YOUR VOICE.

January 2012

Cass Elias McCarter Guardian ad Litem Program

R’s That Help Heal5Palmetto PowerS.C. Family Finding

2012: The Year of the GAL

Inside this issue:

Happy New Year! Cass Elias McCarter Guardian ad Litem Program

YOUR VOICE.contents

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 2

YOUR VOICE.3 Letter to GALsState Director, Louise Cooper, shares an important secret to child advocacy.

4 Law UpdateViginia Ravenel, GAL General Counsel, gives insight on treatment plan completion.

4 Stop BullyingAround the state, many of our children are vicitims of bullying. Learn what you can do as an advocate.

5 Family FindingAs featured previously on the National CASA website, Louise Cooper explains Fostering Connections.

6 Palmetto PowerDSS aims to improve outcomes for children and families in S.C.

8 Resources2012 is The Year of the Guardian! Enjoy the list of why being a GAL rocks and get great online tips and resources for advocates.

Connect With Us

Normally equated with renewal and chances to start over, for many January signifies another opportunity to “get it right.” We are pleased to be an organization that embodies dedicated volunteers who strive to help children be placed in safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible. Some of you have won public awards for your volunteerism and advocacy while others of you may have only received the reward of knowing that you did your best in helping a child. In either case, we commend you! At times, this work may not be the easiest task to take on but you continually press on for the children. We may not always have all of the answers and sometimes may wrestle with thoughts of uncertainty in deciding what is in the best interest of the lives of children and teens with whom we work.

Take the time out this year to renew your mind and challenge your present ways of thinking. This is the time to “get it right”. Attend continuing educa-tion classes offered by your county, check out a conference, turn in your monitoring and court reports on time, visit your children more (though they might not admit it at times, this makes a world of difference to them), engage your community in child advocacy issues, and fearlessly use your voice to speak up for the children who have been placed in your life.

How will you step up and “get it right” in 2012? We are looking for inspira-tional stories about our volunteers and the children they represent. We also would like to know what topics and issues you would like to see addressed in our quarterly newsletters. Your feedback is needed and welcomed. May you each enjoy the new year and continue to use your voice to positively impact a child’s future.

Wendi Rodgers,Editor

Questions or comments about the newsletter? Ideas for a story? Want to become a volunteer? Contact me at wrodgers@oepp.sc.gov or 864-467-2664.

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1-800-277-0113www.scgal.org

January 2012 SCGAL.ORG

I want to share with you one of the greatest secrets to child advocacy. The most important thing we do for our children is “being there”. Recent studies of trauma-informed therapy in child abuse and neglect best practices open amazing opportunities for volunteer guardians ad litem to contribute in intentional ways to the healing of abused children.

Trauma-informed child advocacy recognizes that adverse childhood experiences (ACE) may alter or inhibit brain development. Since brain development is sequential, moving from the more basic brain functions to higher cognitive functions, early trauma does more damage. In addition, if the trauma is repeated, occurs as more than one type of trauma or is severe, then the damage is multiplied.

Without intervention, deficits may never be remedied. The traumatized child becomes an adult who functions less than optimally. There are therapies that work to reduce or reverse the effects of trauma. These treatments require consistency, frequency, predictability and a relational quality - how many of your GAL children who are receiving therapy have these conditions met? Add to that, no therapy for trauma works until the child feels safe. You can see why our therapeutic goals for healing abused children are often not reached.

There are actions that volunteer guardians ad litem can take to help children heal, even though we are not therapists. Trauma focused practice includes a need for many adults to provide positive interactions for children. The Five R’s - relevant; repetitive; relational; respectful; rewarding - are characteristics of actions that can facilitate healing.

Right now your actions probably meet the 5 R’s categories. It helps greatly if they are done consistently with knowledge of how they can help. Here are definitions for the 5 R’s:

Relevant: Activities that match the need of the child are relevant. Your child’s therapist can help you know what may be helpful for your child.

Repetitive: Simple, repetitive, patterned activities have a big impact on trauma damage. Some good examples of activities you can have the child do are drumming, tossing or kicking a ball, walking with an adult. Animal therapy or music therapy may also be helpful. When you visit your child,

simple and patterned activities done together add predictability and calm to a life that has been chaotic or deprived previously. This also speaks to the third R – relational.

