University of California, Berkeley the International House

June 15, 2010

University of California, Berkeley | The International House

Proposal for CFS Practice Change

(Parachute Cases)

Parachute Case Response (practice change)

Subject: Emergency Response “Parachute cases” (a parachute case is a one involving children placed into protective custody by police without Senior Social Worker (SSW) involvement)

Proposed implementation date: July 1, 2010

Goal: To assure that all African-American families involved in parachute cases have SSW response to Orangewood at time of protective custody, and that the youth and families are scheduled for a Team Decision Making Meeting (TDM) within 24 hours. TDM’s are Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) type meetings where family members, social work staff, family supports and other professionals come together to make decisions and future plans about the family.

Background: At present there is no Emergency Response SSW assigned to families whose children are placed into protective custody directly by the police; these cases are assigned directly to Dependency Intake which causes a delay of many hours before a social worker sees the case. Further, no TDM’s are held for these Parachute cases since Emergency Removal TDM’s are assigned to Emergency Response Units and not the Intake Unit. The Disproportionality Project, Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC ) Core Team conducted a Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) practice change study on this issue and discovered that a disproportionate number of African American youth and families are impacted by this practice than are youth and families from other ethnic or racial groups. The Core Team feels that this systemic practice unintentionally negatively impacts African American youth.

Research: The Children Family Services (CFS) Quality Assurance (QA) Unit (QA) conducted research on African American youth taken into protective custody during 2008. The study consisted of 28 children from 20 families. Only 6 of the families were provided a TDM. Further review revealed that parachute process denied access to TDM’s for at least 3 of the families. A comparative analysis was conducted using a sample of 20 white families consisting of 28 youth also. Of these families 10 were provided TDM’s with only one family being involved in the parachute process. Interestingly Law enforcement was the referral source for at least seven of these families for whom they contacted CFS, making a child abuse referral and allowing for social worker response.

QA’s study reveals that there are a disproportionate number of African Americans who come into protective custody directly by police, thus a disproportionate number who do not have the opportunity to have a TDM meeting.

The California Evidence Based Clearinghouse (CEBC) informs child welfare agencies and practitioners about programs being used or marketed in California. Although the CEBC does not individually or specifically list TDM meetings it does list and rate FGCM meetings. The Core Team views TDM as a type of family meeting. Under its scientific ratings FGDM is rated as 3 on a scale of 1-3. Under relevance to child welfare practice FGDM’s are rated 1 or as high on a scale of 1-3.

Proposed protocol:

1. All African-American children taken into protective custody directly by the police will be assigned to an Emergency Response SSW or an On-Call SSW who will respond to OCFC in the same manner as an Immediate Response referral.
2. The assigned SSW will investigate the referral in the same manner as all other Immediate Response referrals and determine if sufficient evidence exists to require continued protective custody or other CFS involvement. If such exists, the SSW will request a TDM to be scheduled within 24 hours of the protective custody as is the standard for all Emergency Removal TDM’s.
3. The assigned ER or On-Call SSW will advise the family about the TDM and their right to bring support persons with them, and that SSW will attend the TDM on behalf of the agency.
4. The TDM program will keep all data in reference to this PDSA.

Impact Analysis:

Staffing: The impact to ER and call staffing will be minimal in that the current on-call system utilizes existing Emergency Response Social Workers who possess the knowledge and investigative skills to respond to parachute cases. It is not expected that the number of TDM facilitators required will be increased, however the workload to TDM facilitators and number of meetings held daily will increase.

Equipment/Facilities: No impact on the need for equipment as the current infrastructure will support the practice change. On-call staff has access to building, supplies, telephone lines and computers. No additional facilities will be needed; however there could be an impact as to location of where meeting is held.

Budget: There will be minimal budget impact in overtime increases. On-call staff receives ¼ pay for being on rotational assignment. At time of dispatch and response to a referral these staff shift to a 4 hour minimum call back (overtime pay system).

Citations:

Poynter, C (2010) March 31, 2010. A 2008 Qualitative Comparative Case Analysis of two Ethnic Groups conducted by Senior Social Services Supervisor , Cheryl Poynter, Orange County Social Services Agency, Children Services Division, Quality Assurance Program.

PDSA Cycle on Parachute Cases and use of TDM’s conducted by the Orange County Core Team California Breakthrough Series Collaborative, Eliminating Racial Disparity and Disproportionality Project using the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) Model for process improvement model. (Brammer, Russell, Chang, Lillian., Estrada, Yvette., Amezcua, Raquel., Bustamante, Mitra., Walsh, Mike., Avventino, Chris., Jenkins, Michael., Poynter, Cheryl., Wiggins, Pat., Taylor, Gary)

Internet Sites:

http//www.cebc4cw.org//

Submitted by :

Gary Taylor and the ERDD BSC Core Team

April 20, 2010

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