Upcoming Events

The Resource Center for Family-Focused Practice and the California Department of Social Services are proud to announce the following FREE webinar:

Maternal and Infant/Child Health: Collaborative Strategies to Serve Substance-Exposed Newborns and Mothers

Date and time
Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 9-10:30 a.m.

Although prenatal drug exposure can have immediate and latent effects on children, current research indicates that the post-natal environment is a critical factor in child outcomes. Early identification and intervention with mothers, infants and families not only gives substance-exposed newborns the opportunity to achieve their full potential—it also saves society billions of dollars in health care, special education and child welfare services.

A Helping Hand: Mother to Mother is a demonstration project funded primarily by the Children’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to implement the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) requirement to identify and serve substance-exposed newborns (SENs). It is a collaborative project led by Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Department of Children and Families (Child Welfare). Brandeis University provides the evaluation.

This webinar session examines a comprehensive, coordinated and effective system of care for SENs, their mothers and families, through effective engagement in services and collaboration among service providers.

Topics of discussion include:

• use of peer recovery model
• identification and implementation of best practices
• ensuring timely availability of critical services and expertise
• development of training and education
• continuous service quality improvement
• enhancement of policies

Strength-based, family-centered and culturally competent services and interventions are also shared, including outcomes from three pilot sites.

Presenters
Enid Watson, Project Director, A Helping Hand, Institute for Health and Recovery, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Cambridge, Mass.

Neal Michaels, Director, Early Intervention and Special Projects, Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, Boston, Mass.

How to enroll
To enroll for the webinar, please go to: http://www.peopleware.net/2710a and complete the online registration form. Please be sure to select the course numbered 084WIS784. You will receive a confirmation email with dial-in instructions for the audio portion of the webinar and a link to view the visual presentation.

We recommend you join the webinar at least 15 minutes before the start time to ensure you do not miss any valuable information.

If you have any questions, please call (530) 757-8643 and ask to speak to Jason Bowman or Nicole Garello.

About the Presenters
Enid Watson is the director of Screening and Early Identification Projects at the Institute for Health and Recovery, and the project director of A Helping Hand: Mother to Mother (AHH), a CAPTA demonstration project based in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. AHH works to enhance identification of and services for substance-exposed newborns, their mothers and families, and to build collaborations with child welfare and early intervention programs. She also provides clinical supervision to the Peer Recovery Workers who work with the mothers of substance-exposed newborns. Watson is also the Massachusetts Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders state coordinator.

Neal Michaels is the director of Early Intervention and Special Projects at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families in Boston. He is the DCF liaison to A Helping Hand: Mother to Mother CAPTA Project, looking at implementing the CAPTA requirement involving the identification and treatment of substance-exposed newborns and their families. He is also the co-principal investigator on a new project funded by the Children’s Bureau looking an implementation of a peer model and in-home substance use treatment for DCF-involved families.

System requirements

Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista

• Internet Explorer 6/7
• Firefox 2/3
• Chrome 1
• JavaScript and cookies enabled
• Recommend ActiveX be enabled for Internet Explorer
• Intel or AMD processor (1GHz or faster)
• At least 512 MB RAM (at least 2 GB RAM for Vista)

Solaris 10

• Mozilla 1.7
• Firefox 2/3
• JavaScript and cookies enabled
• Requires Sun Java 5 or higher
• No support for Remote Access
• SPARC or Intel or AMD processor
• At least 1 GB RAM

Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5

• Safari 3
• Firefox 2/3
• JavaScript and cookies enabled
• Requires Apple Java 5 or higher
• No support for Remote Access
• PowerPC G4/G5 or Intel processor
• At least 512 MB RAM

HP-UX 11.11

• Mozilla 1.7
• Firefox 2
• JavaScript and cookies enabled
• Requires Sun Java 5 or higher
• Only Meeting Center supported
• PA-RISC processor
• At least 1 GB RAM

Ubuntu 8.04, Fedora 8, Red Hat 5, OpenSuSE 10.3

• Firefox 2/3
• Mozilla 1.7
• JavaScript and cookies enabled
• Requires Sun Java 5 or higher
• No support for Remote Access
• At least 512 MB RAM

AIX 5L 5.3

• Mozilla 1.6
• Firefox 2
• JavaScript and cookies enabled
• Requires IBM Java 5 or higher
• Only Meeting Center supported
• At least 1 GB RAM

Previously Held Events

Child Abuse Prevention Treatment Act Webinar:
Screening Tools and Evidence Tested Practice

Date and time
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 9-10:30 a.m.