Relational: the essential element of all effective treatments is positive human interaction. Guardians ad litem really bring this to the table! Consistent visits that occur with predictability start the relationship. Abused or neglected children have little reason to feel that people are good or trustworthy. It will take time to establish that you are a safe, positive relationship. The monthly monitoring visits are not just a legal and policy requirement; the visits are the essence of what makes you an agent of healing for your appointed child. Just by being there you are supplying your child with necessary relational activities that promote stability.

Respectful: Maltreated children are alert to perceived danger. When in fear, we react, not think. This is particularly true for abused children who have developed adaptive behaviors that in a non-abusive setting may seem overblown or combative. Awareness of the reasons for a child’s reactivity can help a volunteer guardian ad litem take calming steps to de-escalate a situation. For example: when a child becomes agitated, walking with the child beside you is repetitive, and relational. It is respectful because it allows the child a chance to self-correct, a valuable lesson to learn.

Rewarding: Behaviors that are rewarding tend to be repeated. Positive activities with you are rewarding. Just being present regularly is relevant, repetitive, relational, respectful and rewarding. If these are the elements of actions that heal and restore traumatized children, then volunteer guardians ad litem are in an excellent position to help.

In the days ahead we will be training more about ACE events and trauma-informed advocacy. In the meantime, remember that you are most valuable to your children for whom you speak when you spend time with them and they can count on you to be there.

Thank you for being there for your appointed children – your caring can make all the difference!

Yours in advocacy,

Louise Cooper, Director

Dear Volunteer Guardians ad Litem, YOUR VOICE.

3January 2012 1-800-277-0113

Sometimes courts will return a child to his home if the parent completes the treatment plan without considering whether the parent’s behaviors have changed. Courts should base decisions about reunification on whether the parent has remedied the conditions that led to removal of the child. The legislature emphasized this in a 2010 law that explained completion of the tasks of the treatment/placement plan “is not itself sufficient basis for return of the child.” (S.C. Code Ann. §63-7-1680(G))

A recent Court of Appeals’ decision, in which DSS recommended TPR and the GAL advocated for

reunification, raised a variation of the issue and discussed the role that a GAL can play in the court’s decision-making. In recommending reunification, the GAL stressed that the mother had remedied the conditions that were the cause for removal of the children. The GAL emphasized that the mother had remained drug-free for twenty months. The court agreed with the GAL, writing that “most importantly, Mother completed an intensive drug treatment program, tested negative for drugs for twenty consecutive months, and obtained suitable housing for Twins.” The court concluded its opinion by stating, “We are influenced by the GAL’s testimony that Mother

has remedied the conditions that caused Twins to be removed from her custody….”

Arguably, the GAL’s opinion, which was based on a thorough and ongoing assessment of the facts and progress of the case, tipped the balance in favor of reunification. As the child’s advocate, assess continually whether the parent has “remedied the conditions” or just “completed the treatment plan.”

You can read the opinion (SCDSS v. Mother and Father (Op. No. 4922)) by linking to: http://www.sccourts.org/opinions/displayOpinion.cfm?caseNo=4922.

The Importance of Remedying ConditionsBy Virginia Ravenel, Guardian ad Litem General Counsel

STOP BULLYING!!!

What Is BullyingBullying is a widespread and serious problem that can happen anywhere. It is not a phase children have to go through, it is not “just messing around”, and it is not something to grow out of. Bullying can cause serious and lasting harm.

Although definitions of bullying vary, most agree that bullying involves:

• Imbalance of Power: people who bully use their power to control or harm and the people being bullied may have a hard time defending themselves

• Intent to Cause Harm: actions done by accident are not bullying; the person bullying has a goal to cause harm

• Repetition: incidents of bullying happen to the same the person over and over by the same person or group

Types of BullyingBullying can take many forms. Examples include:

• Verbal: name-calling, teasing

• Social: spreading rumors, leaving people out on purpose, breaking up friendships

• Physical: hitting, punching, shoving

• Cyberbullying: using the Internet, mobile phones or other digital technologies to harm others

An act of bullying may fit into more than one of these groups.

