Permanency Enhancement

ProjectPeoria, Illinois

Jennifer La Fever

Elizabeth Morgan

Amy Roman

12-03-08

Peoria Action Team Project

Action Team Meeting Action Team Project

Data Collection Interviews of Community Leaders Development of an Informational Brochure Identification of Community Stakeholders

Peoria County DataPeoria County Population by Age

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

Num

ber o

f Res

iden

ts Under 18 years18 to 64 years65 years and over

Peoria County Population by Race

76.90%

17.40%

2.70%

0.10%

2.60%

0.10%

1.30%

1.60%

0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00%

Two or more racesOtherPacific IslanderAsianAmerican IndianHispanicAfrican AmericanCaucasian

Research and statistical data from across the state are indicating that there are discrepancies in indicated child abuse and neglect reports that clients of different ethnicities are receiving

Peoria County (2007) Children Under 18

28311

12561

Caucasian African American

Peoria County (2007) Indicated Cases

279

339

Caucasian African American

African Americans: have had more substantiated reports within 12 months; experienced more substitute care placements within a year; entered and stayed in care longer; more were placed in a group home or institution; and more were placed in kinship care.

Peoria County (2007) Children in Care

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Traditional FosterCare

Specialized FosterCare

Kinship Care Institutional/GroupCare

Type of Placement

Nu

mb

er o

f C

hil

dre

n

Caucasian African American

Why are African American children so grossly over-represented? Pope and Feyerherm’s (1995) research

Racism lays at all levels of the system and begins from the first encounter that a family has with an authority figure (police or DCFS investigator)

At every single decision check point that a youth makes through the juvenile justices system, African Americans are over-represented

Pope, C. E. & Feyerherm, W. (1995). Minorities and the juvenile justice system: Research summary. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice, Washington, DC. 1-26.

What can be done to address the over-representation?

National Center for Cultural Competence (2007) has several suggestions:

develop program initiatives to address these differences, which should include educating local communities and agencies on the prevalence of the problem

agencies should conduct self assessments to check where they stand in their attitudes, procedures, policies, and staff towards cultural competence

programs should be tailored to meet the needs of a diverse array of families and clients (later hours, etc)

above all, ongoing assessment and training are critical in identifying discrepancies and correcting them

Goode, T. & Jones, W. (2007). A guide for advancing family-centered and culturally and linguistically competent care. Washington, DC: National Center for Cultural Competence,

Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development.

Central Region Permanency Enhancement Project

From Robert Blackwell, Central Region Administrator for Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, March 14, 2007:

The Central Region Permanency Enhancement Symposium was held in 2007 and represents the culmination of a six year process to address the over representation of African American children in foster care that began with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services African American Advisory Council. During this period, representatives from the Council met with several directors of the Department to discuss the role, philosophy and practice of staff that affected the safety, permanency and well-being of African American children in care. The issues presented focused on examining our current practices and how to engage birth parents, community stakeholders, and child welfare professionals to provide better results . . . with the goal of reducing over representation of African American children in care.”

Goals of the CRPEP Team

1.Reduce overrepresentation of African American youth in foster care2.Improve Return Home permanency outcomes3.Maintain children in the home4.Improve Adoption/Guardianship permanency outcomes

The overall goal of DCFS is to provide quicker reunification and to prevent entry into the system. It is of high priority to move clients through the system as quickly as possible to gain permanent outcomes in a timely fashion.

QuickTime™ and a

decompressorare needed to see this picture.

Next Meeting:

Peoria County Courthouse 324 Main St. Peoria, IL

January 8, 2009 11:30 a.m.

CRPEP December 2008

Number of Children2004 Peoria County Caucasian African AmericanPermanency at 12 months 14 8Permanency at 24 months 28 28Permanency at 36 months 58 52

Median Length of Stay (months) 33 31*University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

2007 Peoria County StatisticsCaucasians under 18 28,311

African American under 18 12,561

Caucasian child abuse reports 279

African American child abuse 339

*U.S. Census Bureau

Number of Children

2007 in Peoria County Caucasian African American

Traditional Foster 68 133Specialized Foster 52 103Kinship Care 83 177Institutional/Group 10 22*U.S. Census Bureau

Current Participants

CASA

DCFS

GAL

State’s Attorney

Children’s Home

Lutheran Social Services

Catholic Social Services

Judges

Family to Family

ISU School of Social Work

South Side Mission

Current Participants

CASA

DCFS

GAL

State’s Attorney

Children’s Home

Lutheran Social Services

Catholic Social Services

Judges

Family to Family

ISU School of Social Work

South Side Mission

Current CRPEP

Team Projects

-Recruitment of foster homes in specific areas and populations

-Reducing time in care and addressing the issues and barriers that exist

-Improving staff training as there appears to be inadequate foundations training as staff are unprepared for court

-Continue to the next step regarding a cross-training needs assessment that has been completed

-Standardization of counseling and treatment reports to make charts easier to understand

-Utilize in-service trainings to train staff with outside speakers

-Addressing communication breakdown between DCFS and private agencies, case workers, supervisors, and management regarding court report problems

Web Links of

Interest

DCFS

http://www.state.il.us/dcfs/index.shtml

CASA

http://www.nationalcasa.org/