About

This toolkit was born out of Pennsylvania’s desire to improve safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes for the children, youth and families served by the child welfare system. The collaborative development of this resource was guided by data and information gathered through Pennsylvania’s Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) efforts which have been designed to evaluate and improve how the state’s Child Welfare Practice Model is being demonstrated both at the systemic level as well as through the daily practice behaviors and skills of professionals. Through the federal Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) as well as through PA’s Quality Service Reviews (QSRs) we have heard the stories of children, families and child welfare professionals. As a result, we have seen evidence and gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of the many benefits that occur when strong engagement behaviors and skills are being practiced. Unfortunately, we have also learned that engagement efforts have been disproportionate across populations and special emphasis needs to be placed on special populations including fathers and non-custodial, incarcerated and out of state parents.

Case reviews have shown that families are more likely to achieve positive outcomes when the following engagement practice behaviors and skills are being exercised:

Strengths, needs, and goals are reviewed with parents and caregivers on a frequent basis. This includes:

• Adjusting one's language to align with the age and developmental level of parents, children, and youth has shown to promote strong case planning;


• Viewing non-custodial parents as key case participants and engaging them at the same frequency as custodial parents and caregivers;


• Maintaining consistent communication with parents who are incarcerated


• Careful documentation of efforts made to meet with and engage the parents even when efforts were not successful;


• Using multiple methods of assessment to better understand needs; and


• Formal assessments such as professional evaluations used in conjunction with informal assessment approaches such as intentional conversations were more likely to achieve goals and objectives

Consistent and meaningful conversations with family members regarding developing case goals. Developing case plans include:

• Inviting and supporting involvement of children and parents in case planning meetings to welcome and encourage their input


• Using formal case planning meetings such as family group decision making (FGDM) conferences rather than informal arrangements can lead to developing a stronger case plan; and


• Identify appropriate services to meet the needs of the parents and children being served and ensuring that services are offered/provided for each of the needs identified.


• Discovering and inviting family and kin to be engaged in the case planning process.

Monitoring and adjusting practice to maintain family involvement throughout the life of the case. This includes:

• Consistently communicate case plan goals during caseworker visits with parents to promote clear direction and understanding;


• Making regular adjustments to case planning and being responsive to case needs by follow-up regarding whether services offered are being used and meeting appropriate needs of the parents and children being served; and


• Increasing the frequency of visits with parents during more challenging times