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 Notes from March 7th, 2006 Foster Care Convening

Attendees

The following individuals attended the foster care convening on March 7th at the Las Vegas Country Club:

  • Jennifer Bevacqua, Olive Crest
  • Jessica Bretzlaff, Nevada Community Foundation
  • Sherry Brock, Child Focus
  • Chris Brooks, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth
  • Britta Carlson, Junior League
  • Mike Fletcher, SAFY
  • Judge Hardcastle, Clark County Family Court
  • Jay Hiner, Nevada State Bank
  • Flora Jackson, Southern Nevada Child Abuse Prevention Center
  • Gard Jameson, Children’s Advocacy Alliance
  • Hayley Jarolimek, NV Division of Child & Family Services
  • Susan Klein-Rothschild, Clark County Department of Family Services
  • Sandy Kreml, Juvenile Justice
  • Patricia Merrifield, State of NV Division of Child & Family Services
  • Regina Olivares, Clark County
  • Fernando Serrano, State of NV Division of Child & Family Services
  • Chris Sutherland, Consultant to Philanthropy – Meeting Facilitator
  • Cherie Townsend, Dept. of Juvenile Justice
  • Tom Waite, Girls & Boys Town
  • Stacey Wedding, Nevada Community Foundation
  • Hilary Westrom, Ritter Charitable Trust

Welcome & Introductions

Stacey Wedding, Nevada Community Foundation (Foundation) Director of Philanthropic Services, welcomed attendees and thanked them for all of their work and progress around foster care issues, specifically those aging out of the foster care system. Everyone introduced themselves.

Background & Updates

Chris Sutherland updated the Task Force on the progress made over the past two years, including the creation of mentoring programs for foster children, creation of a life skills handbook for kids aging out of the foster care system, and the focus on diligent search to place children with relatives and extended family prior to ever entering the foster care system.

Chris and Susan Klein-Rothschild reviewed some of the updates from Clark County since the last convening, including updates on diligent search, respite care, general training for foster parents, specialized training for foster parents, and a recruitment campaign to find additional foster parents. In addition to the information provided by Clark County that was distributed to all attendees, other discussion items are outlined in the next section.

Hilary Westrom and Chris Sutherland provided an update on Into the World: A Life Book. They are considering printing 3,000 copies this year to be distributed to young adults exiting foster care at age 18, young adults between the ages of 16-18 prior to their exit from foster care, service providers and families who would like the information as well. The Life Book has also been made available on-line at http://www.alifebook.org, which will make it easier to download and use in our community and other communities. The Ritter Charitable Trust has agreed to fund the production of another manual specific to northern Nevada and rural Nevada since both areas operate very differently than southern Nevada. Attendees recommended that we increase distribution of the Life Book to distribute to many more young adults, not just those in foster care. Attendees also asked the Ritter Charitable Trust to explore having its link on other website such as the Clark County School District’s website. Sandy Kreml requested 100 copes of the updated Life Book that will be distributed in the next few months.

Other Discussion Items

» Susan Klein-Rothschild noted that more than 1000 packets of information have been sent to folks interested in becoming foster parents since January 31, 2006. The County has methods to expedite foster training for interested parties. Susan also noted that the County has requested to move 2 part-time diligent search positions to one full-time position.
» The group agreed that there is a need to get information to foster parents about respite care since many of them are unaware it is available. This is also a challenge due to the turnover in staff with service providers, the state and county system. It was noted that there are models in other communities of successful respite care programs. With proper funding, an organization could be established to focus on the recruitment and support of foster families and respite families to provide a large network of support to these families.
» Susan Klein-Rothschild updated everyone on the Methamphetamine Symposium that Clark County recently held. The Symposium included 100 people from cross-sectors who listened to guest speakers discuss the impact of methamphetamine on users and the community at large. It is clear that methamphetamine use impacts all sectors, from juvenile justice to child welfare to criminal justice. It was noted that when children enter the foster care system with methamphetamine addictions, they stay in the system much longer. Following the presentations by guest speakers, the attendees broke into three smaller groups (education, prevention and legislation) to brainstorm ideas to address the meth problem. Several of these ideas will be presented as recommendations to the County Commissioners at an upcoming meeting.
» Tom Waite expressed a strong interest in prevention services to help families and to keep children from ever entering the foster care system. He is interested in looking at outcomes and measuring our movement on a variety of foster care-related issues. He also suggested that the Task Force examine the current philosophy of foster care for the state and/or county to ensure we’re all moving in the same direction.
» Judge Hardcastle suggested that the child welfare system needs to focus on permanency and mental health. Many children enter the foster care system because of mental health needs. The legislature recently passed AB369 to address some of these mental health needs. Many attendees echoed the Judge’s concerns about permanency, which is critical to a child’s long-term assistance and success.
» Gard Jameson recommended that an operational internal audit be done to review the current infrastructure of the foster care system. Susan explained that the County does undergo annual reviews of its practices and that the Child Welfare Institute recently did a management review of the County, exploring child fatalities, best practices, and space planning issues. She also reported that there is a regular review of Nevada’s defined outcomes for the child welfare system, some of which include the recurrence of abuse, timeliness of adoptions, safety of children, etc. Gard reiterated that a comprehensive outcomes evaluation would still be useful.
» Sherry Brock addressed the issue of data management and tracking data and healthcare information on foster care children.
» Gard Jameson recommended bringing in a national expert (Voice of America, Lisa Macy) to create a vision, conduct an appreciative inquiry process, and determine how we get from our current day operations to our long-term vision. The group as a whole felt that an outside expert was not needed and that it was just a matter of the Task Force members compiling some information and data to paint a picture of the current state of foster care in Southern Nevada.
» Punam Mathur emphasized the need to provide funders and the private sector with an understanding of what currently exists today in the form of foster care programs and services, including a basic overview of the key players and providers. After much discussion, the group agreed that this information was important to moving forward in a larger visioning process down the road.
» The Task Force recommended combining the efforts of this Task Force with the Clark County Children’s Mental Health Consortium in order to avoid duplication and have greater bandwidth. Everyone also felt this Task Force needed to continue meeting and furthering its work, especially around the visioning process for the future.
» Attendees noted that a representative from the Clark County School District needs to be invited to these meetings as well as several other individuals from the private and nonprofit sectors.
» Stacey Wedding said that the Community Foundation will send minutes of today’s convening to all attendees and also will need everyone’s assistance on determining who else should be at the table when we meet again in a few months.

Future Direction

After extensive discussion about the foster care system as a whole, Chris Sutherland summarized the group’s interests and next steps. Everyone agreed that the Task Force should expand its membership and focus on getting more diversity across various sectors, especially the private and corporate sectors. The Task Force would like to meet again prior to summer vacations. The Community Foundation and/or hired consultants will gather data and informational snapshots from the various attendees to comprise a brief situational snapshot to be presented at the next meeting that will assist the group in a bigger picture visioning process. Punam volunteered to work on this situational snapshot as appropriate and also offered to host the next meeting and provide food for attendees.

Closing

On behalf of the Nevada Community Foundation, Gard Jameson thanked the attendees for the remarkable conversation and their hard work to improve outcomes for foster care youth.
 
Copyright (c) by The Ritter Charitable Trust 2007 all rights reserved.