Alameda County Department of Children & Family Services

Alameda County Department of Children & Family Services Resource, Development & Support (RDS) Workgroup Minutes December 8, 2005 Prepared by: Faith M. Battles

Present: Gwen Evans-McWilliams, Manny Velez, Katherine Richard, Mary Anne Aikens, Pamela Ng, Verne Teyler, Gerry Hauser, Lisa Abernathy, Fredi Juni, Vanessa Cormier, Anita Duplessis, Delilah Duenas, Tina Hughes, Dora Fisher & Faith M. Battles.

I. Announcements and/or Concerns There will be no RDS workgroup meeting on December 22, 2005. Due to the holiday season we will reconvene on January 12, 2006.

For organization purposes, our meeting agendas will be reorganized to focus on the 3 topics of the RDS workgroup; recruitment, development & support. Hopefully this will give the meeting a sort of “flow” and direction in planning.

II. Recruitment The Department continues to engage with the Carol H. Williams Advertising Agency to develop a mass media campaign for recruitment. Representatives from the advertising agency are meeting with key management and line staff from the Department to get a feel for the climate of the Agency, needs of the Agency, motivations of staff, etc. We hope to have some concrete tools to be used in recruitment in the near future, specifically having requested three 3-panel display boards for community outings.

The Department hosted the follow up faith based breakfast to the initial faith based breakfast held months ago. This meeting showed a smaller turn out than expected, with approximately 50 people as opposed to 70. Fortunately of those who attended we garnered a number of commitments to move further in the process. Reverend Langford facilitated the breakfast, which definitely had a very religious feel. Those persons who traveled to North Carolina to witness their faith based efforts reported back very encouraging findings. Revered Shaw from Allen Temple volunteered church meeting space for Department meetings in the future. Several ministers expressed a desire to adopt a group home for Christmas, including having the youth eat a holiday dinner in a home like setting. An advisory council headed by Carol Collins and Reverend Langford will be formed with membership from the faith based organizations. We will have a follow up meeting to discuss the outcome of the 2nd reconvening on December 16, 2005. At this point the Department needs to clearly state what we need from the faith based organizations and reciprocate their efforts by participating in their events. The Department should consider approaching staff about their faith based affiliations.

1 The Department will be participating in a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning (LGBTQQ) community roundtable facilitated by the East Bay Community Foundation and Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS), on December 8, 2005. The intent is to begin discussing the unmet needs of LGBTQQ youth in the county and problem solve ways to support these youth in out-of-home placement.

Plans with the Bay Area Heart Gallery are continuing. The Heart Gallery is focused on front end needs and back end needs for group homes. Eight Bay Area counties are currently involved and the first gallery opening is slated for April of 2006. An inexpensive brochure created by a community volunteer has been created and a Lilliput has agreed to be the fiscal sponsor. Volunteers continue to be needed and fundraising activities are beginning. A donation letter has been created and is available for staff to send to their families and friends who would like to contribute to this worthy cause. Please email the names and addresses of all potential donors to Fredi Juni. Mia Buckner-Preston and Paula Stewart Felix have agreed to participate in this workgroup, which will no longer meet on Mondays and Fridays. Next planning meeting is scheduled for December 16, 2005 from 10am to 12pm.

There is a need for an ongoing event calendar around recruitment that Lisa Abernathy and Gwen Evans-McWilliams will take the lead on.

I. Development The issue of ongoing foster parent training was raised and it was mentioned that small group foster parent trainings are not as successful as large group, one day trainings. It is possible to do a large training topic for the day and host smaller training topics in the day in smaller break out sessions. Merritt College can help sponsor our annual, “Breaking Down the Barriers” training. Parent Engagement training headed by Vanessa Anderson is coming. Fredi Juni is speaking with Dr. Whitfield from Merritt about youth permanency training.

Katherine Richard is planning CARI training for interested February 4, 2006 through March 18, 2006. The Department is working with Children’s Hospital Oakland to coordinate a large training in 2006, and inquiry letters have been sent out to our Resource Parents. It is worth considering sponsoring a training for medically fragile youth with conditions like asthma, diabetes, sickle cell, etc. In the absence of such a training, CHO sponsors support groups for medically fragile youth that meet once or twice per month.

PRIDE training is expanding to include another Child Welfare Worker trainer, Karen Castro, who has 8 years of experience in Emergency Response. There is a need to make the PRIDE trainings larger which means possibly doing an “experimental” PRIDE session open for community members, etc. The idea is to

2 offer the PRIDE training class as a course for credit through the community colleges. Reserve Resource Parent trainers can be used for this purpose as well. Chabot can offer the “Strengthening Families” training again, which is 13-weeks, and can be challenging for Resource Parents to commit to.

II. Support Foster Parent Association will be hosting their annual holiday party on December 13, 2005 in the Snow Building at the Oakland Zoo. Parental Stress Services will host a table at the gathering and the Resource Parents will receive gifts this year!

The Department has gathered toys for all the children in placement and has collected enough donations from staff to give each youth a $20 gift card who is 13 years and older.

The Department is also sponsoring a holiday social for Resource Parents at the Assessment Center on December 15, 2005 from 11:30am to 2:00pm. Come out and support!

A resource parent mentoring program idea has been proposed with Katherine Richard, Pam Ng, Gerri Hauser and Gwen Evans-McWilliams will work on this idea.

The Mobile Response Team (877 441 1089) is now available for foster children/youth to stabilize placement with services designed to provide crisis response 2pm-10pm 7 days per week, divert children from psychiatric hospitalization, stabilize youth and caregivers in crisis and stabilize placement. Resource Parents can refer foster children/youth for this service if they need immediate assistance, the child is threatening, the child is a danger to himself or others, the child is at risk of psychiatric hospitalization, the child is at risk of placement disruption or the child seems out of control. The service is provided through Seneca Center Community Based Services. To keep Resource Parents aware of this service, perhaps we could make magnets for the fridge.

The next Family to Family quarterly meeting will be held January 31, 2006 and February 1, 2006. Stay tuned for details.

3 NEXT RDS WORKGROUP MEETING SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2006 10AM TO 12PM AT THE ASSESSMENT CENTER

RDS WORKGROUP MEETS EVERY 2ND AND 4TH THURSDAY OF THE MONTH SAME TIME, SAME PLACE

REMEMBER...STAY CONCERNED! ;-)