This presentation will review evidence-based approaches to screening children for developmental and social-emotional problems. The particular risk of children in the foster care system will be identified. Specific screening tools will be reviewed. Current best practices will be described. Strategies for linking children to necessary services will be outlined.

Presenter
Penny Knapp, M.D., is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of California, Davis where she served as chief of the Division of Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry. She has several dozen refereed publications in the field of child psychiatry. She is currently the medical director for the California Department of Mental Health. Her principal current interests include prevention and early intervention for high-risk parents, infants and toddlers, evidence-based practices for mental health services and screening and intervention in primary care settings for children with social-emotional, behavioral and relationship problems.

Early Childhood System of Care: Orange County Public Health Nursing Program

Date and time
Thursday, May 28, 2009, 9 - 10:30 a.m.

This informative presentation will highlight a public health nursing program using a collaboration between a county health care agency and social services agency to implement the developmental screening of children in foster care. The programs rationale for development, goals, process for implementation and partnerships will be reviewed. Current challenges and opportunities for resolution will also be provided.

Presenters
Sarah Hoang, M.P.H., R.N., is currently a public health nursing supervisor for the Early Childhood System of Care as well as the Emergency Response Public Health Nursing programs with the Orange County Health Care Agency. She is also associate faculty at West Coast University's Nursing Department and teaches Public Health Nursing Theory and Public Health Nursing Practicum.

Virginia Schellberg, M.S.W., received a bachelor degree in social work from California State University, Long Beach, and a Master’s in Social Work from University of Southern California. She has 30 years of experience in social work, medical, psychiatric, child protective services, and behaviorally challenged and mentally ill youth and their families. As Senior Social Services Supervisor, she currently supervises staff who job is to place newly detained and adjudicated children into the home of a relative or NREFM within 23 hours.

Kathryn D. Schwabl, M.S., R.N., is currently a senior public health nurse with Orange County Health Care Agency’s Early Childhood System of Care (ECSOC). In this capacity, she provides short-term, health related case management services for children ages 0-5 years entering the child welfare system. She also has experience as a school health program manager, teacher and school administrator.

John Zeimantz is responsible for the implementation and coordination of California's Early Start Program through the Regional Center of Orange County. This federal program charges all states to have a comprehensive system in place to serve all infants and toddlers (0-3 years of age) who have developmental disabilities or who may be at risk to have a developmental disability. This program is governed through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Orange County serves more children ages 0-3 than any other county in California and has more infants and toddlers in this system than most states and in many countries.

Funding Streams

Date and time
Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 9-10:30 a.m.

This presentation provides an overview of how Medi-Cal establishes rates and the developmental screening codes that can be used for billing the fee for service (FFS) Medi-Cal. The webinar also includes relevant policies associated with the codes, challenges relating to the codes and future changes.

Presenters
Todd Sosna, Ph.D. is a senior training, research and policy associate at the California Institute for Mental Health (CIMH), specializing in the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices. Prior to working for CIMH, Sosna was the assistant director of mental health for Santa Barbara County and responsible for directing the county’s children’s system of care and the mental health Medi-Cal managed care plan. He has extensive expertise in mental health, probation, child welfare, systems of care and Wraparound programs, evaluation and financing.

Richmond Rada, California Department of Health Care Services

Legislation: How It Drives the Implementation of Developmental and Mental Health Screens

Date and time
Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 9-10:30 a.m.

This course is intended to show how past and present legislation, on both the federal and state levels, drives the requirements for developmental and mental health screens for children in the child welfare system.

Presenters
Adreena Lowe, M.S.W., Ed.D., State Consultant, California Department of Social Services

Cheryl Treadwell, Bureau Chief, California Department of Social Services