Developing enhanced support for families through parent partners

When a child must be removed from home to ensure his or her safety, everyone is traumatized. Parents are often shocked, dismayed, angry and distraught. They may feel isolated and alone. Although social workers seek to provide support, it is a difficult gap to bridge. "Parent partners" (parents who have received child welfare services and been successful in rebuilding their lives) can make those connections with other parents to provide positive role models, reduce the sense of isolation and support parents as they journey through crisis.

The initial use of parent partners began 30 years ago in mental health departments as a volunteer support network to mental health professionals. In the mental health world, parents of high-needs children who had successfully navigated the challenges of the mental health system often wanted to support other families going through the same thing. Parent partners became a valuable resource for service providers as well as for the families being served.

The concept of parent partners grew into the field of child welfare/CPS nearly 10 years ago, but it wasn't until the child welfare reform of 2001 that social service agencies in California really took notice. With a renewed focus of providing families with the support they need, social workers began to see the value in teaming up with parents who were once clients of the system.

"It's a difficult system to work through, especially dealing with court proceedings," explains Greg Colver, a former parent partner from Kern County. "Parents who have lost custody and then successfully reunified with their children are in a unique position to understand what other parents are going through."

Colver is now a parent partner specialist with the Resource Center for Family-Focused Practice, a part of The Center for Human Services at UC Davis Extension. He is using his years of experience as a parent receiving services as well as being a parent partner to assist in the development and implementation of a new training program for parent partners.

As a relatively new concept in child welfare, the parent partner model is developing its own unique identity. With the leadership of parent partners from eight counties throughout California, the training program will support standards, code of ethics, knowledge and skills needed to be effective parent partners. Parent partners provide more than emotional support—they reinforce the information, guidance and services provided by child welfare social workers and other service providers.

"Parent partners do not replace social workers. They are a part of the team of parents, family members, social workers and other service providers, journeying together to meet the family's needs and ensure the safety of all family members," explains Debbie Yip, director of the Resource Center for Family-Focused Practice.

The new training program will enable county child welfare agencies to explore the parent partner model as one opportunity to meet the federal government's expectation for family engagement and inclusion.

Greg Colver already knows that this work is making a difference. "My favorite part of being a partner is seeing parents get their children back—knowing how grateful they are…and knowing first hand what that feels like."