APRIL 2003 SPOTLIGHT:

APRIL IS CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH

Prevention is an essential component of a community’s response to child abuse and neglect. It may be even more important when working with refugee families and other newcomers to the United States, since so much may be new to them about family life in this country, as well as the risks to children here.

Connecting parents to available services and other sources of support, and educating them about local laws related to family issues, such as on the supervision of children and definitions of abuse and neglect, can help prepare parents for success in their most important job in this new country—raising their children.

Local agencies are vital to child abuse and prevention efforts. They are ideal liaisons for refugees and other newcomers to a local community’s services and laws, and are well positioned to watch for indications of potential harm to children.

BRYCS Tools for Local Refugee and Child Serving Agencies

Recognizing the importance of local family-oriented programs, BRYCS will soon offer a comprehensive manual, Strengthening Services for Refugee Parents, based on interviews with twenty-eight programs in the U.S. Watch the BRYCS homepage for information on how to order the manual.

The responsibility for preventing child abuse and neglect is not just in the hands of parents, or in agencies acting alone. Collaboration among service providers is also essential. To help foster this collaboration, BRYCS has developed and tested a cross-service training methodology that enables refugee community associations, resettlement organizations, child welfare agencies, and others to understand each other’s work, share resources, and develop pathways for ongoing communication. BRYCS’ Cross-service Training Curriculum will be available through this website late this spring. Watch the BRYCS homepage for information on how to order it.

Please see the resources noted under “What’s New” on our current homepage for more ideas and background on child abuse prevention and collaboration.

Partnership in St. Louis, MO

For Child Abuse Prevention Month, BRYCS shines a spotlight on an impressive example of collaboration at the local level, between the International Institute of Metropolitan St. Louis and the Missouri Department of Social Services, Division of Family Services (DFS), Child Abuse Investigation and Assessment Unit in St. Louis City. It blends commitment to inter-agency collaboration, child protection, and support for refugee parents during abuse and neglect investigations.

This partnership was created three years ago, after both agencies recognized that a refugee family case had not gone well. Since then, the International Institute and DFS have together served 15 families through intensive services on child abuse and neglect, and about 35 other families with shorter-term interventions on such issues as educational neglect. Over time, key members have delved deeper into child abuse and neglect prevention activities, while working to both institutionalize the partnership and expand the network.

The core of the partnership is a coordinated process for reporting and investigating potential cases. A social worker at International Institute, as a mandated reporter of signs of child abuse and neglect, works with other case managers in her agency to determine if a refugee family’s situation should be reported to Missouri’s statewide hotline for abuse and neglect. If the decision is made to do so, International Institute lines up a team, often consisting of the social worker, an interpreter, and the family’s resettlement case manager, to accompany the family through the process. International Institute then notifies the St. Louis DFS about the type of case to expect and informs the family in question before calling the state hotline. The manager for the DFS Child Abuse Investigation and Assessment Unit then hand-picks a worker sensitive to the language and culture involved in the case. The two agencies connect and start planning their response, even before the formal hotline call is made.

The result is a better system of communication and support for the family, which improves the quality of assessment and subsequent interventions.

International Institute and DFS are working to foster prevention on both the family and the community level. According to DFS, with this partnership in place, most refugee families reported for investigation of abuse and neglect are connected to supportive services, and very few children must be placed out of their parents’ homes.

On the community level, staff from both agencies have together initiated Boy Scout and Brownie troops at a local elementary school having a large percentage of refugee children. These programs were selected for their good child-protection policies and character building activities. This preventive approach may be the catalyst for new connections, as International Institute and DFS are working with a mental health provider to develop a school-based approach to address war trauma in refugee families.

International Institute and DFS meet monthly to coordinate on current cases, and have plans for staff at both agencies to “cross-train” by shadowing each other at work. Following the BRYCS 2002 pilot site activities and cross-service training in St. Louis, a work group is forming, with participation from DFS, International Institute and a wider group of refugee-serving agencies, to address additional system and community issues. These and other activities both institutionalize and expand on the existing partnership between International Institute and DFS.

Reminder

Watch our homepage for information on the BRYCS manual titled Strengthening Services for Refugee Parents and our Cross-Service Training Curriculum, as well as how to apply for free, On-Site Parent Services Consultation.