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Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s partnership with the Oregon Department of Human Services within child welfare, is to implement Family to Family practice values and strategies throughout the state of Oregon. Four sites, Klamath, Jackson, Marion and East Multnomah Branches, initially implemented Family to Family practice standards. Plans are now being developed to expand Family to Family practice statewide.
Family to Family is committed to improving results for children and families involved in the child welfare system, including:
- reducing the number of children served away from their birth families;
- having available neighborhood resources in the child’s neighborhood when it is necessary to place children in care;
- decreasing the length of stay for children in placement;increasing the number of children returned to their birth families;
- decreasing the number of children re-entering placement; reducing the number of placement moves as well as increasing the number of brothers and sisters placed together;
- reducing any disparities associated with race/ethnicity, gender, or age in each of these outcomes.
The Department is committed to achieving these changes in the child welfare system and is implementing four core strategies:
- Recruitment, training and supporting resource families –
- finding families who can support children among the families in the child’s own neighborhood;
- Building community partnerships - establishing relationships with community members in the neighborhoods where referral rates are high and collaborating to create an environment that supports families involved in the child welfare system;
- Making Decisions as a team - involving foster families, birth families, caseworkers and community members in all placement decisions;
- Evaluating results - using self-evaluation teams to collect analyze and interpret hard data to learn where we are making progress and determine where we need to make changes in policy and practice.
See also The Annie E. Casey Foundation newsletters, Annie E. Casey Family to Family Resources
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