Visit www.stopbullying.gov to find out more about bullying and ways you can help stop it in your community.

4January 2012 SCGAL.ORG

A workshop on the family finding model that was presented April 2009 at the National CASA Conference in Atlanta listed the terrible outcomes that youth in foster care typically experience when they “age out” of foster care without safe, adult connections. The workshop highlighted the success of several projects that connected youth to biological or fictive kin. Family finding searches establish connections, not necessarily placements. The successful connection is one that will remain in the youth’s life as a stable and safe presence throughout adulthood.

The family finding model is a good fit for the South Carolina Guardian ad Litem Program. Volunteer GALs (commonly referred to as CASA volunteers) understand the family dynamics of abuse and neglect cases and are concerned about the future of children leaving care. The volunteer guardian ad litem pool represents a large workforce with an established interest in the work of connecting youth to relatives. The key in creating a system of family finding services was to earn the cooperation of the Department of Social Services (DSS), the custodial agency. The project would require DSS cooperation in order to make and sustain connections.

When federal grant money became available, South Carolina DSS asked that the guardian ad litem program collaborate to write a Fostering Connections to Success Act federal grant proposal. The three-year grant would include the family finding component, along with a family navigator project. The proposal called for two areas to pilot the family finding model, covering five and six counties respectively.

Fostering Connections-- Family Finding Efforts:South Carolina GAL Program’s ExperienceBy Louise Cooper, Director, Cass Elias McCarter Guardian ad Litem

South Carolina received the grant in October 2009. Two family finding coordinators were hired for the grant-funded project, with the intention that they would coordinate volunteer search and connection activities throughout the state at the grant’s end. Training volunteers to conduct family finding activities in cooperation with DSS provides project sustainability.

Annie E. Casey Foundation staff trained GAL and DSS staff on the fundamentals of family search and engagement. Casey Family Services conducted a business-mapping process session to detail the steps for search and engagement. The mapping process was designed to ensure that the process could be clearly replicated. Key DSS and GAL staff attended and contributed.

The process is this: A referral for family finding services is made to the Fostering Connections coordinator. The coordinator verifies that the referral fits the grant’s parameters: that the youth is 12–18 years of age and has two or fewer existing connections. The Fostering Connections coordinator contacts the DSS case worker or guardian ad litem, whichever is not the referring source, to make him or her aware of the referral. The coordinator begins to “mine” the file at each agency to look for connections that have been present in the child’s life in the past. Internet searches are conducted, as necessary. Once connections are identified, the team of the coordinator, the guardian ad litem volunteer, the GAL staff, and the DSS case worker confer to discuss the appropriateness of any connections identified. The team comes to consensus and preliminary contact is made. The child needs to be involved

in the decision as to whether he or she wishes to make the connection. However, rather than create a disappointment for the youth, it is first established that the potential connection is willing to enter the process. The youth is then engaged. If the youth does not wish to see a connection, then the child’s wishes are honored.

Lessons have been learned in the first two years of the grant. The state office of DSS was enthusiastic about the process; the county DSS offices were often reluctant to participate. Referrals were scarce the first year. The second lesson was that the searches take a great deal more time than originally anticipated. The travel time required to conduct searches in several county locations has slowed connections. When new leadership at the state DSS made the referrals a priority, the influx of referrals overwhelmed the coordinators and required that volunteers be trained to assist the coordinators immediately rather than in the third year of the grant.

Altogether, 38 connections have been made. Although far below the goal set, these connections have created a working template for taking the family finding model statewide through the use of volunteer guardians ad litem who choose to be involved in this process. Over 60 GAL staff and volunteers have been trained to conduct searches around the state, and there is now an emphasis in volunteer pre-service training on maintaining the trail of family and fictive kin that will hopefully keep any of our youth from being in danger of aging out of the system alone.

This article originally appeared as a featured article on the Judges Page on

www.casaforchildren.org.

5January 2012 1-800-277-0113

Palmetto PowerThe Power of the P2 Approach

Palmetto Power!

Just what is it? Is it a rally cry of spirited South Carolinians with state pride? What comes to mind when you hear that phrase?

