Family to Family RTS Workgroup

Minutes for 5/19/05

  • Attendees: Gwen McWilliams (F/P and C/P Parental Stress Service), Vera Johnson (F/P), Vanessa Cormier (C/P Chabot College), Tina Hughes (F/P), Paula Stewart-Felix (Adoptive Parent), Anita Duplessis (SSA Staff Development), Katherine Richard (RTS co-chair) and Nancy Oakley (C/P, Lincoln Child Center Kinship).
  • Approval of the Minutes 4/28/05: Minutes not submitted from last workgroup
  • Dates to Remember:
  • 5/20/05—Foster Parent Appreciation Dinner at the Oakland Hilton.
  • 6/09/05-- Lighting the Fire of Urgency, training for F/Ps, CWWs and CPs on Families Lost & Found in America’s Child Welfare, Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Systems. Two trainings, morning at 401 Broadway, Oakland, afternoon at 24100 Amador, Hayward
  • 6/15/05—Breaking Down Barriers 9am-4pm, Oakland Hilton. Kat requests that Resource Families speak to Family to Family goals at this event--Youth Permanency through highlighting stories of life-long connections; linkages of services through Community Partnerships specifically addressing mental health and drug & alcohol services; Team Decision Making experiences from families involved in TDMs.
  • 6/30/05—Family Night Out, San Leandro Community Center 7-9pm. Foster Parents and Relative Caregivers invited along with their children to attend a play designed to applaud Resource Parents and encourage youth. Food will be served. This is the first event scheduled for entire family.
  • Training Updates:
  • Training of the Trainers scheduled May 24-26 at the California Poppy Room, 24100 Amador 9am-4pm. Interviews are completed for the CWW trainers; Training Supervisor is Faith Battles and Training Program Manger is Dora Fisher—both are based at the Assessment Center. Follow up trainings to sharpen presentation skills will be offered at Chabot College May 31 and June 1 9:30am-3:30 pm Building 700, Room 706. Trainers may attend one or both trainings.
  • Fliers on upcoming trainings from Chabot FCKE disseminated.
  • Vanessa hopes to schedule on all day Back to School Workshop in August. Feedback from the workgroup on valuable topics include: IEP process, 504 monitoring, accurate Immunization histories for enrollment, skills for self-advocacy within the educational system, services available w/o an IEP qualification, bullying. Anita and Tina had referral information of lawyers and advocates helping families and will forward contact info to Kat.
  • Anita mentioned SSA trainings offered on IEP process co-jointly with Wendy Burns at DREDF (Disability Rights Educational Defense Fund). Upcoming trainings 5/24, 6/02 and 6/16—she will forward contact info to Kat and Tina so more Foster Parents can be included in the trainings.
  • Reports from Workgroup Liaisons:
  • Anita Duplessis reported that DICE might possibly offer trainings through Bay Area Academy to boost understanding of data application to SSA staff. More likely, DICE will implement the “Data Road Show” which in the past has been a unit-by-unit data awareness building amongst SSA staff and supervisors. Especially important is ensuring workers understand the link between funding and data.
  • Kat spoke about the meeting on Faith Based Recruitment that may bring changes to the RTS workgroup and its role. Impact has yet to be determined.
  • Outreach at Upcoming Events: Kat requested RTS workgroup support in planning and staffing at the Black Expo 7/16 and 7/17 in downtown Oakland, the Cherry Festival, Zucchini Festival in August and Solano Stroll in September. Resource Fair to be scheduled perhaps with the Back to School workshop in August. Last August’s Resource Fair held at Tennyson High School in Hayward, April’s Resource Fair held at Eastmont Mall in Oakland. Location should include accessible and plentiful parking.
  • RTS workgroup Summer Schedule: June meetings will return to 2nd and 4th Thursdays (June 9 and 23) 10-12 at the Assessment Center. July and August schedule to be determined at the 6/23 meeting.