Q&A
Building trust with families and addressing concerns about ACS involvement
1:46:31
·
3 min
Council Member Stevens raises concerns about families' reluctance to be honest with preventive service workers due to their connection with ACS. Commissioner Dannhauser outlines strategies to build trust and improve service delivery.
- ACS is working to support preventive providers in communities where they have deeper trust
- Families can access services without going through an investigation
- ACS is implementing school-based early support programs to serve families without formal case openings
- The agency acknowledges the need to rely on services outside of the ACS continuum to address trust issues
- ACS is exploring partnerships with other city agencies, like the health department, to provide some services
Althea V. Stevens
1:46:31
Yeah.
1:46:31
I mean, that that has been one of the things that I've heard a lot, which is, like, folks especially who, you know, work late night, they can't find childcare.
1:46:38
So even having flexibility of having someone do it, they might not have someone that they can trust.
1:46:42
That can then lead to a kid.
1:46:43
Right.
1:46:43
So I think it's it's a revolving door.
1:46:45
So I think that it's definitely something that we need to be thinking about and strategizing, especially with all these programs that keep happening that I think are kinda duplicative.
1:46:52
This is something that I think we have not even tried to really solve as a city.
1:46:57
So we definitely love to to to think through some ideas around that.
1:47:02
Some families, state that they cannot be honest with preventive service workers about their true needs and true nature of their family's hardship because preventive services work for ACS or in contact with them.
1:47:14
And so preventative, services workers are often connected directly to ACS or foster care agencies where the child's are placed.
1:47:20
How can ACS build trust with these families to receive preventative services?
1:47:24
I mean, I I used to say this all the time to a lot of agencies where it's like, you're the provider, you're the funder, you're all the things, and then we're trying to have open dialogue.
1:47:33
So how how do how do you build trust?
1:47:36
And I know especially specifically when you think about, like, black and brown communities who have a rate of removal than other folks, like, why would I trust you to be here to help now?
1:47:46
So what are you doing to kinda rebuild some of that trust?
Jess Dannhauser
1:47:50
Yeah.
1:47:50
A lot of this goes to the the work to support our preventive providers in community where they have, in some instances, deeper trust and, to use sort of a lot of conversation that Luisa and her team have been bringing together to hear what different providers do, to build that trust.
1:48:12
I think it also is important that families, don't have to come for an investigation to get that service.
1:48:18
I think that will help.
1:48:20
An example, you know, a lot of providers who do this very well embed the preventive services within their whole continuum of services.
1:48:28
So they provide tax support or they provide citizenship help or they provide language support.
1:48:35
And I think having a place where, it's known in the community, I think that is very, very key.
1:48:43
I also think some of the work that we're doing to try in in school based early support, to try to serve families without signing up for a case, nobody wants to be a case, is really critical here.
1:48:56
Using our skills, like motivational interviewing as well, to make sure that we're setting goals and being helpful to families.
1:49:03
We have a lot of work to do in this regard.
1:49:05
I also think it's important that we rely on services outside of our continuum.
1:49:09
We we walk with extraordinary power at ACS.
1:49:12
Right?
1:49:13
We can remove a child from their home.
1:49:14
Mhmm.
1:49:15
And so, it's important for us to acknowledge that the services don't always have to be from ACS.
1:49:21
And we're consistently looking at we're having conversations with the health department right now about ways in which they might be able to provide some services.
1:49:28
So those are sort of longer term planning conversations, but very important ones.
Althea V. Stevens
1:49:32
No.
1:49:33
I actually really appreciate that because I think sometimes ACS does make an assumption.
1:49:38
It's like, yes, you do have that power, and so that lingers where it's like, I don't want my child taken away.
1:49:43
And so sometimes it does make sense to say how do we, you know, shift it somewhere else where families feel more comfortable.
1:49:49
So I actually do appreciate that that is even part of the thought process because sometimes, you know, families might not feel that way.
1:49:58
Since, 20, 2000, ACS has made a significant policy shift in reducing children's enrollment to foster care, and shifting them to preventative services.
1:50:07
How does ACS measure long term impact of preventative services program on family stability, child welfare outcomes?
