellow – Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago:00-:19 – Clare Anderson – “When families have access to sufficient economic and concrete supports through a variety of mechanisms, the risk for involvement with child welfare goes down.” :20-5:10 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to Economic Stability and Clare Anderson Family and Child Well-being System: Economic and Concrete Supports as a Core Component – Clare Anderson et al – Chapin HallTemporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)The Role of TANF in Economic Stability and Family Well-being and Child Safety - Clare Anderson et al – Chapin Hall5:11-5:41 – Clare Anderson – Opening statement and gratitude.5:42-6:22 – Luke – How has your work evolved from one of child and family well-being through a trauma and evidence-based intervention focus to an economic and concrete supports focus?6:23-8:59– Clare – Early experience as a social worker in a hospital to the Obama administration in the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), from clinical work to more upstream macro and policy work, there has always been a need to follow the evidence. The evidence has evolved over time, so Clare’s thinking has followed it.ACYF Well-being Framework9:00-9:27 – Luke – What did the evidence from the past few years around economic and concrete supports tell you about its intersection with child neglect?9:28-11:55 - Clare – A few studies on living wage and child welfare involvement, Medicaid and child welfare involvement made her stop and think, “Really?” This led to the research that has been around for decades that show a strong correlation between access to economic and concrete supports and a reduction in child welfare involvement, and conversely, sudden economic shock like job loss and an increase in child welfare involvement.11:56-12:35 – Luke – What are the underlying root causes of neglect?12:36-15:19 - Clare – The evidence shows us that economic and concrete supports have an impact on child abuse and neglect. The lack of those supports create stressors at the individual, family, community and societal level. When we move from a Family Stress Model to a Family Investment Model, we create the bandwidth for caregivers to nurture and meet the basic needs of their children.Family Stress Model – National Institutes of Health Family Investment Model – National Institutes of HealthSystem Transformation to Support Child & Family Well-Being: The Central Role of Economic & Concrete Supports – Chapin Hall Policy Brief15:20-16:26 – Luke – Why do families that have economic stability not show up in the child welfare system?16:27-20:21 - Clare – “Volatility on the edge of scarcity creates additional risk.” When you can buffer those risks through economic stability, then child maltreatment is less likely. Disparities between White and Black families - $180,000 and $24,000 net worth – are still disturbing. We have mental models in this country that lead many to ignore the reality that many working families are susceptible to economic shock like the loss of a job, no access to paid family leave after the birth of a child, or a healthcare crisis that may lead to poverty. 20:22-21:05 - Luke – What are the benefits and risks of economic programs such as Women, Infant, and Children (WIC), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid?21:06-24:29 - Clare – Medicaid expansion in states led to a reduction in child welfare involvement, especially screened-in reports for children under the age of 6. Conversely, they increased in states where Medicaid was not expanded. States with more generous SNAP and WIC benefits saw fewer reports, substantiations and family separation. Family and Child Well-being System: Economic and Concrete Supports as a Core Component – Clare Anderson et al – Chapin Hall24:30-25:18 - Luke – Do these programs see themselves as part of the child maltreatment prevention system?25:19-29:03 - Clare – If they are successful, then they keep the most intrusive systems from entering families’ lives. DHHS has convened a learning community of TANF and child welfare leaders to explore these questions. States are expanding Medicaid which prioritizes Social Determinants of Health to be able to pay for things like housing, food, and transportation. We can push out a lot more research that helps us reorient our approach to getting families what they need where they need it.“Families Are Stronger Together: TANF & Child Welfare Partnering for Prevention Learning Community (FAST-LC)”29:04-29:36 - Luke – This information hopefully provides a roadmap for our state as to how we can bring system actors together to support families more effectively.29:37-30:57 - Clare – We now have different language and thinking within child welfare that might advance new partnerships that inspire accountability to and responsibility for prevention.30:58-33:12 - Luke – What are the challenges facing families when it comes to accessing these economic and concrete supports?Matthew Desmond – Evicted and Poverty, By America33:13-35:19 - Clare – How might our systems take more responsibility to make things more accessible, remove barriers, and collaborate more effectively with other systems to ensure eligible families receive what they need?35:20-37:43 - Luke – Story about Washington’s new law and how it leads to systems coordination questions as to how we ensure overloaded families are receiving the support that is available to them.Washington’s Keeping Families Together Act37:44-38:24 - Luke – How might we more effectively translate the research and evidence that you’ve shared today into practical strategies?38:25-44:37 - Clare –We need a whole different operationalization of our systems collaboration than we’ve had in the past. Are we assessing families for the right things like the potential of economic shock? “Five or six years ago, I was not animated by universal childcare policy. I am now.” Before CAPTA, the Comprehensive Child Development Act was vetoed which would have provided universal childcare to families. Policy was then influenced by the Battered Child Syndrome approach to our work, which led to a more intrusive child welfare system. Narrow our definitions of neglect and invest in differential response approaches such as Vermont.Comprehensive Child Development ActChild Abuse and Prevention Treatment Act (CAPTA)“The U.S. Almost Had Universal Childcare 50 Years Ago. The Same Attacks Might Kill It Today” – Time Magazine44:38-46:17 - Luke – What are the policies and practices that show the most promise for keeping families together?46:18-48:32 - Clare – Childcare, housing, access to healthcare and continuity in benefits, tax credits that create buffers, and reducing employment volatility all support families. States need to use data effectively to inform their strategies specific to their families’ needs and local context. 48:33-48:47 - Luke – What makes you optimistic about the future of this work?48:48-50:45 - Clare – “I am extraordinarily optimistic.” Systems, states, organizations, and communities are as animated by this shift in thinking as I am, and we are already seeing real progress being made. We are seeing shifts towards Mandated Supporters rather than Mandated Reporters with an understanding that support requires concrete solutions rather than nebulous responses. 50:46-52:39 - Luke – Gratitude and Closing52:40-53:14 - Clare – Gratitude for all the researchers and families that have led to this conversation and shift in thinking.53:15-53:19 – Luke – Final Gratitude53:33-55:10 - Luke – 3 Key Takeaways55:11-56:38 – Luke – Closing CreditsJoin 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.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.

Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Rebecca Murray – Executive Director, Wisconsin’s Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board (CANPB)Linda Hall – Director, Wisconsin’s Office for Children’s Mental Health (OCMH):00-:32 – Rebecca Murray – “When there is stability, financial stability, economic stability in the household, the stress on parents is so much lower that, most of the time, organic social connections happen for them. Right? Because when they are parenting, more than likely, their kids are at school, they’re at childcare, their after-school program, so there are natural settings where they will connect with other parents.”:33-6:23 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to Social Isolation and Social Connectedness, and Rebecca Murray and Linda Hall.Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Social Isolation: The US Surgeon’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and CommunityFive for FamiliesFive Categories of Social Connectedness of YouthFamily Resource Centers6:24-9:47 – Rebecca Murray – Social connections are one of five protective factors, which are central to strengthening families and healthy child development. Protective Factors Framework – Center for the Study of Social Policy9:48-9:52 – Luke – Same question for Linda.9:53-14:49 – Linda Hall – While OCMH’s focus is on children, they know that everything that happens to children happens within the context of family. Using a Collective Impact framework, they asked what would have the greatest impact on children’s mental health; social connectedness was the answer.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Social Connectedness14:50-16:11 – Luke – Acknowledging OCMH and CANPB’s work to elevate and integrate the voice of lived experience.16:12-17:01 - Luke – What does social isolation look like? How does it contribute to the overload of stress on families?17:02-18:51 – Rebecca – Social isolation can occur in rural and urban settings. It doesn’t discriminate. What’s available to us in our communities?18:52-20:36 - Linda – Structural issues get in the way. They may not be able to access healthcare to treat their concerns. Data shows that 34% of families in Wisconsin right now can’t manage a “survival” budget, and poverty causes families to become overloaded by stress.20:37-22:33 – Rebecca – Family Resource Centers can provide some financial supports to families to be able to overcome those challenges. Children watch and learn from their parents, so supporting their parents’ knowledge and development is important. Parent Cafés can provide a more organic approach to this.Parent Cafés22:34-24:06 - Linda – School mental health. 75% of all children who are receiving mental health services get it through their school. We have over 300 schools with a youth-led mental health program. School Mental Health24:07-25:46 - Luke – What are the underlying root causes of social isolation?25:47-26:43 - Linda – Trust deficits lead to disengagement with systems like our schools, mental health services, etc. Children then follow their parents’ behavior and become more isolated from those services that might support them.26:44-28:26 - Rebecca – The Working poor have less time to engage with organic social connections like after-school activities with their children. We also have a cultural norm in this country of not asking for help.28:27-30:55 - Linda – We need a “before stage 4 mental health system” to support the mental well-being of our children and families before it becomes a crisis. The B4Stage4 Philosophy – Mental Health AmericaFamilies and Schools Together (FAST)30:56-31:58 - Rebecca – CANPB funds FAST, which has adapted its program to meet new needs.31:59-36:56 - Luke – Story about Child Witness and creating safe and supportive spaces through breaking bread with family and friends.36:57-37:18 - Linda – Social isolation is not a choice.37:19-37:43 - Rebecca – Social isolation does not discriminate. 37:44-38:54 - Linda – Social isolation vs. loneliness. How people respond to social isolation varies widely depending on what they’ve learned.Coalition to End Social Isolation and Loneliness38:55-39:41 - Luke – How does social connectedness empower families and reduce the risk of child neglect?39:42-42:44 - Rebecca –Universal family support. Parent Cafes that are built around Protective Factors. Break bread together, provide child activities, and create an environment where it is parent-led.42:45-43:46 - Linda – Building parents’ confidence and trust can translate to their support of their children’s needs and services.43:47-46:29 - Luke – Building trust. How might we strengthen families through the promotion of social connectedness?46:30-47:31 - Linda – Pandemic-era economic programs kept 52 million people out of poverty, so we can’t ignore the importance of economic stability for social connectedness.“Government’s Pandemic Response Turned a Would-Be Poverty Surge Into a Record Poverty Decline” – Center on Budget and Policy Priorities47:32-48:19 - Luke – Economic stability is another Critical Pathway.Economic Stability Critical Pathway48:20-50:41 - Rebecca – Economic stability leads to organic social connections. Engage parents to understand what they need to be able to participate in their community.50:42-52:10 - Linda – Unstable housing creates a lot of stress on children and families. Peer support makes a difference in achieving wellness. Paid peer support positions can help with transitions from school to home.52:11-53:16 - Rebecca – We need to take a hard look at where we invest our tax dollars. Investing in children and families is an investment in our future. 53:17-54:27 - Luke – How do we overcome the barriers that impede social connectedness?54:28-56:05 - Linda – Governor Evers proposed $280 million for school mental health, but only $10 million was approved by the legislature. We need to invest in our mental health like we do in our physical health.School-Based Mental Health State FundingWhat’s next for the ‘Year of Mental Health?’ – Cap Times56:06-57:22 - Rebecca – We are the only developed nation without universal paid family leave. We need to talk about this as an investment.57:23-1:01:27 - Luke – Our messaging around destigmatization has been successful, which has led to more people normalizing mental healthcare, which has led to greater demands on the system. What makes you optimistic about the future of this work?1:01:28-1:04:42 - Linda – Supporting adults. How do we increase opportunities to create a sense of belonging for youth through community activities? Trusted peer relationships for teens make the biggest difference and last longest, so we need to build off the skills that they learn from their parents to develop healthy relationships. Young people are openly seeking support, and are telling us what they need.1:04:43-1:05:52 - Rebecca – Collaborations like this where we come together to leverage each other’s strengths. Family Resource Centers can provide that space for greater collaboration.1:05:53-1:06:26 - Linda – Social connectedness is a priority.1:06:27-1:07:06 - Luke – What author or book has shaped your thinking?1:07:07-1:07:32 - Rebecca – Book recommendations.The Parent Trap: How to Stop Overloading Parents and Fix Our Inequality Crisis, Nate Hilger;Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond1:07:33-1:08:59 - Linda – Book recommendations.Bread and Spirit: Therapy with the New Poor: Diversity of Race, Culture and Values, Harry Aponte1:09:00-1:10:09 – Closing Thoughts and Gratitude1:10:10-1:12:13 - Luke - 3 Key Takeaways1:12:14-1:13:44 – Luke – Closing CreditsJoin 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.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.

Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Tim Grove – Wellpoint Care Network:00-:33 – Tim Grove - “If we don’t fundamentally address equity, we can do all the trauma-informed care work we want quite frankly, and it probably is going to be the equivalent of making somebody feel a little bit better at the moment, but they know the world that they are going to step into when they leave the clinician’s office, or when they leave the case manager’s office is going to be full of threat and oppression. So Joy DeGruy says it quite beautifully, “Stop the oppression.” :42-4:48 – Luke Waldo – Opening and Introduction to Tim Grove4:53-5:16 - Luke Waldo – What are the biggest challenges facing our workforce today?5:17-11:09 – Tim Grove – Unpacking the stress of the past 3-4 years has to be in the top 5 list. There was already a developing mental health crisis before the pandemic. If kids are our canary in the coal mine, then it has been clear for a while that. “Trauma is to mental health as smoking is to cancer.” A case manager, a child welfare worker has great exposure to trauma in their work. Families are impacted when they are reassigned to new case managers when their case manager leaves. The Age of Trauma (The Age of Syndemics) – Harvard Public Health11:10-12:09 - Luke – What is moral injury, and how does it impact our workforce?12:10-17:08 - Tim – Veterans of war have taught us so much about trauma and moral injury. Moral injury occurs when you are in a situation that compels you to complete an action that conflicts with your moral beliefs. In the case of child welfare, it may occur when a case manager has to separate siblings due to a shortage of placements. Moral Injury – National Center for PTSD17:09-19:42 - Luke – How do we understand and approach our workforce’s lived experience, particularly their own adversity, and how do we support and empower our workforce with what we know now?19:43-25:08 - Tim – What do we mean by lived experience? Developing a shared definition could be a good place to start. How do we leverage different levels of expertise from different experiences? 25:09-27:04 - Luke – How do we identify lived expertise so that they can lean more fully into what they know and are passion about? How does bias contribute to the disproportionality in our child welfare system? 27:05-31:08 - Tim – Trauma can lead to a survival response that leads to bias towards detecting that which causes fear and then avoiding it. If we pair the fear-based bias with race-based biases that exist, we justify our reactions to situations like interpreting a Black father’s loud response to a question as threatening.31:09-33:20 - Luke – How might the lived experience of our community and workforce inform our child welfare workforce to better support overloaded families and keep them together?33:21-39:47 - Tim – Parent Partners. We serve 1000 kids, and have 1 Parent Partner. At Wellpoint, we have achieved representation that mirrors the community that we serve. That said, it doesn’t always mean that a Black family is going to be served by a Black case manager. This will require that we have greater cross-cultural understanding. 39:48-41:31 - Luke – How has increased representation in your workforce changed your culture and the outcomes for children and families?41:32-49:44 – Tim - You can’t talk about trauma-informed care without talking about intergenerational and historical trauma. This pushed me to “do the work”. It struck me when a Black woman came to me during an ACEs workshop to tell me that her community had experience adversity for generations, but nobody paid attention until the adversity was experienced by middle class White people. Joy DeGruy49:45-50:19 – Luke – What are some of the pitfalls that lead to DEI failing?50:20-54:37 - Tim – When opportunities come up to “stay in the room” to understand and confront the oppression that has occurred, too often people step out. 54:38-55:55 - Luke – What policy, practice and mental model changes need to occur to improve outcomes for our workforce and overloaded families?55:56-1:01:16 - Tim – To manage caregiver capacity, we need to do less while creating more meaning. 60-hour trauma-informed care deep dive. We are asking more while offering more meaningful opportunities to engage their families. “What are we going to do with the guardians?” The guardians are struggling right now, so we need to make some big decisions on how we allocate our resources. 1:01:17-1:03:25 - Luke – Stay interviews in Family Support. What is giving our workforce meaning?1:03:26-1:07:38 - Tim – No bullshit. They want authenticity in their workplace, which includes being honest about the reality and complexity of our work.1:07:39-1:08:16 - Luke – What makes you optimistic about this work?1:08:17-1:11:33 - Tim – I have many moments of worry, but I am optimistic because humans have always rallied to overcome our shared challenges. Many of the strategies to overcome these challenges will likely come from the communities that have historically been oppressed. We have also found innovative ways to confront challenges throughout our history as we will need to in cases of our mental health and climate crisis.1:11:34-1:12:23 – Luke – What book or author has shaped your thinking?1:12:24-1:13:03 – Tim – What Happened to You? – Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey1:13:04-1:13:21 – Luke – Gratitude1:13:22-1:14:44 - Luke – 3 Key Takeaways1:14:45-1:16:12 - Luke – Closing and GratitudeJoin 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.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.

Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Jermaine Reed – Executive Director – Fresh Start Family Services:00-:36 - Jermaine Reed - “If we were talking about 53% of White children coming to the attention of the child welfare system, 65-67% of our White children being in our local child welfare system, something would change. There would be a transformation. All hands on deck.”:37-5:44 – Luke Waldo – Jermaine Reed’s bio and WelcomeColor of Child Welfare ConferenceWhy End Mandated Reporting? – Dorothy Roberts5:45-5:59 – Jermaine – Greetings 6:00-6:52 - Luke – Gratitude and recognition for Jermaine’s commitment to Milwaukee and Black children and families through the Color of Child Welfare and his agency. What did you hope to inspire and accomplish with the Color of Child Welfare conference?6:53-9:51 - Jermaine – We needed a platform locally and nationally to explore the many issues that Black children and families experience, especially as they relate to child welfare. Impact others across the country by promoting reflection on these issues. 9:52-11:16 - Luke – What is the evidence telling us about what is causing the disproportionality in our child welfare system?11:17-12:59 - Jermaine – Administration for Children and Families acknowledged that racial discrimination exists in our child welfare system in 2021 due to bad policy and systemic racism, which lead to over-representation of Black families in our child welfare system. We must rid ourselves of policies and practices that allow or promote structural racism.Addressing Disproportionality, Disparity, and Equity Throughout Child Welfare –Children’s Bureau13:00-13:40 - Luke – How might we address disproportionality to achieve equity?13:41-18:53 - Jermaine – It will require a paradigm shift. We must humanize Black people, so that our workforce and our systems understand that Black families can care for their children. The US has a history of profiting on separation of Black families. We can’t fix a system that is not broken. We have to be brutally honest about the fact that child welfare has not produced good outcomes for Black children and families. “The ACF would not be investing $30 billion into programs that are not producing the results that it intended.” Torn Apart- Dorothy Roberts18:54-21:03 - Luke – Jermaine, you don’t need to apologize for your passion. Will mental models shift, will we achieve greater equity by addressing disproportionality through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts that increase diversity and inclusion in our workforce?21:04-26:34 - Jermaine – It is important that Black people are visible and present, and sitting at the tables in our systems. But it’s more important that the right Black people are at the table, so we avoid tokenism that simply advances the predominant ideology of White supremacy. There have been Black leaders who have perpetuated the harm of these systems because they were an extension of it. Having a Black person on your board or in leadership does not necessarily mean that they are committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Fresh Start Today was the first and only talk show that focused on child welfare and Black families. And yet, Fresh Start Today, Color of Child Welfare Conference, and Fresh Start Family Services did not receive funding or support from state or local agencies that were led by Black leaders. “I don’t want to confuse position with power.” I want to see allyship that humanize Black children and families.Fresh Start Today26:35-28:13 - Luke – If we are to achieve our goal of SFTCCC, we will have to significantly reduce the number of Black families that come into our child welfare system. Where have you seen change that makes you believe that your vision that you laid out can be achieved?28:14-32:26- Jermaine – I haven’t seen any meaningful changes. Black children and families still have dismal outcomes in the child welfare system. Black children are being placed all over the state rather than with family. Black children are aging out of the system and are faring worse than other children that age out. Still seeing Black children being abused in the system. Black men are invisible in the system. Fatherhood initiatives have been going on for 20-30 years, but very little has changed. At around 31:50, Jermaine pauses and shares that this is hard, painful, and traumatizing because of his own experience as a Black man.32:27-33:36 - Luke – What inspires the fight and gives you hope that motivates you to host Color of Child Welfare? 33:27-38:24 - Jermaine – In August 2022, UN calls for US action to address racial injustice in child welfare system. “If we were talking about 53% of White children coming to the attention of the child welfare system, 65-67% of our White children being in our local child welfare system, something would change. There would be a transformation. All hands on deck.” “Black families are valuable. Black families are capable.” Resources have been denied. Access has been restricted. Divestment in our communities. Disproportionality would go away if Black families access to economic and social resources was the same as White families. United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial DiscriminationUN CALLS FOR US ACTION TO ADDRESS RACIAL INJUSTICE IN CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM38:25-40:59 - Luke – I hope that this platform will not only amplify the voices that have often been silenced, but that it will also lead to change in mental models that have perpetuated disproportionality. What do you believe the role of mandated reporting is? 41:00-45:57 - Jermaine - Mandated reporting is the main artery of the child welfare system. What it is and what it should are not the same thing. It is not evidence-based, nor does it show that it protects children. It is not an evidence-based policy or practice. It discourages our families from seeking support from social workers, teachers, and doctors because they know that they are mandated reporters. We may keep our sick kids at home rather than take them to the doctor. 30% of children in our system have a parent that is struggling with addiction, and yet they are expected to overcome their addiction in 15 months. It’s not realistic.45:58-47:23 - Luke – The mandated reporting process discourages overloaded families from engaging with supportive systems that could help them overcome their challenges. What do we need to do to change that reality? Differential response?47:24-52:15 - Jermaine – CAPTA requires that we define neglect, and yet we don’t have a national definition. Wisconsin’s definition excludes poverty as a reason for removal. Our definition includes the inability to provide for our children. Inability should be removed as many Black families don’t have the resources that make them able to provide for their children. If parents refuse to care for their children, then the system may intervene. “We are criminalizing poverty.” Trauma-induced care.How do we create good policy that eliminates racism? Racism cannot be embedded in the law. Screening tools and the screeners don’t bring experience with having been investigated or surveilled by the system.52:16-54:37 - Luke – Remove “inability” from the neglect definition, which means that we need to address the fact that our systems have failed in empowering families to be able to care for their children. How might we create a collaborative approach to address the deficits that families experience due to lack of access to supports and resources? How do you see the current state of our collaboration of our systems to support overloaded families? What are the barriers?54:38-58:56 - Jermaine – Dr. Joy DeGruy says “It’s the secrets that make us sick.” We need to be honest about the state of our collaboration. We need to have a paradigm shift after recognizing that some organizations have profited off the separation of Black families. We can’t collaborate if we don’t agree that Black families are valuable, that they can care for themselves. We have to also recognize that “help is not always help.” In 2016, 2017, we covered the expense of families that had been involved in child welfare so that they could attend the Color of Child Welfare conference. That’s collaboration.Joy DeGruy – “It’s the secrets that make us sick.”58:57-1:01:35 - Luke – What do you believe authentic community collaboration would look like? 1:01:36-1:05:39 - Jermaine – I believe many of the right partners are already at the table. Housing Authority, Legal Aid Society, mental health partners, etc. are there. How do we strike a balance between paid folks and community members? How do we fund that so community members can show up? We have a lot of great people at the table, now we need to define what we are trying to accomplish together. How do we hold our organizations and systems accountable? “If we aren’t willing to work ourselves out of a job in child welfare, then we shouldn’t be in this space.” 1:05:40-1:06:36 - Luke – What might a mandated reporting to mandated supporting shift look like?1:06:37-1:11:18 - Jermaine – We need to train assessors and reporters differently, and provide them with different tools. We need to address the resource deficits. We need to change the definitions of abuse and neglect so that reporters have what they need to support families. 70% of reports made are unfounded, but the damage has already been done. We need to work with schools and law enforcement so that reports are made appropriately. Joseph Reed is a double-amputee, but had an allegation against him that he kicked his daughter. His daughter was removed from his care. “Impossible.” Unnecessary trauma. We need to give money and resources to families so that they can care for themselves and families. 1:11:19-1:14:28 - Luke – The data illustrates the impact that a report can have on families.1:14:29-1:17:39 - Jermaine – “I have never met a rich kid in foster care. Why does that not happen? Mental health, domestic violence, substance abuse occur in rich families. Why do they not enter the child welfare system? Because poverty is not an issue. I’m concerned about ASFA as it has led to the termination of parental rights. Families First Prevention Services Act may lead to more families in the child welfare system as they will be working with mandated reporters, so changes in reporting standards need to change.1:17:40-1:18:39 - Luke – Language informs our behaviors, so language in our policies matter. What makes you optimistic about the future of this work?1:18:40-1:20:47 - Jermaine – I’m optimistic about conversations like this with the Institute and Children’s as you have influence and power to drive us towards equity and fairness. 1:20:48-1:21:13 – Luke – Closing Statement1:21:14-1:21:18 – Luke and Jermaine – Thank you and goodbye1:21:19-1:23:33 - Luke – 3 Key Takeaways1:23:34-1:25:02 - Luke - Gratitude and Closing CreditsJoin 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.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.

Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Jessika Harlston:04-:20 – Jessika Harlston - “Everyone needs help in some shape or form. The biggest one, Luke, is the income limit. It shouldn’t matter how much a person is working or how much a person is bringing into the home, if that person needs help, let’s help them.”:29-4:04 - Luke Waldo – Opening and Welcome60th Anniversary of the War on PovertyEconomic Opportunity ActHead StartVolunteers in Service to America (VISTA, now Americorps VISTA)4:06-4:09 – Jessika – Thank you!4:10-4:49 - Luke – How do economic challenges overload families with stress, and what do those challenges look like?4:50-6:45 – Jessika – Jessika is a Financial Employability Planner (FEP). In her role, she helps individuals find employment. Many of her participants haven’t completed their education, so they often don’t have the academic skills. They also don’t have a work history, which makes it difficult to get an interview in the first place. Many also have children in their care that may have special needs or challenges, which makes it difficult for them to get work if they don’t have additional support for their kids. Lastly, some of her participants struggle with mental and physical health challenges, which can make maintaining a job difficult when all these stressors pile up.Financial Employability Planner6:46-7:11 - Luke – What other stressors make it difficult to gain employment?7:12-10:05 - Jessika – Biggest challenge is homelessness. Housing instability can cause participants to miss appointments as they are worrying about where they will sleep next. Transportation is the second biggest challenge. They often hold appointments by phone to limit the impact of unreliable transportation, but it is a barrier to getting and keeping a job. Childcare is also a challenge as it’s difficult to access, and there is also mistrust. Many participants look for employment that they can do from home so that they can keep their kids home.10:06-10:30 - Luke – Of those challenges that you just mentioned, which do you find most difficult for families to overcome?10:31-14:20- Jessika – “They are all difficult to overcome. But I’d have to say homelessness.” Even when participants have Section 8 Housing vouchers, many landlords will not accept the vouchers unless they have 3 months’ rent or income outside of their reach. So many of the other skills such as job skills are dependent on one’s housing stability. Section 8 Housing Vouchers14:21-17:25 - Luke – We talked with our policy and research expert about the importance of public benefits such as TANF and housing vouchers. How many of your participants are able to access those benefits, and what are the benefits and challenges?17:26-22:25 - Jessika – Too many resources are not accessible for many people living in poverty. Jessika was homeless, living in her car while she was employed, and attempting to access a job access loan. She was denied the job access loan because she made too much money even though she couldn’t afford a home. To access housing supports, they often need documentation from their landlord who doesn’t provide it because they don’t want to work with government assistance. It leads to people giving up because they work hard to get the assistance they need, and then nobody will allow them to use it.Job Access Loans22:26-25:02 - Luke – The frustration of the benefits cliff. What is often missing in the lives of your participants that makes their experience more challenging?25:03-28:43 - Jessika – Many participants don’t have their high school education, which means that they have to start with basic education to get their GED. This takes a lot of time, energy and resources. Many don’t have access to the internet, so accessing the courses can be difficult to prepare for this. They also don’t have the social support that they need to overcome some of these challenges. General Education Development (GED)28:44-30:22 - Luke – What is underlying so many of your participants not having completed their high school education?30:23-35:48 - Jessika – Incarceration, teen pregnancy, lack of support, hustling. Jessika tells a story of a participant who was incarcerated and had a child when he was a teenager due to growing up in a home where he had to hustle to eat and survive. He is now getting his GED. He is now learning how to care for himself, manage a home, care for his child, and keep a job in his late 20’s. Finding resources for single fathers can be uniquely difficult. 35:49-37:57 - Luke – What do overloaded families need to achieve economic stability?37:58-40:21 - Jessika – They want to be heard. They also want to be engaged, supported and held accountable. Goal-setting and achievement are not skills that have been developed previously. Incentives can help, but keeping them engaged through ongoing communication is important. 40:22-43:02 – Luke – When we experience chronic toxic stress, our executive functioning is impaired and it becomes harder to set and accomplish these goals. How have you used Mobility Mentoring and its tools to support your participants?Mobility Mentoring43:03-47:25 - Jessika – Goal setting was the most important tool. In her case, it allowed her to assess what areas of her life she needed to set goals for. She had stable housing at her mom’s after leaving her abusive relationship, a bachelor’s degree, a stable job, so she wanted to focus on caring for her children and herself. In the case of her participants, she gives them an employability plan that helps them set achievable goals, and then works with them to be accountable to those goals and celebrate them when they achieve them.47:26-49:38 - Luke – What needs to change that would support families to achieve economic stability?49:39-50:51- Jessika – Remove income limits that create barriers to accessing public benefits such as housing or childcare assistance. Understanding Benefits Cliffs – Institute for Research on Poverty49:33-52:42 - Luke – The benefits cliff continues to be too low for too many families. What makes you optimistic?Helping People with Low Incomes Navigate Benefit Cliffs52:43-55:26 - Jessika – Using her story to inspire others to accomplish their goals. Recognizing that we don’t all come from the same foundation, so offering support is critical in helping others achieve their goal. 55:27-56:53 – Luke – Jessika, what does your life look like today compared to when you were struggling?56:54-1:01:06 - Jessika – I’m thriving because I have the social support that allows me to care for myself and my children. The stress of an unstable, abusive relationship made everything else so much more difficult. Her home is now safe, stable and peaceful. Her boys are surrounded by good role models and love.1:01:07-1:02:17 - Luke – Closing and Gratitude1:02:18-1:02:20 – Jessika – Thank you1:02:23-1:04:09 - Luke – 3 Key Takeaways1:04:10-1:05:41 - Luke – Closing CreditsJoin 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.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.

Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Diana MayaJessika HarlstonAyesha TeagueAmy BaldusMicaela Conlon-Bue00-:47 – Diana Maya - “Si hay una persona alli fuera que se siente sola, que siente que ya no tiene fuerzas, busquen ayuda.”Jessika Harlston – “But having her as that outsider looking in was what I really needed to see the most. And she guided me in every way shape or form to mold me into the woman that I am today. I had the mentality to do it. I just, I needed someone from the outside to kind of help me see from what everybody else was seeing.” :55-6:32 – Luke Waldo – Opening and Welcome6:33-7:04 – Luke – Diana, what was happening in your life and your family’s life that led you to seek support from Amy and Children’s Wisconsin?7:05-8:23 – Diana – Last year was difficult as I struggled with depression. My mental health crisis affected my three children, especially my oldest son who had suicidal thoughts. I struggled with energy, which impacted my ability to work. I asked for help and started medication, but it made me more tired. So I came to Children’s to ask for help for me and my family, and that’s how I started working with Amy. I feel fortunate to have met her and started the program.988 Suicide and Crisis LifelineChildren’s Wisconsin – Steven’s Point8:24-10:04 - Luke – Luke translates into English what Diana shared. What was happening in your life that caused your depression?10:05-12:02 – Diana – It started many years ago when I lived in Texas. I struggled with post-partum depression after the birth of my daughter. Three years ago, I decided to move to Stevens Point in Wisconsin, a small town where I didn’t know anyone. I packed up my car with my three suitcases and children, and drove here to start fresh. Then I had a surgery and spent three days alone in the hospital, and I fell apart. I had no support, and something broke in that moment.12:03-14:08 - Luke – Luke translates into English what Diana shared. What was missing in your life that could have changed your life for the better?14:09-19:36 - Diana – Ever since I was young, I have experienced abandonment. I never met my father. When I was very young, my mother met another man who she chose over me, and I went to live with my grandmother. When I was 12, my mother asked my grandmother to have me back, but only to clean her house and take care of my younger sister. I started to use drugs to cope. When I was 15, my mother moved to Texas and left me behind. I had to find my way on my own. At 17, I got pregnant with my oldest son, and I met my first and only love. At 24, I was five months pregnant with my second son when the father of my child died in a car accident. 6 years later I had my daughter. I have worked really hard to be a perfect mother because I hold so much resentment towards my mother. What was missing in my life? The care of my parents, a proper education as I was educated in the streets. That led to becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol. But I changed for my children. “Me hubiera gustado muchisimo un abrazo, la proteccion de una madre.” My mother suffered a lot as her partner was abusive. I didn’t understand her back then, but I understand now that she suffered too. I have forgiven her. I wish it had been different, but all of this made me a strong woman. 19:37-22:48 - Luke – Luke translates into English what Diana shared.22:49-23:12– Luke – Welcome, Jessika. What was happening in your life that overloaded you and your family with stress and led to child welfare involvement?23:13-28:25 – Jessika – Jessika became isolated from her family and support network due to an abusive relationship with her husband. She eventually left after 5 years, and took her 3 children to her mother’s house. After leaving for work, her mother called her to let her know that she took her baby to the hospital. She was asked to come in to the hospital as they found her baby to be malnourished. Child welfare got involved, and she was charged with neglect. National Domestic Violence Hotline28:26-29:44 - Luke – Thank you for sharing your story with us, Jessika. What was missing that you needed that would have helped you overcome the challenges that you were facing?29:45-32:29 - Jessika – She needed parenting and coping support as the stress of the abusive relationship would translate to her reactions to her children. She learned childhood development that allowed her to better understand what was “normal” behavior, and then how she could control her responses to those behaviors. This also allowed her to care for her children in a way that would help them grow into healthy young men.32:30-34:18 - Luke – We all need people in our lives to support us when we parent. How did isolation impact your ability to parent your children and take care of yourself?34:19-38:46 - Jessika – The isolation led to tension with her family with whom she had previously been so close. She started to lose a sense of herself as her family and community used to be such a big part of her identity. Nobody knew who I was anymore. My family made sure that my boys were good even when I wasn’t good. They brought back my light. 38:47-39:14 - Luke – Ayesha, what did you see in Jessika when you first met her and her kids?39:15-40:33 - Ayesha Teague – She was a lost soul. She was trying to find her breakthrough, but she had been through a lot and was confused. There was a light in there, but the darkness was heavy. 40:34-40:48 - Luke – How did you and Jessika start pulling the darkness back? 40:49-43:37 - Ayesha – We started by being honest about what happened, so that she understood what her children had experienced and what impacts there could be if things don’t change. She then wanted to know who she was deep down inside beyond the child welfare report. Starting with her childhood, she was able to discover that she had been isolated from a family that she used to be so close to. Now, where do we go from here?43:38-44:11 - Luke – Amy, what did Diana need when she first came to you and Children’s for support?44:12-45:25 - Amy Baldus – When I first met Diana, she didn’t believe in or love herself. She wanted to change that. I’ve noticed that change over the past six months that I’ve known her. 45:26-45:40 - Luke – Amy, can you tell us about your role and the services that you have provided to Diana?45:41-47:10 - Amy Baldus – We use Mobility Mentoring as a goal-setting and self-sufficiency tool. We use the Bridge assessment, which helps the participant and I assess where she is at in different core areas of her and her family’s life. I like to use the assessment to highlight the strengths of the parent as they haven’t always thought that they have them. I’ve learned that change happens when parents feel good about themselves and their strengths. Mobility Mentoring47:11-49:54 - Ayesha – Mobility Mentoring is a professional practice that empowers families to achieve family stability. It uses a Bridge tool that focuses on 5 core areas that include Health and Well-being, Financial Stability, etc. that allows the participant to assess where they are at in those areas. It then includes partnering and coaching with the participant to set goals and action steps, and celebrate those goals when they are achieved.Mobility Mentoring Bridge to Self-Sufficiency49:55-50:41 - Luke – Mobility Mentoring often surprises participants as they don’t expect to find strengths when they are seeking help. What did you learn about Diana in those early instances with the assessment?50:42-51:31 - Amy – I noticed that she was lower on the social supports pillar. She also had some health and financial issues that she wanted to address. Her family pillar was assessed really high as most important. She was very motivated. 51:32-51:45 - Luke - What surprised Diana when she started working with you and Mobility Mentoring?51:46-52:36 - Amy – The connection we had was a surprise. We built a trusting relationship first, which has been really important to our relationship. She has been open with me. 52:37-52:58 - Luke – What goals did Diana set that have led to the transformation in her life and her family’s life?52:59-54:31 - Amy – Diana wanted to accomplish a lot. She wanted to improve her education and employment. She started an ESL class to improve her reading and writing of English. She wanted to improve her health, so she got a membership to a health club. She started exercising, which led to her being able to stop taking some medication. That led to better sleep and relationships with her family. English as a Second Language classes54:32-55:04 – Luke – Diana, how has your relationship with Amy and the use of Mobility Mentoring helped you achieve your goals?55:05-58:22 - Diana – It was difficult at first because I was really struggling with my depression and my communication with my oldest son who felt I didn’t care about him, which led to his own mental health struggles. When I first met Amy I cried a lot as I felt I failed my son and I felt that he hated me. But Amy supported me and told me that I was a good mother. She helped me realize that I have given comfort to my son in a way that I never experienced as a child. He’s not slept on the street, experienced abandonment. He has comfort at home with a Playstation. Through therapy and Amy’s support, I started to believe in myself. Amy not only believed in me, she also held me accountable. I will forever be grateful to her for believing in me.58:23-1:01:29 - Luke – Luke translates into English what Diana shared.1:01:30-1:02:16 - Luke – How did Mobility Mentoring and your partnership with Ayesha help you overcome your challenges?1:02:17-1:04:18 - Jessika – Having stability, stable employment, my own place, and a divorce to begin my life with my children. 1:04:19-1:04:33 – Luke – How were you able to achieve these goals?1:04:34-1:05:48 - Jessika – Ayesha pushed me to be my best version, towards my goals. She held me accountable while also reminding me that I’m more than the worst moment in my life. I may not be the best mom, but I’m going to be the best mom for my boys.1:05:49-1:06:23 - Luke – Ayesha, what have you learned from the use of Mobility Mentoring?1:06:24-1:09:34 - Ayesha – The Bridge assessment allows me to see where participants see themselves. Aside from safety concerns, most participants come in with employment, housing, childcare challenges. It serves as a powerful tool to help focus on where there are opportunities to grow. It also serves as a reminder that if one pillar of the bridge is weak, everything else can feel unstable. UMOSCommunity Advocates1:09:35-1:10:26 - Luke – Micaela, what do our programs at Children’s offer to families who feel socially isolated? What can we do better to support families’ social connectedness?1:10:27-1:11:50- Micaela Conlon-Bue – Working in the Western part of Wisconsin, many families experience the “tri-lemma” of housing, transportation and childcare insecurity that creates challenges for families, particularly when it comes to social isolation. With our suite of services from Family Resource Centers, Mobility Mentoring, and Home Visiting, we can offer solutions and support to families who are overloaded by this “tri-lemma”. Children’s Wisconsin – Merrill Office – Services1:11:51-1:12:56 - Luke – Amy, as I see the emotion you are experiencing as you listen to this, can you share what your relationship with Diana means to you?1:12:57-1:14:12 - Amy – It’s amazing to see how much Diana has accomplished and how she has changed to believe in herself in such a short period of time. We don’t always get to see such big change as our program is short-term – 4-6 months – so she will always be special to me as she let me be part of her journey.1:14:13-1:16:32 – Luke – A single person can be critical in another person’s life and their ability to change. How might we change our mental models, communities and systems so that families like Diana’s don’t experience social isolation and mental health crises in the first place?1:16:33-1:18:02 - Micaela – I work to incorporate the voice of our community as parents know what they need and what they don’t. Bringing us all together helps us solve problems more effectively.1:18:03-1:19:04 - Luke – Reflection on Micaela’s point. What ultimately led to the breakthroughs for Jessika?1:19:05-1:20:48 - Ayesha – Her support system and safety. As soon as she was in her mother’s home a heavy weight was lifted off her shoulders. She was able to reconnect with family and friends, which brought her light back. Mobility Mentoring allowed her to see what was missing, so that she could set goals and achieve them.1:20:49-1:20:57 – Luke – Jessika, what were your breakthroughs?1:20:58-1:21:46 - Jessika – Ayesha telling me the truth and being there for me.1:21:47-1:22:27 - Luke – Thank you, Jessika and Ayesha.1:22:28-1:23:07 – Luke – Diana, what do you want to share about your relationship with Amy and how it changed your life?1:23:08-1:26:28 - Diana – I matured and learned to not take everything so seriously. I used to be more motivated by what others believe about me than what I believe about myself. Amy reminded me that life is short, and that I can forgive myself for not loving myself. This helped me forgive my mother after realizing that she was a victim herself. Maybe I was a better mom than my mom, but maybe she was better than her mom. Maybe my mother was a better daughter than I was. She may have sacrificed a lot to keep me safe by sending me to my grandmother’s. She came in October recently, I asked for her forgiveness for not being a better daughter, for not checking in on her. My children will understand someday that I gave them everything I could. I am grateful to Amy because she’s a strong woman. She helped me so much by believing in me. 1:26:29-1:28:05 - Luke – Luke translates into English what Diana shared. 1:28:06-1:28:19 – Amy – Diana, you have always been strong and I’m so proud of you for seeing it.1:28:20-1:29:04 – Diana – Expresses gratitude. If you are feeling alone or struggling, ask for help. You are not alone. It will be worth it. 1:29:05-1:30:31 – Luke – Luke translates in English what Diana shared. Closing and Gratitude.1:30:32-1:32:23 - Luke – 3 Key Takeaways1:32:24-1:33:52 - Luke – Closing and GratitudeJoin 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.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.

Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Esmeralda Martinez – Parent Advocate – Children’s Wisconsin:00-:17 – Esmeralda Martinez - “So those closest to the problem are those who are best suited to help fix it.”:30-4:32– Luke Waldo – Opening Liz Weaver and Mark Cabaj – Collective Impact and “Nothing about us, without us” – Episode 2 Think of UsParents Supporting Parents – Wisconsin Department for Children and Families4:33-5:12 - Luke - Welcome, Esme. What happened in your life that led to child welfare becoming involved in your family’s life? How did the different challenges that you were facing begin to overload you with stress? 5:13-6:36 – Esmeralda Martinez – Esme was struggling with addiction and homelessness when she was pregnant with her second child. She didn’t want to raise this child in the condition that she was in, so she left the baby at the hospital. Child welfare took custody of the child and placed her with Esme’s sister. 6:37-7:08 - Luke – Can you share what was happening in your life that led to the abusive relationship, homelessness and financial challenges that would have made it hard for you to raise your second child?7:09-9:30 – Esme – Childhood trauma and access to alcohol at an early age. Struggled with alcoholism in her teens with moments of sobriety. She struggled with finances as a young mother, so she decided to go back to school. She met a man who at first was really good for her and her son. But over time, he became controlling and then physically abusive to a point where she ended up in the emergency room.9:31-11:34 - Luke – What do you feel was missing that led to your coping through alcohol? What changed that led to your moments of sobriety and pursuit of education?11:35-15:39 - Esme – Education about what can lead to abusive relationships was missing from her youth. Her mother worked three jobs. Her family struggled with poverty, so she didn’t always have her around to support or educate her. High school students should receive education on healthy relationships and what to do if abuse does occur. People with lived experience could be powerful teachers of healthy relationship curriculum. Addiction and alcoholism was part of her family history, so she may have been predisposed. Esme’s parents took her son when she was struggling with alcohol, and they made an ultimatum that if she didn’t get sober that they would take legal steps to address her parental rights. She wished she had gotten into treatment earlier, but she wasn’t aware of them. She leaned on her faith until her daughter was removed from her care by the child welfare system. A charter school took a chance on her, which allowed her to see what healthy living looked like. It inspired her to make changes in her life.15:40-17:07 - Luke – We often underappreciate the impact of a single person or institution on one’s motivation to overcome challenges. The school clearly helped you find your motivation. What was your experience with the child welfare system?17:08-22:09 – Esme – For the first months after she left her daughter in the hospital, she was homeless and struggling with addiction, so she didn’t receive any documents or information as she didn’t have an address. She wanted help, but didn’t know how to get it or what the first step was. She didn’t know where to turn or that there was a process from detox to treatment and so on. After being in survival mode for so long, she was so tired. Then, a woman that she had gotten close with on the streets had disappeared for awhile, and showed back up to let her know that she had gotten treatment. This was her moment of inspiration. She contacted her sister to let her know that she was going to seek treatment. The screening and intake process was challenging as she didn’t have a working phone, so if there weren’t beds available she would need to call back every day. Rogers Behavioral Health – Inpatient Services22:10-22:18 – Luke - Esme, can you share more about your recovery journey and what it was like to navigate the Substance Abuse and Child Welfare systems at the same time?22:19-29:12 – Esme - After a couple weeks, she was able to get in. But then there wasn’t a residential placement available, so she was going to be released. She knew that she couldn’t go back to the streets, so she asked her parents to come up to support her until she was able to get a residential placement. There was one worker who worked so hard for her until she got a placement at Meta House. She was then able to get five months of residential treatment, which is beyond the norm. In the midst of this, she was able to connect with her child welfare case manager and begin visits with her daughter. There had been some turnover with the case manager, which can be difficult for families.Meta House29:13-32:32 - Luke – There are tensions in our systems – the time addiction recovery takes versus the short period of time a parent has to recover so that they can be reunified with their child – and the real challenges that overloaded families face that make it even more difficult to overcome these tensions. How did your experience with child welfare inform your work in your current role?32:33-34:48 - Esme – The impact of peer support specialists in her treatment and recovery was so important, particularly the inspiration of seeing how far they had come. Knowing how hard this is is invaluable in giving encouragement. She does relive some of her darkest moments, but she works for an organization that takes care of her.Peer Specialists – Wisconsin Department for Health Services34:49-35:58 - Luke – What does the Parent Advocate role look like?35:59-37:40 - Esme – A direct support for biological parents who are going through the child welfare system. Sometimes a listening ear, transportation to appointments, a mediator between a parent and case manager, a support during visits. 37:41-38:18 - Luke – What do parents tell you is the greatest value of your role?38:19-39:11 - Esme – That doesn’t happen as you might imagine, but she realizes that she didn’t see the value necessarily in the moment when she was working with peer support either. But the exchange of information and encouragement is really important.39:12-40:18 – Luke – How have you seen the Parent Advocate role serve as a bridge between the case manager and the parent?40:19-41:08- Esme – The parent may be more willing to connect with her and receive the information because they know that Esme’s been through this. She works through documents and information in a way that takes some of the emotion out of the process, and it helps them understand that it’s not personal, but rather the case manager’s job.41:09-42:19 - Luke – Is there a credibility or trust-building that happens because you have been through the system in a way that a case manager hasn’t?42:20-43:43- Esme – Indeed. She doesn’t have to be professional in the way that case managers have to be. Maintaining professionalism when we are in somebody’s life the way that we are is very difficult. 43:44-49:38 - Luke – It is important to explore this concept of professionalism within human services and child welfare. There is so much lived experience within our field, and yet there has been this expectation that we create strong boundaries to button it up. How might we find the balance so that one’s lived experience can help build trust with those that are in the system now? How do we support people with lived experience so that you can do your job well and for a long time?49:39-52:18 - Esme – She feels supported by Children’s as she has the best supervisor that she’s ever had. It would be great to have another Parent Advocate to have weekly check-ins so that she could consult with them on what they are experiencing. More funding would be helpful to provide incentives to the parents that she works with to engage them.52:19-53:50 – Luke – How do you overcome the tension of being part of the organization that is partially responsible for their family separation?53:51-55:12 - Esme – Her role allows her to maintain confidentiality with parents. She works hard to build trust through that. 55:13-57:11 – Luke – How have you been involved in the decision-making process? Do you feel like your perspective is changing how we think about our work?57:12-59:33 - Esme – Partner programs such as Family Support have consulted with her. She has been involved in many focus groups exploring opportunities for systems change. Garbage can example.59:34-1:02:00 - Luke – References Mark Cabaj, Liz Weaver and episode 2 in response to Esme’s statement of “So those closest to the problem are those who are best suited to help fix it.”1:02:01-1:03:56 - Esme – The support that this role has received from our organization and system. Systems change takes a long time. The sincerity in the people that are leading systems change efforts. Seeing the acknowledgement of the humanity of people in the system.1:03:57-1:05:09 - Luke - Closing and Gratitude1:05:10-1:05:26 – Esme – Thank you1:05:27-1:07:25 - 3 Key Takeaways1:07:26-1:08:56 - Luke – Closing CreditsJoin 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.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.

Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Julie Ahnen – Dane County HHSLaura Glaub – Madison Metro School DistrictMarc Seidl – Brown County HHS:00-:16 – Julie Ahnen “Do the best you can until you know better. And then when you know better, do better.”:20-3:50 – Luke Waldo – Opening and WelcomeChild Protective Services Reports Dashboard - Wisconsin Department of Children and Families3:51-4:26 – Luke - I’d like to begin our conversation by learning more about you and your journeys with mandated reporting, community collaboration, and systems and service failures on children and families. Welcome, Julie.4:27-9:22– Julie Ahnen – Over a 25 year career in child welfare, she acknowledges that she has had some blind spots with mandated reporting. In the past 15 years in Dane County, they have recognized the disproportionality that exists in our child welfare system. “We don’t have control over who comes through the front door.” Center for the Study of Social Policy webinar on Implicit Bias and Structural Racism led her team to researching changes in mandated reporting to mandated supporting in places like New York. The mantra has been for decades “see something, say something”, but the last two and a half years since the murder of George Floyd has led to a shift. People like Dorothy Roberts have been articulating these messages of change for decades. Exploring Implicit Bias in Child Welfare – Center for the Study of Social PolicyShattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare – Dorothy RobertsWhat Does it Mean to Abolish the Child Welfare System as We Know It? - CSSP9:23-10:01 - Luke – Dorothy Roberts is mentioned frequently in this podcast. Marc, what has your journey looked like?10:02-14:17 – Marc Seidl – Over the past 15 years as part of the child welfare system, he too has voiced the mantra of reporting whenever you have a concern for a child. However, he now recognizes that the data shows that this has resulted in “casting an incredibly wide net that is entangling families needlessly” in the system. Most of those families don’t meet the maltreatment standards, so they don’t receive services that they truly need as CPS is not built to do that for families that don’t enter the system. In Brown County, of the 4,000 reports that they receive each year, 73% are screened out, yet those reports live on for those families. This reality has led to a real passion to addressing our mandated reporting process to improve outcomes for families.Child Welfare Reports and Dashboards – Wisconsin DCFPutting Families First Dashboard – Racial and Ethnic Disparities - DCF14:18-15:41 - Luke – Thank you, Marc, for sharing those startling statistics in which 3,000 of the 4,000 families that are reported to Brown County CPS never reach the system.15:42-16:21 - Marc – Of those 1000 or so families that are screened in, only 6% or so are substantiated for maltreatment. “So there is this reverse funnel” where only a few families actually have committed maltreatment while the majority of families coming to the attention of the child welfare system have not.16:22-16:44 – Luke – So based on my math, only 60 families ultimately enter the child welfare system due to substantiated maltreatment of the 4,000 initial reports?16:45-17:28 - Marc – Ultimately, around 140 families entered the Brown County child welfare system of the 4,000 reports that were made. 17:29-17:35 - Luke – Laura, can you share your journey?17:36-23:30 – Laura Glaub – Her journey starts once she joined a school district. As a White woman, she didn’t experience the child welfare system on the other side of mandated reporting. As an AmeriCorps member, she always consulted with her students and families so that she could support them rather than report them. As a social worker, she looks to collaborate with families even though the policies often encourage her to call CPS whenever there is doubt. Laura tells a story about how she handled an incident when a student disclosed an allegation of abuse to her. She contacted the parent to work collaboratively with the parent in reporting with her. Laura has worked more collaboratively with partners like Julie and Dane County HHS since the pandemic to improve outcomes like chronic absenteeism for children and families. AmeriCorps23:31-25:00 – Luke – How does mandated reporting impact overloaded families and our workforce? 25:01-30:15 – Julie – The history of our child welfare laws have targeted Black and minority families starting with AFDC. Family separation of Black and Native families has been deeply rooted in our history. The Flemming Rule came along in the 1960s that led to an increase in more families coming into the child welfare system. Then CAPTA led to an even greater increase due to fear from mandated reporters as they didn’t want to be penalized for not reporting. Reporters have historically wanted to remain anonymous, and would get angry if they were discovered by the family that they reported. This creates an adversarial dynamic rather than one of collaboration and trust, which overloaded families need to overcome their challenges. Now, Dane County is shifting more towards collaborating with families to build that trust, which is empowering staff. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)Flemming RuleThe Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act(CAPTA)30:16-30:24 – Luke – What does AFDC stand for?30:25-30:43 - Julie – Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) is now known as TANF.30:44-31:46 - Luke – The consequences for mandated reporting often lead to a lack of engagement and support from our community and our most overloaded families. There is often a lack of accountability to overloaded families who need support, but instead are reported to CPS.31:47-35:18 - Marc – We got into this work because we want to help families. There has been a shift from investigating families like law enforcement to conducting assessments, which started with the alternative response pilot to better understand and support families that are overloaded. Access is critical as it is the front door to the child welfare system, so the assessment process should feel like an interview to better understand what is really happening in families’ lives. Trust is very difficult when our role is seen as intruding in their lives and not providing the support they need. We “need to bridge that gap (of trust) first.”Alternative Response35:19-35:22 - Luke – Laura, how does mandated reporting impact families and school staff?35:23-37:28 - Laura – “When I think of mandated reporting, I think of stressful and punitive interactions. When I make a report, I know that it will not be neutral as my experience influences my decision.” Families are doing the best for their kids. They are navigating systems that have harmed them.37:29-39:24 - Julie – There is a level of fear in the community of mandated reporters and child welfare professionals because they know that they can interview their children without their presence and have the authority to separate their families. This dynamic makes it difficult to build trust.39:25-39:43 - Luke – What is not working that is leading to overloaded families being reported to CPS?39:44-42:30 - Marc – Wendy Henderson, DCF Administrator, shared recently that 15 years ago around 40% of all child maltreatment substantiations were due to neglect. That number is now 70%. That coupled with 15 years ago had 80 out of 100 families that lived in poverty were supported by TANF whereas now that number is 21 out of 100 families. If Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is not met, the basic needs of an individual or family, then all the other needs are more difficult to focus on and meet. How does a low-paying job pay for the high costs of childcare? If economic instability wasn’t an issue, would we see as much substance abuse and mental health issues? Few Families Receive the TANF Cash Assistance They’re Eligible For – Urban InstituteMaslow’s Hierarchy of Needs42:31-43:18 - Luke – We may need to invite you back, Marc, to join our conversations around economic stability. Laura?ICFW Economic Stability Critical Pathway43:19-45:15 - Laura – The new Race to Equity report came out, which shows that it is very difficult to be Black in this state. Wisconsin also has many non-profits, but it is too often difficult for families to get what they actually need. It’s easier to get a turkey or backpack than the services or resources that would help families overcome the systemic challenges that overload them.Race to Equity report45:16-47:04 - Luke – What is the state of community collaboration in your community?ICFW Community Collaboration Critical Pathway47:05-48:52 - Julie – There is still a belief system that poverty is a moral failing. We then look to “repair” this struggling individual rather than fix the systems that lead to poverty.48:53-50:02 - Luke – As Jennifer Jones stated in the first season, we can both feed people that are hungry while also addressing the systemic and root causes of hunger. Marc, what is the state of community collaboration?50:03-53:26 - Marc – There is robust collaboration between Brown County CPS and its school districts through a number of meetings each year. Those meetings have expanded since the pandemic. They exchange knowledge and dialogue around how they can work better together and with their families. They have worked on mandated reporting with one another. CPS is now looking to connect with families first rather than making decisions without their input.53:27-53:45 - Luke – Laura?53:46-57:25 - Laura – The school district in partnership with Dane County HHS has shifted from mandated reporting to mandated supporting, from truancy to chronic absenteeism, which focuses on trying to understand what is underlying the chronic absenteeism and what might be missing for families. This has led to a wraparound approach and community collaboration with housing, mental health, family-serving organizations that are communicating more effectively now, particularly for families that have been historically excluded.57:26-58:11 - Luke – Julie Incitti from Department for Public Instruction introduced us through their efforts to better understand how mandated reporting has worked and not worked in schools. Julie, what has your team been working on to shift from mandated reporting to a more supporting mindset?Child Abuse and Neglect training – Department for Public Instruction58:12-1:03:11 - Julie – Dane County’s mandated reporting process has long been a “how to” rather than emphasizing why we report who and what we report. There has been a shift towards understanding implicit bias and how it has led to disproportionality of Black and minority families being reported as well as too many families being reported who never receive the services that they could really benefit from. Encouraging more critical thinking to determine if the report rises to the level of maltreatment. Providing education to the community that anyone can refer families to the services that CPS can refer to so that they don’t feel that they need to refer to CPS for those services. Dane County has opened a line for reporters to consult with CPS rather than make the report before reflecting on whether it meets the definition of maltreatment.1:03:12-1:04:18 – Luke – What if the thousands of families in Wisconsin that were reported to CPS but didn’t receive services were referred to a system that is designed to support them?1:04:19-1:05:36 – Laura – The new Mandated Supporting approach centers families as the solution. All of MMSD is receiving the Mandated Supporting training.1:05:37-1:05:58 – Luke – MMSD is Madison Metro School District. Marc?1:05:59-1:09:55 - Marc – There has been a shift towards engagement and assessment with children and families to better understand what is truly happening with a family. They have also added their phone numbers and encouragement on screen out letters so that reporters can understand the screen out decision. This creates more collaboration and open lines of communication.1:09:56-1:12:08 - Luke – There are two systems change levers that have been shared – 1. Change in mental models. 2. Relationships with overloaded families and community partners. What is still needed?1:12:09-1:14:29 - Julie – Our mental models still need to shift. Some overloaded families don’t have the awareness that they are struggling, so we need to build community support around those families before they need intervention. We can’t rely solely on community organizations to solve these problems.1:14:30-1:14:31 – Luke – Thank you, Julie. Marc?1:14:32-1:17:23 - Marc – We need to meet families’ basic needs so that we can reduce the need for child welfare intervention. During the pandemic, stimulus checks brought down poverty and child welfare removals. 87% of families used their checks for basic needs.Stimulus Payments, Child Tax Credit Expansion Were Critical Parts of Successful COVID-19 Policy Response -1:17:24-1:19:00 - Luke – We have a poverty crisis in this country. There needs to be upward pressure that includes more money in families’ pockets and downward pressure on the rising costs of housing, childcare, and food.1:19:01-1:22:08 - Laura – We need to shift the responsibility more onto our systems that are causing many of these problems, particularly the cost and inaccessibility of basic needs. We also need a community wraparound approach that supports and empowers families. 1:22:09-1:22:26 – Luke – What makes you optimistic?1:22:27-1:23:21 - Laura – Students and families advocating for themselves. There are great collaborative efforts that are pushing to dismantle oppressive systems and improve our policies and practices.1:23:22-1:23:26 - Luke – Marc?1:23:27-1:24:52 - Marc – We are having these conversations. Years ago, this conversation wouldn’t have happened. Most of the people having these conversations are receptive to these new ideas. 1:24:53-1:25:51 - Luke – Systems change does not happen unless hearts and minds change, and that can’t happen if these conversations aren’t happening. 1:25:52-1:28:12 - Julie – Similar to Marc, the fact that these conversations are happening in our organizations and communities is promising. There are local and national efforts that are looking at economic and concrete supports as a solution to family separation. It’s also promising that young professionals entering the child welfare system today are learning differently, are exposed to the teachings of Dorothy Roberts and can be the disruptors to change the system.Dorothy RobertsColor of Child Welfare conference1:28:13-1:28:51 - Luke – What book or author has shaped your thinking?1:28:52-1:29:31 - Julie Dorothy Roberts – Torn ApartShanta Trivedi1:29:32-1:29:33 – Luke – Laura?1:29:34-1:30:19 – Laura Dr. Bettina Love – We Want to Do More than SurviveUpEnd Podcast1:30:20-1:30:29 – Luke – Marc?1:30:30-1:31:27 - Marc Closing the Front Door of Child Protection: Rethinking Mandated ReportingAn Unintended Abolition. Family Regulation During the COVID-19 Crisis1:31:28-1:32:28 - Luke – Thank you, Julie, Laura and Marc1:32:34-1:35:10 - Luke – 3 Key Takeaways1:35:11-1:37:24 - Luke – Closing CreditsJoin 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.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.

Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Josh Mersky – Co-Director of the Institute for Child and Family Well-being, Professor at UW-Milwaukee’s Helen Bader School of Social Welfare:00-:36 – Josh Mersky - If we only focus on poor families, we’re going to miss opportunities to prevent a lot of maltreatment cases. So I think the FRCs have a lot of prevention capacity because they reach a lot of people from all walks of life and because they offer an array of services that can be tailored to match the amount of support that each family needs.”:37-4:15 – Luke Waldo – Opening and Welcome4:16-4:18 – Josh Mersky – Hello4:18-4:29 – Luke – Where did your journey studying resilience and family protective factors begin, and where has it led?4:30-:10:47 Josh – In the early stages of his professional career before going back to school. Worked in human service capacities with youth who had adverse experiences. This experience led to relationships with children and families that he served and his colleagues. At UW-Madison, he worked on the Chicago Longitudinal Study that studied the Child-Parent Centers. He learned that these programs had a positive impact on short-term and long-term educational, social-emotional, and child maltreatment outcomes. Why? They invest in enriched supports for families like home economics for parents, community outreach. This is a two-generation approach in which they work with both parents and children. They found that parents were more involved in the child’s school and education, and there was less stress in the home. Over the last two decades, he has focused on the causes of child adversity and maltreatment and the programs that can support families and build resilience.Chicago Longitudinal StudyDr. Arthur ReynoldsChicago Child-Parent Centers10:48-12:05 - Luke – What have you learned about the impact of child neglect and, conversely, how does social connectedness help to reduce the risk of neglect or mitigate its effects?12:06-17:34 - Josh – We have known now for a long time that neglect can have adverse impacts on child development. There is good research that neglect can lead to later-life violence at similar rates as abuse. Neglect does not get the same attention as child abuse. Neglect is strongly correlated with poverty, which makes it difficult to separate the two. We need to design effective programs to address neglect as neglect is often neglected by policymakers and funders. Neglect is most likely to occur where there is an absence of strong social connectedness, therefore, investing in and strengthening social connectedness in the home, school, and community is an effective preventative approach to neglect.Harry Harlow – Experiments on attachment and neglect17:35-17:51 – Luke - What does social connectedness look like and how does it impact the individual and family?17:52-24:07 - Josh – Social connectedness as an ecology shows that our closest environments are the most important – family, friends, and peers. We can expand beyond those closest relationships – neighborhood, faith communities – to explain how we function. How our environments are structured has a significant impact on our well-being. Social determinants of health are influential. Promotive factors versus protective factors. For children who have experienced adversity, protective factors are particularly important. Story about his grandmother and their close relationship. A grandparent can be a buffer for children who have experienced homelessness, the loss of a parent, or neglect, which can promote resilience in that child. Social Ecological Model - UnicefSocial Determinants of HealthPromotive and Protective Factors – Center for the Study of Social Policy24:08-26:14 - Luke - What do FRCs promote or strengthen that has or may have the greatest impact on reductions in child maltreatment and in keeping families together?26:15-32:33 - Josh – Family Resource Centers have some common elements. They are universal, so all families can benefit from FRCs. FRCs are designed to be comprehensive, so they provide many different services like parenting groups, home visiting, or development assessments. FRCs operate at a community level where they engage and connect community members and resources. At the Parenting Place in LaCrosse, they host a Children’s Festival that brings out many people from the community. Why do FRCs reduce the risk of neglect? Progressive universalism or targeted universalism is when you balance equality of access with equity of resource distribution. The Prevention Paradox illustrates this idea that the majority of incidents of maltreatment occur in families of moderate risk, so we need to be cautious about solely focusing on those living in poverty or considered to be “at-risk”. Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board (CANPB)Parenting Place32:34-33:01 – Luke - What have you learned from your research on Family Resource Centers?33:02-39:03 - Josh – The Strong and Stable Families project is funded by the CANPB and works with 18 FRCs across the state. The project gathers data from families that receive services from FRCs and families that do not. What have they learned? FRC participants are mostly above the poverty line, however, most are lower-SES. They tend to have more challenges than the general population. They are more likely to have employment, housing, and healthcare challenges. They also reported many positive Adult Experiences, which include protective factors such as social connectedness. They use the Protective Factors Survey to measure those protective factors. FRC participants have been shown to have similar levels of protective factors such as social connectedness, however, they appear to have less concrete supports such as stable income, housing, etc. compared to the general population. The Strong and Stable Families projectProtective Factors Survey – FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention39:04-39:32 - Luke - What have you seen as barriers to applying this evidence/research in systems? And how might we more effectively translate research and evidence into policies and practices?39:33-43:37 - Josh – Inertia is a barrier as systems change moves slowly or the status quo reigns. Prevention is difficult to demonstrate the outcomes or ROI to policymakers compared to intervention. If we can show that FRCs serve as a hub that connects to other services and supports, we might see greater investment and buy-in. Hello, Baby is a universal program delivered to all families with a newborn. Hello Baby43:38-44:08 - Luke – What makes you optimistic about the future of this work?44:09-47:18 - Josh – There is growing recognition that child welfare systems were not designed to provide services to families, and therefore there is a need to invest more in prevention services to get further upstream. This has led to Family First Prevention Services Act, which has already begun investing more in mental health, home visiting, and prevention programs to families that may be at risk of child maltreatment. Family Resource Centers  across the state are critical to their communities.Eau Claire FRCSt. Croix Valley FRCMarathon County FRCFamily and Childcare Resources of Northeastern Wisconsin - Brown County FRCParenting Place – Lacrosse FRCIndian Community School47:19-48:10 – Luke - Before we let you go, can you share a book or author that shaped or represents your thinking around your work? 48:11-49:59 - Josh – Promoting early literacy is so important as it improves attachment between children and their caregivers. Invest in your local libraries and early literacy programs.50:00-50:24 - Luke – Dea Wright and the Office for Early Childhood Initiatives is going to be a big fan, Josh. Office of Early Childhood Initiatives – City of Milwaukee50:25-50:45 - Josh – Josh will be meeting with Dea to discuss some of their initiatives promoting reading to children in non-professional spaces such as barber shops.50:46-51:19 – Luke - Thank you, Josh!51:20-51:34 – Josh – Thank you, Luke!51:35-56:00 - Luke – 3 Key Takeaways56:01-57:05 – Luke – Closing CreditsJoin 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.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.

Announcing Overloaded: Understanding Neglect, a new podcast series from the Institute for Child and Family Well-being. Neglect is a complex and wicked problem, but it’s one that we believe is preventable if we work together to reimagine how we support families overloaded by stress. Neglect is a public health crisis, as it’s the most common reason that children are separated from their families by the government. 1 in 3 of all US children experience a Child Protective Services investigation, 1 in 10 have a confirmed allegation of maltreatment, and children of color are disproportionately represented in foster care. Nearly 7 in 10 children in foster care are separated from their families due to neglect. The Overloaded: Understanding Neglect podcast represents the important first step of building a shared understanding of the problem and will serve as a foundation for future innovations in practice, policy, and systems change. Join host Luke Waldo, Director of Program Design and Community Engagement at the Institute for Child and Family Well-being, as he explores these issues with research and policy experts Tim Grove (Wellpoint Care Network), Jennifer Jones (Prevent Child Abuse America), Bryan Samuels (Chapin Hall), and Dr. Kristi Slack (University of Wisconsin), Lived Experience expert Bregetta Wilson (Wisconsin Department of Children and Families) and five of his colleagues from Children’s Wisconsin’s child welfare and child maltreatment prevention programs. Through these conversations, we developed a compelling narrative that seeks to build a shared understanding of the realities of overloaded families, so that we might find solutions that reduce family separations for reasons of neglect. Join the conversation on Wednesday, September 21st when we premiere the first episode of Overloaded: Understanding Neglect wherever you listen to your podcasts. Then tune in each week on Wednesday to listen to the rest of the series.

Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Jennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse AmericaBryan Samuels – Executive Director, Chapin HallDr. Kristi Slack – Professor, University of Wisconsin; Founder, Prof2Prof; Affiliate, Institute for Research on PovertyHannah Kirk – Healthy Start Supervisor, Children’s WisconsinTheresa Swiechowski – Family Support Supervisor, Children’s WisconsinAshlee Jackson – Family Support Specialist II, Children’s WisconsinBregetta Wilson – Lived Experience Coordinator, Wisconsin’s Department of Children and FamiliesTim Grove – Senior Consultant – Wellpoint Care NetworkDr. Julie Woodbury – Family Preservation and Support Manager, Children’s Wisconsin:31 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to Overloaded: Understanding Neglect podcast and Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities initiative. Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities3:33 – Luke Waldo – Child neglect and abuse statistics. How is child neglect defined?Wisconsin Out-of-Home Care Report (2020)4:56 – Jennifer Jones – Definitions of neglect differ across the country. Wisconsin’s definition of neglect, which specifically includes “for reasons other than poverty”.Wisconsin Department of Children and FamiliesWisconsin’s Definition of NeglectChild Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)7:51 – Bryan Samuels – Child neglect national and state statistics. Why neglect is the primary reason for family separation in child welfare systems.10:43 – Dr. Kristi Slack – Child neglect and poverty. Systems’ failures that lead to overloaded families.12:51 – Luke Waldo – Introduction of Lived Experience and Direct Practice experts.13:12 – Hannah Kirk – Defining child neglect.13:40 – Theresa Swiechowski – Defining child neglect.13:55 – Ashlee Jackson – Poverty and neglect. 14:22 – Bregetta Wilson - Defining child neglect.14:31 – Hannah Kirk – Mental health and substance use challenges.15:44 – Theresa Swiechowski – The gray areas of neglect.17:54 – Luke Waldo – Complexity of neglect. Introduction of stories about individuals and families that experienced neglect.18:48 – Bregetta Wilson – Social determinants of health. Story about an 18 year old young man who had been involved with the child welfare system for much of his childhood. Story about a mother who went to the system to ask for help, but then had her children taken from her.Social Determinants of Health24:00 – Tim Grove – Story about a 3 month old child that experienced neglect. Trauma as an underlying root cause. Trauma statistics in the child welfare system.30:23 – Luke Waldo – How families become overloaded by stress.30:54 – Dr. Julie Woodbury – Mental health and stress piling on overloaded families.32:18 – Bryan Samuels – The intersection of poverty and neglect. 32:54 – Luke Waldo – 3 Key Takeaways. 35:21 - Closing Credits and Gratitude.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.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.

Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Opening quote: Tim Grove – Senior Consultant – Wellpoint Care NetworkHost: Luke WaldoExperts:Jennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse AmericaBregetta Wilson – Lived Experience Coordinator, Wisconsin’s Department of Children and FamiliesTim Grove – Senior Consultant – Wellpoint Care NetworkBryan Samuels – Director, Chapin Hall0:04 – Tim Grove – Opening Quote on Trauma and Equity:52 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to root causes of neglect – trauma and systemic oppression.3:23 – Luke Waldo and Jennifer Jones – Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Adverse Community Environments. Wendy Ellis.Pair of ACEs - Adverse Community Experiences 5:41 - Bregetta Wilson – Dorothy Roberts’ Torn Apart reading and the structures of bias built into child welfare systems. Torn Apart:  How the child welfare system destroys Black families–and how abolition can build a safer world by Dorothy Roberts8:25 – Luke Waldo – Importance of facing the realities of inequities and generational trauma in our society.9:05 - Tim Grove – Impacts of ACEs, trauma, and equity. Original ACEs study  Dr. Joy DeGruyDr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave HeartSam SimmonsFran Kaplan & Reggie JacksonCenter for Community Resilience13:01 – Bregetta Wilson – How are we educating the system actors like mandated reporters? Generational trauma from generational child welfare involvement. Bias.15:46 – Luke Waldo – Prevalence of ACEs. ICFW ACEs studies. Disproportionality statistics.ICFW Adverse Childhood Experiences’ studiesWisconsin Out-of-Home Care Report (2020)Wisconsin child population demographics: US Census Quick Facts (2020 Estimates)17:48 – Luke Waldo and Jennifer Jones – Systemic oppression and disparities. Addressing the Root Causes of Neglect ArticleChange in Mind Institute21:39 – Bryan Samuels – Child welfare disparities. Hispanic and African-American families in child welfare system.Illinois Department of Children and Family Services StatisticsNational Child Maltreatment Data from the Administration for Children and Families24:39 – Gabe McGaughey – How might data better inform us?25:29 – Bryan Samuels – How data might more effectively inform the child welfare and child maltreatment prevention systems.27:56 – Luke Waldo – What would families change about the child welfare system?28:24 – Bregetta Wilson – Let families lead. 29:19 – Luke Waldo – Closing introduction to speakers.29:45 – Jennifer Jones - The legacy of systemic racial trauma. Positive Childhood Experiences.Examining the Association between ACEs, Childhood Poverty and neglect, and physical and mental health:  Data from two state samples Positive Childhood Experiences and Adult Mental and Relational Health in a Statewide Sample: Associations Across Adverse Childhood Experiences Levels34:44 – Bryan Samuels – The real challenges of the child welfare system.  39:36 – Luke Waldo – 3 Key Takeaways41:58 – Closing Credits and GratitudeJoin 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.

Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Opening quote: Jennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse AmericaHost: Luke WaldoExperts:Dr. Kristi Slack – Professor, University of Wisconsin; Founder, Prof2Prof; Affiliate, Institute for Research on PovertyBryan Samuels – Director, Chapin HallJennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse AmericaBregetta Wilson – Lived Experience Coordinator, Wisconsin’s Department of Children and FamiliesTim Grove – Senior Consultant – Wellpoint Care Network0:03 – Jennifer Jones – Opening statement on systemic challenges and poverty.00:59 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to another root cause of neglect - poverty.Dr. Jerry Milner and David Kelly article: It’s Time to Stop Confusing Poverty with Neglect.4:47 – Kristi Slack – Child welfare statistics and disparities. Impact of poverty and housing instability on families and child welfare involvement. Economic safety net’s impact on child maltreatment prevention. Institute for Research on Poverty article: Preventing Child Maltreatment and Neglect in the United States: Opportunities for Change9:07 – Gabe McGaughey and Kristi Slack – Poverty is a constellation of issues. Poverty compounding other risk factors. 13:07 – Luke Waldo – Family vulnerability as a consequence of systems’ failures.14:15 – Bryan Samuels – Economic loss, unemployment, and housing instability as the most likely predictors of child welfare involvement. Financial benefits, childcare, housing stability, and employment as a social safety net. 16:12 – Jennifer Jones – Child well-being system to support overloaded families. Economic and concrete supports reduce risk of child welfare involvement.Prevent Child Abuse America article: Addressing the Root Causes of Child Neglect21:01 – Kristi Slack – Complex, multi-faceted nature of neglect. Class-action lawsuit that led to the Norman Fund for overloaded families living in poverty.Norman Fund23:32 – Kristi Slack – Challenges that arise when families are experiencing housing instability. 25:26 – Luke Waldo – Complicated relationship between poverty and child neglect. Introduction to social capital.26:53 – Bregetta Wilson – Self-efficacy. The stress and impacts of poverty.30:33 – Gabe McGaughey and Tim Grove – The impact of trauma and social capital on economic mobility.Raj Chetty Atlantic articleScaling Wellness in Milwaukee (SWIM)34:02 – Bregetta Wilson – The impact of planting seeds on self-efficacy.35:37 – Luke Waldo – 3 Key Takeaways38:07 – Closing credits and GratitudeJoin 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.

Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Opening quote: Ashlee Jackson – Family Support Specialist II, Children’s WisconsinHost: Luke WaldoExperts:Bregetta Wilson – Lived Experience Coordinator, Wisconsin’s Department of Children and FamiliesSoua Thao – Home Visitor – Children’s WisconsinHannah Kirk – Healthy Support Supervisor – Children’s WisconsinTheresa Swiechowski – Family Support Supervisor – Children’s Wisconsin0:00 – Ashlee Jackson – “Just because one rose grew through the crack in the concrete is great, but if we took off that block of concrete, how many would grow?”00:11 – Luke Waldo – Introduction to how root causes of neglect – trauma and systemic oppression – overload families.2:58 – Bregetta Wilson – Shares her lived experience with the child welfare system when she was a child, her mother’s struggles, and her sister’s support and influence.5:15 – Luke Waldo and Soua Thao – The challenges that Hmong families experience with language barriers.6:17 – Hannah Kirk – Culture differences and the need for cultural competence in the child welfare system. 8:14 – Hannah Kirk – The mistrust that often exists between the families and professionals that work together in the child welfare system.9:43 – Ashlee Jackson – Mistrust with the systems that should be there to support families – schools, healthcare, etc. – as there is fear that they will be reported to child welfare. 11:34 – Luke Waldo – While overloaded families face many challenges, they also aspire to overcome them.12:35 – Theresa Swiechowski – Families struggle with mental health and substance abuse, and have limited resources to support them. These challenges lead to financial and housing instability.16:11 – Soua Thao – Housing and financial instability. Lack of resources to support families with childcare, mental health, and housing. Soua tells a story about a family that was recently evicted.19:30 – Luke Waldo – How do we start to recognize that we too often punish children for their parents’ past?20:16 – Hannah Kirk – The impacts of segregation and bias. 20:42 – Luke Waldo – How these many challenges pile on and overload families.21:36 – Luke Waldo – How might we change our systems and empower families, so that they may overcome these complex challenges?22:17 – Bregetta Wilson – Shares more of her story when she was a child in the child welfare system, and when she asked her case worker, “Can you help my mom?”24:40 – Hannah Kirk – Talks about how families are strong and the importance of seeing families through their strengths. “What has happened?” versus “What did you do?”27:14 – Ashlee Jackson – Shares her lived experience with the child welfare system and the need to advocate for herself.28:29 – Theresa Swiechowski – Talks about her a-ha moment early in her career when she first understood that an overloaded mother was doing the best she could for her daughter by sending her to camp all day.31:04 – Luke Waldo – If we walk in the door asking what families need rather than what families did, it would change our approach of how we work with families.31:30 – Soua Thao – Discusses the importance of cultural traditions and family support. Hmong American Center34:05 – Hannah Kirk – Making a point to talk about families’ strengths. 36:48 – Ashlee Jackson – The power of resilience, resourcefulness and building a network.37:54 – Theresa Swiechowski – Resilience is a superpower. The strengths and challenges of family involvement. 39:41 – Soua Thao – Parents’ enthusiasm for learning how to become better parents.40:47 – Theresa Swiechowski – “Strong, funny, optimistic people doing their best.” 42:40 – Ashlee Jackson – “They love their kids.” 43:14 – Soua Thao – Parents want the best for their kids.43:53 – Luke Waldo – Gratitude and 3 Key Takeaways47:30 – Closing CreditsJoin 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.

Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Opening quote: Julie Woodbury – Family Preservation and Support Manager, Children’s WisconsinHost: Luke WaldoExperts:Ashlee Jackson – Family Support Specialist II, Children’s WisconsinJennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse AmericaTheresa Swiechowski – Family Support Supervisor – Children’s WisconsinDr. Kristi Slack – Professor, University of Wisconsin School of Social WorkBryan Samuels – Executive Director, Chapin HallTim Grove – Senior Consultant – Wellpoint Care NetworkBregetta Wilson – Lived Experience Coordinator, Wisconsin’s Department of Children and FamiliesHannah Kirk – Healthy Support Supervisor – Children’s Wisconsin0:00 – 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.How the Child Welfare System Works – Children’s BureauThe Water of Systems Change - FSG4:36 – 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.The Social Welfare Policy Landscape and Child Protective Services: Opportunities for and Barriers to Creating Systems Synergy – Dr. Megan Feely12:55 – Theresa Swiechowski – Introduction to Children’s Northern Wisconsin child welfare programs. Families are in crisis when she first meets them.Children’s Wisconsin’s Child Welfare programs14:37 – 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 FrameworkCenter for the Study of Social Policy’s (CSSP) Protective Factors Framework22:33 – 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 CreditChild Tax Credit25:22 – 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.Collective Impact – Collective Impact Forum27:12 – 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 HallWisconsin’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.Intensive In-Home servicesNurturing Parenting Programs39:12 – 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 Takeaways44:35 – Closing CreditsJoin 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.

Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Opening quote: Bryan Samuels – Executive Director, Chapin HallHost: Luke WaldoExperts:Tim Grove – Senior Consultant, Wellpoint Care Network Jennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse AmericaDr. Julie Woodbury – Family Preservation and Support Manager, Children’s WisconsinBregetta Wilson – Lived Experience Coordinator, Wisconsin’s Department of Children and FamiliesHannah Kirk – Healthy Support Supervisor, Children’s WisconsinDr. Kristi Slack – Professor, University of Wisconsin School of Social Work0:00 – Bryan Samuels – “We often miss the opportunity to recognize that the relationships that are needed to get into communities and to successfully leverage the assets that exist there requires trust-building and power-sharing.”00:24 – 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.How the Child Welfare System Works – Children’s BureauThe Water of Systems Change - FSG5:04 – Tim Grove – We too often celebrate individual efficiencies and productivity in child welfare rather than lowering caseloads and addressing systemic issues. We risk burnout. Explores the impacts of Pair of ACEs and equity on the cycle of healing people and sending them back into combat. Dr. Wendy Ellis – Pair of ACEs8:26 – Jennifer Jones – Address systemic and community-level inequities to improve family well-being.Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire – Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University9:48 – Bryan Samuels – To understand what communities need, there must be authentic engagement and trust building, which often conflict with system timelines.11:16 – Luke Waldo – If our systems face a trust deficit, then we must address them by better understanding and often challenging mental models. Flip the waterfall, turn the tables as Julie mentioned in the last episode.12:01 - Dr. Julie Woodbury – What are the top issues in your community? What could we do about it? “We judge others on their behaviors, and ourselves on our intentions.” 13:23 – Bryan Samuels – Engaged community residents to promote healthy development. Community is a powerful lever in changing the day to day lives of people. Systems Transformation framework. There are already assets in communities to leverage.Systems Transformation Framework – Chapin Hall14:56 - Tim Grove - Address bias to promote equity.16:54 - Luke Waldo – Building trust requires that we authentically engage communities, share power, and give them leadership and ownership opportunities. 18:12 - Bregetta Wilson – We make up the system. How do we level the playing field? 19:25 – Bryan Samuels – California Endowment funded a number of community engagement efforts throughout California and had varying outcomes.Building Healthy Communities – California Endowment20:40 - Hannah Kirk – Building formal and informal supports in child welfare programs. Children’s Wisconsin’s Child Welfare programs21:36 – Bregetta Wilson – The importance of consistency from child welfare professionals. The power dynamics that exist within our court system. The power of language in building relationships and trust. 24:24 – Luke Waldo - Changing population level outcomes requires policies, practices and resources to address the underlying root causes that we’ve discussed. 25:38 - Bryan Samuels - Community Pathways, Family First Prevention Services Act, Home Visiting, and Family Resource Centers to provide support to overloaded families when they need it most.Family First Prevention Services Act – Chapin Hall ToolkitHome VisitingFamily Resource Centers28:14 - Dr. Kristi Slack –Community response for deflected populations so that they receive actual engagement from supportive services such as Family Resource Centers. 29:12 - Jennifer Jones - Cutting short TANF benefits led to increase in child maltreatment reports.Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)29:57 - Bregetta Wilson – What if we gave families the opportunity to buy a home and then wrapped supportive services around them to build self-efficacy and address poverty? Evicted by Matthew Desmond32:20 - Luke Waldo – Systems collaboration must become normalized if we are to prevent family separations for reasons of neglect.32:52 - Dr. Kristi Slack – Systems integration conversations have been happening for a long time. Risks and benefits of systems integration and collaboration. Siloed systems need better coordination.35:40 - Bryan Samuels – Policies that impact cross-systems collaboration through an example of Medicaid and Child Welfare. Flexible funding and time are needed to reform our child welfare system into a more integrated child well-being system.Medicaid and Child Welfare40:09 - Luke Waldo – 3 Key Takeaways43:10 – Closing and GratitudeJoin 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.

Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):Opening quote: Jennifer Jones – Chief Strategy Officer, Prevent Child Abuse America Host: Luke WaldoExperts:Dr. Kristi Slack – Professor, University of Wisconsin School of Social WorkTim Grove – Senior Consultant – Wellpoint Care Network Dr. Julie Woodbury – Family Preservation and Support Manager, Children’s WisconsinSoua Thao – Home Visitor – Children’s WisconsinAshlee Jackson – Family Support Specialist II – Children’s WisconsinTheresa Swiechowski – Family Support Supervisor – Children’s Wisconsin00:00 – Jennifer Jones – “Investing in prevention not only keeps kids safe and in their own families and communities, but it also creates significant savings in our systems. We will see savings in healthcare, we will see savings in corrections, and we will obviously see savings in the child welfare system.”  00:22 - Luke Waldo – How might we move further upstream to prevent overloading families with stress and the potential for neglect? Building Better Childhoods – Prevent Child Abuse America and Frameworks Institute4:38 - Jennifer Jones – Our country needs to invest way more in prevention. $33 billion spent on federal child welfare each year, but only 15% is spent on prevention. We need to invest more in Home Visiting, Family Resource Centers, and anti-poverty programs such as economic concrete supports. Access to these services and supports shouldn’t be impacted by where you live, but we know that it does for too many overloaded families.Home VisitingFamily Resource Centers6:20 - Dr. Kristi Slack – There are not a lot programs or services designed specifically to address neglect. What about parenting needs to change if we are to prevent neglect? We need to get better at assessing what it is that parents need to prevent neglect. We are not likely to see significant reductions in neglect unless we treat it at a structural level, particularly in the area of financial instability and poverty. 1. It’s not one size fits all. 2. We need to learn more about what prevents neglect specifically. 3. We need to focus on systems and structural issues and how they contribute to conditions that lead to neglect.8:54 – Jennifer Jones - Families too often get the support that they need once entering the child welfare system, which is too late. We need a child maltreatment prevention system that supports families once problems begin to occur to prevent child welfare involvement and family separation. We need to think about prevention differently that includes housing, anti-poverty programs, and addressing systemic discrimination.11:02 - Luke Waldo – Early Intervention Services as a potential prevention investment for child welfare system. In this next segment, we discuss the challenges we face with a well-intentioned, but often overloaded workforce that frequently experiences secondary trauma or an empathy overload due to the many work-related and community-based experiences. We also are influenced by our mental models, our beliefs and biases, which can limit our ability to best serve overloaded families or deliver programs with the efficacy and compassion that is needed. Early Intervention Services12:30 - Tim Grove – Discusses the 3 month old child from previous episodes. If there was evidence of physical abuse, the child welfare caseworker would have to take the child to a Child Advocacy Center. This can be overwhelming for the child welfare case worker and manifest as secondary trauma. People that go into the helping fields have a disproportionate rate of their own trauma. This can make them more vulnerable to triggers and reenactment. Between pandemic times and high caseloads, there is greater risk of burnout. This can make it even harder to show compassion to clients. Organizations need to find balance in accommodating staff while still meeting clients’ needs.Child Advocacy Centers – Children’s Wisconsin16:33 - Dr. Kristi Slack – Community Response models can support families that had been deflected from Child Protective Services. Worked with Social Development Commission’s Project Gain to provide greater access to better economic situations in Milwaukee. Through trainings and conversations with staff, discovered biases and beliefs as to why families were poor. Those mental models could impact how model was delivered. It’s interesting to see the differences between what people believe causes poverty and what research shows causes poverty. Changing mental models and cultures of our systems and organizations can improve these programs as families will feel more accepted and outreach will improve.Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention BoardCommunity Response Model and Project Gain study – Berger, Collins and SlackSocial Development Commission19:29 – Luke Waldo – How might we become more trauma-informed? We can address these challenges by shifting our mental models towards upstream solutions and leveraging the strengths of our relationships and communities that give overloaded families greater opportunities.20:21 – Jennifer Jones – We have to address the structural and systems issues that both hinder and help families.21:26 - Tim Grove – Promoting evidence-based clinical solutions has to be done in tandem with a self-healing community approach such as Blueprint for Peace. When you do this, you get less Adverse Community Environments, and consequently, less Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and less neglect. Former president of the American Psychiatric Association said “Trauma is to mental health as smoking is to cancer.” We will not heal all trauma with mental health clinical interventions. There are not enough clinicians, and many people are voting with their feet by saying we need another option than a clinical pathway. We need to lift up Office of Violence Prevention and grassroots approaches. Blueprint for Peace – Office of Violence Prevention – City of MilwaukeeA Time to Heal – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel series on trauma by John Schmid – Quotes Steven Sharfstein – Former American Psychiatric Association President24:14 - Dr. Julie Woodbury – Teach the community that it is a protective factor. Educate our community how it can support prevention.24:50 - Tim Grove – Leverage the community to ask what they need. Discusses self-healing communities. Laura Porter study looks at individuals with 4 or more ACEs, and what themes surfaced for those that didn’t have poor health and well-being outcomes. They found that having support of 2 or more people was found as a strong theme. How might our communities serve as those supports by raking someone’s lawn, bringing over a meal to serve as those supportive people?Self-healing communities in Washington - Laura Porter28:24 - Luke Waldo – It takes a village to raise a child. How might we rebuild our communities that have been disconnected? If we have addressed our mental models, built trust with our communities, then we have created the conditions in which policy, practice and resource flow changes can be effectively targeted to have the greatest possible effect for overloaded families and communities. 29:38 - Jennifer Jones - Key strategies from the CDC for preventing neglect and adversity. 1. Strengthen economic supports; 2. Promote social norms that protect against violence; 3. Invest in Early Childhood programs; 4. Implement services and supports for ACEs, substance abuse and mental health. 5. Improve environments. CDC says if we invest more in these upstream approaches, we will see a reduction of 44% in depressive disorders, 24% in asthma, 13% in heart disease, 6% in cancer and 15% in unemployment. This keeps families together AND saves our society a lot of money.Child Neglect Prevention Strategies - Center for Disease Control (CDC) 31:54 - Dr. Kristi Slack – Access to a centralized place for all families should exist when they are facing a critical situation, so that they can receive emergency assistance. Project Gain was successful in addressing these concrete needs. Shares a story about a person that needed steel-toed boots that allowed him to get a good-paying job. Shares a story about a mom that needed a refrigerator to keep food cold for her child, and she asked if she should call Child Protective Services on herself because she didn’t know what else to do. 211 is an option, but it would be helpful to have a go-to place.211 for Essential Community Services34:05 - Soua Thao - Connects families to community resources like English as a Second Language classes to support them in improving their language skills, and consequently, access to employment. Provides support in completing job applications or referring to the Hmong American Center, so that they get the support they need.Children’s Wisconsin’s Home Visiting programsNorthcentral Technical College – English Language Learning programHmong American Center36:01 - Luke Waldo – If we focus our policies and practices on prevention services and investing in families and communities through concrete economic supports, then we should see an improvement in outcomes for our children, families and communities. In this final segment, we discuss the opportunities to increase resources to overloaded families, keep families together through extended families, and increase prevention through education in our adjacent systems like education and healthcare. We close by sharing how many of these drivers can come together through the example of Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA).36:47 - Jennifer Jones – A Healthy Families America (HFA) site is offering $500 a month for housing allowances to eligible families. Delaware is looking at universal cash assistance. Providing cash assistance to families reduces child maltreatment.Where the Guaranteed Income Movement is Going Next – Vox article37:39 - Ashlee Jackson – Keep children with extended family and close relationships such as godparents to maintain family and cultural traditions and reduce family separations.Kinship Care - Transfer of Guardianship38:56 - Theresa Swiechowski – Prevention, prevention, prevention. Introducing family education back into schools, doctor’s offices, and family support programs. 39:50 - Jennifer Jones – PCAA is the oldest and largest organization committed to preventing child maltreatment by providing programs that are backed by evidence.   Four main focus areas: 1. Home visiting (HFA) in 600 sites. 2. State chapter networks. Advocacy, research, network to create conditions for families to thrive. 3. Policy work. Advocating for MIEHCV, economic and concrete supports like Child Tax Credit. 4. Communications function. Released Building Better Childhoods with Frameworks Institute to amplify message and mission.Healthy Families AmericaMaternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Prevent Child Abuse WisconsinChild Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)Frameworks Institute42:17 - Luke Waldo – 3 Key Takeaways46:45 – Closing and GratitudeJoin 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.