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A Framework for Addressing Disproportionality in Child Welfare: The Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Reducing Disproportionality and Disparate Outcomes for Children and Families of Color in the Child Welfare System Oronde Miller Casey Family Programs Disproportionality Teleconference Slides July 26, 2005 The Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Reducing Disproportionality and Disparate Outcomes: An Overview • What is a Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC)? • The BSC Process • What makes a BSC different? • What is the BSC Framework for Change? • Defining Success What is a Breakthrough Series Collaborative? • A Continuous Quality Improvement Method – Uses small, rapid tests (PDSAs) to create change – Measures results on an ongoing basis • A Systems Improvement Method – Focuses on achieving improvements in a specific topic in child welfare – Grounds work in a specific structure (Framework for Change) to address all parts of the system • A Collaboration among committed teams – Generates new and better ideas quickly – Creates opportunities to assess similar strategies in different agencies and with different populations The Breakthrough Series Collaborative Process: Reducing Disproportionality and Disparate Outcomes for Children and Families of Color in the Child Welfare System Select Participants Select Topic Prototyping/ Pre-work Expert Meeting Develop Framework and Measures P A P A D S LS 1 D S LS 2 LS 3 Supports E-mail Extranet Phone Assessments Monthly Reports Adapted from © 2001 Institute for Healthcare Improvement What Makes a BSC Different? • Anyone can have and test ideas grounded in the framework. • Consensus is NOT needed • Changes happen at all levels (not just the top) • All Framework components must be addressed • Ideas are stolen shamelessly • Successes are spread quickly • Measurement is for improvement • Rapid Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles are used • SPREAD is based on successful tests of change What is the BSC Framework for Change? • Developed to guide the work of teams participating in this Breakthrough Series Collaborative. • Describes the key components that child welfare systems must address to reduce and ultimately eliminate these racial disparities. • Not prescriptive, but instead identifies eight principles to guide action and seven key component areas that if addressed in policy, programming, practice and training are likely to lead to positive outcomes. Guiding Assumptions: What factors contribute to racial disproportionality and disparate outcomes? • Multiple disadvantages that are social, political, economic, and attitudinal in nature. • Relevant factors include poverty, classism, racism, organizational culture, service strategies, and resources. • No significant racial differences in rates of child maltreatment, suggesting influence of race in institutional response and decision making… resulting in racial disproportionality. Role of Structural Racism • Definition of Structural Racism: …the complex ways in which historical oppression, culture, ideology, political economy, public policy and institutional practices interact to produce forms of racial sorting that reproduce and reinforce a hierarchy of color that privileges whiteness and marginalizes blackness. Definition developed by The Aspen Institute. Retrieved online at: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/Programt3.asp?/=83&bid=1246) Role of Structural Racism (cont.) The Structural Racism lens allows us to see and understand: a) the racial legacy of our past; [historical context] b) how racism persists in our national policies, institutional practices, and cultural representations; [present-day manifestation] c) how racism is transmitted and either amplified or mitigated through public, private, and community institutions; [role of institutions] d) how individuals internalize and respond to racialized structures. [individual responses] Taken from Structural Racism and Community Building; published by The Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change. June 2004. p.12. Key Principles • Safety and Permanence • Family-centered • Cultural competence • Minimum level of intrusion • Strengths-based framework • Continued connectedness to family and community • Open dialogue regarding race and racism • Continuous assessment • Advocacy • Cross-systems collaboration • Community partnerships Seven Key Components 1. Design agency mission, vision, values, policies and protocols that support anti-racist practice. 2. Develop cross-system leadership to address issues related to disproportionality and disparity in outcomes for children and families of color in the child welfare system. 3. Collaborate with key stakeholders to support families in the context of their communities and tribes so as to safely divert them away from the child welfare system, whenever possible. 4. Agency partners with the community about child maltreatment, disproportionality, racism and culture to focus on how communities can develop strategies to build the protective capacity of neighborhoods, tribes, and families. 5. Train and educate the agency staff and stakeholders about institutional and structural racism and its impact on decision-making, policy and practice. 6. Use cultural values, beliefs and practices of families, communities and tribes to shape family assessment, case planning, case service design and the case decision making process. 7. Develop and use data in partnership with families, communities, universities, staff, courts and other stakeholders to assess agency success at key decision points in addressing disproportionality and disparate outcomes for children of color in the child welfare system. Defining Success • Participating jurisdictions will contribute to the development of child welfare systems that are free of structural racism and benefit all children, families and communities by: Engaging with a group of other jurisdictions in critical change activities. Creating environments in which strategies can be developed and tested. Developing a cadre of leaders across the country who are working toward solutions. Creating and sustaining partnerships to advance the work. Disseminating lessons learned. Contact Information Oronde A. Miller Manager, Systems Improvement Methodology Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Reducing Disproportionality and Disparate Outcomes for Children and Families of Color in the Child Welfare System 1808 Eye Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20006 Phone: (202) 467-4441 Fax: (202) 467-4499 Web: www.casey.org fostering families. fostering change.