If you draw a blank in mentions of Palmetto Power (P2) you are not alone. However, DSS has developed a series of trainings for children and family organizations, community partners and stakeholders to help improve outcomes for children and families in S.C.

The interactive discussion sessions allow for participation and focus on positive permanencies for children placed in foster care. The information and data provided allows participants to develop hypotheses to case situations and develop strategies and action steps for them. Implementing the strategies and following- up on them are also part of the process to ensure improved outcomes for families and children.

The program is heavily influenced by leadership and focuses on “imperatives”, a set of values so powerful that it cannot help but drive new behaviors. In various scenarios, individuals are forced to make decisions where behaviors are linked to what is right. P2 ignites conversations about what is the right work and how to go about doing it. What once was deemed as acceptable, though murky, outcomes will now be considered unacceptable.

There are several emerging imperatives that P2 introduces.

• At all times, the child’s immediate and enduring safety and well being must take precedence over the comfort of adults.

• Children must never be left to protect or provide for themselves or others; that is the role of all responsible adults.

• Children do not “disrupt”. Adults fail to provide the adequate level of response to meet the child(ren)’s need.

• All adults who provide care for children should always be clearly supported by a responsive and caring community of resources/people to sustain and increase all caregivers’ protective capacity.

To pursue these values, DSS has also created “Sweet Spot” behaviors to help improve outcomes for children and families across the state. To successfully implement the values of the program, attendees are challenged to modify their thoughts and push beyond mediocrity by coming up with stronger permanency solutions.

What can children and family service organizations, community partners and stakeholders, and advocates expect from these sessions? Through the session discussions, they can expect to be presented with specific data and information on specific outcomes, develop hypotheses, develop strategies and actions steps and implement strategies and follow up.

6January 2012 SCGAL.ORG

61 months or mores

Act and speak as if we believed that we are not enslaved to our current reality.

Articulate new and enlightened view of what is possible.

Make space in each inquiry for the talents and thinking of all who want to contribute.

Create “Aha Moments”.

Use your presence to coax new potentialities from the willing as well as the unwilling.

Sign up for homework: Learn by trying.

Make the data transparent and the process accountable for results.

The Goals of Palmetto Power Sessions

Number Of Months In Care & Exit Type

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

17-24 Months 25 to 36 Months

37 to 48 Months

49 to 60 Months

61 Months or More

Positive Permanency Exits 271 246 142 71 52Non-Positive Permanency Exits 85 86 69 42 160

Num

ber

of E

xits

What trend do you notice in this data?

Positive Permanency Exits

Non- Positive Permanency Exits

Num

ber o

f Exi

ts

17-24 months 37-48 months 49-60 months 61 months or more25-36 months

27185

24686

14269

7142

52160

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

The next P2 session will be 1/26/12 in Columbia. Call your county office for more information.

7January 2012 1-800-277-0113

2012: The Year of the Guardian

Can you name 366 Reasons to be a Guardian ad Litem?

Just in case you’ve ever been discouraged, frustrated, or suffered from burn out by working on your cases, you now have encouraging reminders to keep you pumped and motivated to continually make a difference in the lives of children. In our social media efforts for 2012, you can now read daily posts on why being a GAL is awesome and the benefits it offers to the children we serve. Everyone is still encouraged to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GalVolunteerSC and, for the socially savvy, Twitter, at www.twitter.com/GALVolunteersSC. These are both great platforms to interact with the community and share thoughts and concerns about the welfare of children. As always, you can also visit us on the web at www.scgal.org. Join us online today and witness The Year of the Guardian .

2012 National CASA Conference June 9-12, 2012, Washington, DCEach year, more than 1,400 CASA and guardian ad litem staff, board members, volunteers, judges, attorneys and other child welfare professionals gather to connect with peers and learn from leaders in the field.

As one CASA volunteer said, people who come to National CASA’s multi-disciplinary conference are “people who believe that kids count.”

Visit www.casaforchildren.org for more conference details.

Online Resources

www.casaforchildren.org

www.fosterclub.com

www.jimcaseyyouth.org

www.casey.org

www.sidran.org

www.stopbullying.gov

The websites listed below each offer valuable, up to date information that can help you in your advocacy for children. Please visit each of them and take advantage of the materials available to you.

8January 2012 SCGAL.ORG