No Phone In for October 21 & 22

There is NO PHONE IN this week for resource parents.  Dates of 10/21 and 10/22.  The PHONE IN system is still having technical difficulties.  Please advise ALL YOUR RESOURCE PARENTS today that the system is still down.  ALL Resource Home payments will be generated via TFACTS.

PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS:  PIN letters have been sent to most new resource parents via Fiscal.  However there are some resource parents who have not received  a PIN.  They can call me at 615-253-6906 in order to check if they are on the list here at Central office.  We are still waiting on a updated list from Fiscal of our newest resource parents and their PINs.

Thank you for your continued advocacy for DCS resource families!

Odessa

NYT: New York Missed or Ignored Signs on Girl Who Died

New York Missed or Ignored Signs on Girl Who Died

By RAY RIVERA 

Published: October 5, 2010

A 4-year-old Brooklyn girl who weighed 18 pounds when she died in September appears to have gone months without a visit from child welfare workers assigned to monitor her well-being, despite indications that she could be at risk, New York’s child welfare agency revealed on Tuesday.

“We needed to do more to help,” said John B. Mattingly, the commissioner of children's services. The agency offered a wrenching glimpse into the final months of the girl, Marchella Pierce, whose home care, it said, was “grossly inadequate.” It also found that her mother beat her with a videocassette case for punishment and tied her to a bed “for substantial periods of time.”

In a preliminary report released at a City Council hearing, the agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, provided its most detailed look yet at the events that preceded the death of Marchella, whose bruised and emaciated body was found in her family’s Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment on Sept. 2.

Read more here

Foster Parents: No October 6 and October 7 phone-ins only

Due to a small glitch in the Phone-in System, FOSTER CARE BOARD PAYMENTS WILL BE MADE DIRECTLY OUT OF TFACTS.  No phone-in is necessary. 

If you have immediate questions, please call your Resource Parent Support worker.

Thanks so much for your patience.

Resource Parent Phone In update

 We want to clarify the payment process as TFACTS assumes payments for our resource parents.  Many of you have questions about this process and conflicting information is being delivered.   Please call us if you have further questions, 615-253-6906. 


Resource parent phone-in will occur between September 3rd and September 7th.  There are no changes in these dates or the process on those two days. You will phone in as you have in the past.


Resource parents do not phone in on September 21st or September 22nd.  During these September dates, RPS workers will work with regional fiscal Directors to assure payments for special or extraordinary rates are entered into TFACTS accurately; all regular rates will be automatically completed within TFACTS.  New phone-in calendars will be posted on the web site. Please refer to the calendars as future dates have been changed. 


The first TFACTS phone in time period will be October 6, and 7.  The letter being sent to all DCS resource parents will outline this process specifically.  The changes that will occur are the children ID’s and the phone numbers for phone in.




Central Office has developed a letter for all resource parents that will have each child’s ID number and an explanation of the process. 

• These letters will be delivered to each region and it will be the region’s responsibility to get these letters to resource parents.  
• It is expected that each region will have a point person to coordinate and document the delivery of the letters. Regional RPS will be the point of contact if a resource parent has any question.  Any letters that are not deliverable will be returned to the regional/local office, RPS will be expected to correct the address or hand deliver the letters during their monthly resource home visit.  These letters MUST be received by the resource parents no later than 9/15/2010.
• Any address updates need to be entered into TFACTS by the RPS unit.
• Regions should include this information in their regional newsletters.  
• Post this information on your DCS regional Facebook page.
• This information will be added to the TFACA website and the DCS website by Central office staff.

 John Johnson, Beth Kasch and Odessa Krech

Slate: Children and Stress

The new science on chronically harsh and conflict-ridden households.

. . . Here's where the science is producing fresh news. Recent work in this area points to three main conclusions.

First, less-extreme harsh environments still lead to physical health problems. Children don't have to be abused in a strict legal sense to suffer lasting harm.

Second, such harsh environments can be produced by multiple factors that individually don't seem that significant but can influence one another in a snowball effect. For example, low-level conflict between parents that continues a bit longer than usual can lead to changes in how they talk to their child, and a little more edge and stress in the parent's voice can increase child misbehavior, such as more noncompliance. That push-back from the child grates with special force on a parent's nerves that are already raw because of some added problem, like real or threatened loss of a job.

Everyone's reactions go up a notch, with raging parents and whiny children egging each other on in an ascending spiral of stress. Such things normally happen in most homes without long-range effect, but they are usually short-lived. When the stressors continue for weeks and months, are a little more intense than usual, and seem to become a way of life, significant psychological and physical problems are more likely to emerge. No one knows exactly how much stress will do it. Even if we did identify a tipping point, it would vary for each family and individual based on many other influences—such as, for instance, other sources of emotional support in each person's life.

Third, researchers have made progress in understanding the precise nature of the connections between the psychological conditions in which a child is raised and the heightened risk of disease later in life and early death. One view has been that growing up in harsh environments makes a person more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking, excessive drinking, and risky sexual practices, thereby make children from such homes more likely to have some of the diseases mentioned previously. Maybe these kids grow up to be less healthy just because they do more things that we already know are bad for you. But even if that's true, it's not the whole story. The research shows that stress reactions and hormone and neuroendocrine responses all by themselves, independent of risky habits like smoking or heavy drinking, are different among people with early exposure to stress.

UT's Daily Beacon: Turnaround evident in Tennessee child welfare

Turnaround evident in child welfare

Staff Reports - 
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 issue

Staff Reports

Tennessee has reduced the number of children in its foster care system by 34 percent since 2000, while providing more effective help to families, according to a study released by Casey Family Programs.

The study shows the number of children in state custody in Tennessee has fallen since 2000 from 10,144 to 6,702 in 2009. In addition, Tennessee has decreased the number of children in long-term foster care, and the rate of children in out-of-home placements is now below the national average. At the same time, recurrences of abuse and neglect in children have decreased, indicating the safety of reform efforts.

The study was conducted to share the examples of states and counties that have been successful in child welfare reform. It outlines the way the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services has worked with Youth Villages, its largest private provider, to bring about reform. Casey Family Programs is the nation’s largest operating foundation focused entirely on foster care and improving the child welfare system.

Click to read further

Grants Training in Nashville, TN - October 7-8, 2010

The State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Research and Strategic Planning Division and Grant Writing USA will present a two-day grants workshop in Nashville, October 7-8, 2010.  In this class you'll learn how to find grants and write winning grant proposals.  This training is applicable to grant seekers across all disciplines.


Click here for complete event details.


Beginning and experienced grant writers from city, county and state agencies as well as nonprofits, K-12, colleges and universities are encouraged to attend.


Multi-enrollment discounts and discounts for Grant Writing USA returning alumni are available.  Tuition payment is not required at the time of enrollment.


Tuition is $425 and includes all materials: workbook and accompanying 420MB resource CD that's packed full of tools and more than 200 sample grant proposals.  Seating is limited, online reservations are necessary.


Complete event details including learning objectives, class location, graduate testimonials and online registration are available here.


Contacts:
Cathy Rittenhouse
Grant Writing USA
800.814.8191 cathy@grantwritingusa.com


Dr. Lisa Webb-Robins
TN Department of Economic and Community Development
Research and Strategic Planning Division
615.532.1912 lisa.webb-robins@state.tn.us