$1,000 Foster Youth Scholarship opportunity for an Ingham County youth: Deadline is Monday, June 3!

The Daniel J. Wright Foster Youth Scholarship is a $1,000 award for an Ingham County youth in foster care who plans to attend college in the fall of 2013. The nomination should include a short biography and an essay, written by the youth in 500 words or less, describing what he or she has overcome to finish high school and prepare for college. The nominees will be interviewed in mid-June, with the award following soon thereafter. Please submit applications to Kelly Howard at HowardK@courts.mi.gov, or via the online nomination survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6CMBBNJ by Monday, June 3, 2013. If you have any questions, please contact Kelly Howard at (517) 373-8671. All of the details needed are provided in the attachment.

Toward Successful Adoption: Your Child, Your Family, Your Community

This FREE training is designed for those who have adopted or who are thinking of adopting a child from the child welfare system. Three important areas will be covered:

• Helping families cope with the ‹‹stress of transitioning children from foster care to adoption. 
• Understanding the unique ‹‹needs of children who have been traumatized. 
• Helpful strategies for finding ‹‹and using post adoption resources. 

Training sessions run Friday evening (6:00 PM–9:00 PM) through Saturday (9:00 AM–4:00 PM) on 12 different dates from March through September in cities across the state. Download the attached flier for the complete listing.

                                           Two New Trainings Added for 2012!

Cross Cultural Adoption: Beyond Race

• Understand the impact of ‹‹ethnicity and culture on a child’s identity and self-esteem. 
• Identify the tools and ‹‹tasks necessary to successfully raise a child of another race or culture.
• May 5, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM in Grand Rapids; June 2, 1:00 PM–4:00 PM in Lansing

Helping Children Make Successful Transitions in Adoption

• Understand ways to lessen ‹‹the trauma of moves for children.
• Learn ways to cope with ‹‹your emotions when helping children move.
• May 5, 1:00 PM–4:00 PM in Grand Rapids; June 2, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM in Lansing

The training is FREE, funded by the Michigan Department of Human Services. Attendees can qualify for a small stipend to assist with child care and mileage costs. 

Be sure to mark your calendar for the MiSACWIS Summit scheduled for May 1, 2012, at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center in East Lansing, Michigan.

DHS county directors, private agency directors, and individuals from the courts will be invited. Liaisons for each county office and private agency will also be invited. During this summit, directors and their chosen liaison will learn about MiSACWIS; the what, why, who will be impacted, how each organization can be involved in regular updates on the project, and how they can assist their organization in a smooth transition to the new application.

This is an all-day event that will kick off with a variety of guest speakers. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Watch this site in the next couple of weeks for further explanation of the liaison role. For more insight to the MiSACWIS project, a one-page summary document about MiSACWIS can be found in the attachment below.

MSU School of Social Work, in conjunction with the other six Michigan graduate Schools of Social Work and the support of the Michigan Department of Human Services, is pleased to announce FREE training opportunities to DHS Child Protective Services, Foster Care, and Adoption Workers and DHS-contracted private agencies’ foster care and adoption workers. The title of this collaborative project is Child Welfare In-Service Training.

Multiple human service, health, and education professionals who also serve the families involved with the child welfare system may find the workshops of interest; many of the workshop topics will have applicability beyond child welfare practice, thus a LIMITED number of FOR CHARGE spaces are available for interested professionals who work outside of DHS and the contracted private agencies. All courses offered are eligible for Social Work CECHs.

Early registration is encouraged. Registrations are nontransferable; if you register but are unable to attend, please contact the appropriate University at your earliest convenience so they might offer your unused space to someone else.

To learn more specifically about the MSU CW In-Service Training programs, you may view descriptions, objectives, faculty information, location, and pricing as well as registration instructions and tools by visiting: https://socialwork.msu.edu/ceu/catalog.php.

Programs are listed under Child Welfare In-Service trainings.

A catalog of all of the courses available statewide can be downloaded below.

The Michigan Department of Community Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse & Addiction Services (BSAAS) is working to transform the public substance use disorder service system into one that is focused on supporting individuals seeking recovery from this chronic illness. A ROSC requires a transformation of the entire service system to one more responsive to the needs of individuals and families that are impacted by addiction. To be effective, a recovery-oriented system must infuse the language, culture, and spirit of recovery throughout the entire system of care. The values and principles that are developed must be shaped by individuals, families, and community stakeholders. To this end, the Bureau has created a Transformation Steering Committee to guide the process and serve as an advisory group to partner with the state to lead this transformation. Read more about this effort in the first issue of The Transformational News, click here for a copy.

The Dwayne B. v. Granholm consent decree requires DHS to develop and implement a statewide Quality Assurance (QA) program, directed by a QA Unit established within the DHS central office. The Child Welfare QA Unit has been established as a division of the Child Welfare Improvement Bureau to ensure the provision of service in accordance with DHS philosophy. The Child Welfare QA Unit’s aim is to foster a continuous quality improvement (CQI) culture throughout DHS by introducing CQI concepts to all levels of the child welfare system, training staff on improvement processes and integrating CQI philosophy into long-term and everyday decision making. The QA unit has developed an internal capacity to undertake data collection, verification, and analysis in addition to case record reviews for the higher risk cases identified in the consent decree.

After the submission of the CQI plan in April 2009, the QA Unit began to conduct special reviews as specified by the consent decree. The Data Management Unit (DMU) provides an initial list of identified cases for the high-risk categories. The QA Unit reviews each identified case in the Foster Care Services Worker Support System (SWSS-FAJ) to pre-screen for possible data errors, and ensure that the case meets the cohort definition. The DMU and the QA Unit will continue to refine the querying process to the fullest extent possible.

The QA Unit completed special reviews for Period Three: October 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010. This report is a summary of the findings for the special case reviews conducted for during this period.

To alleviate travel time and expense pressures, assist workers to comply with required in-service training hours, and to partner with colleagues, CWTI will be sending trainers to three separate regions of the U.P. this summer. CWTI trainers will provide half and full day sessions on a variety of topics. Dates, topics, and locations will be posted on JJOLT. It is recommended that supervisors consult with staff to facilitate registrations and maximize opportunity to attend and accrue in-service hours.

CWTI intends to provide three full days of training in each location. Individual session capacity will be posted on JJOLT with each of the dates and times. Staff may attend just one session or as many as interest and schedules permit.

The initial dates and locations are June 29 – July 1, 2010 at the DHS/OPD training center in Escanaba (Delta County).

Download June 7, 2010 below.

The Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for administering the state’s child welfare program. The DHS mission includes a commitment to ensure that children and youths are safe; to sustain a higher quality of life; and to give children in DHS permanent and stable family lives. The DHS Children’s Services Administration is responsible for planning, directing and coordinating statewide child welfare programs, including social services provided directly by DHS via statewide local offices and services provided by private child-placing agencies.

A settlement agreement was signed July 3, 2008 and a final consent decree was entered on October 28, 2008. Since then, DHS has made significant strides to improve the quality of service to children and families in the child welfare system by reducing caseloads for its workers, moving more children to permanency, reducing the number of children in out-of-home care, launching a continuous quality improvement system, increasing oversight of contracted providers, and developing extensive data reporting capabilities.

The consent decree requires DHS to ensure that qualified and competent individuals conduct a fatality review independent of the county in which the fatality occurred for each child who died while in the foster care custody of DHS. The fatality review process is overseen by the Office of Family Advocate.

Just issued, this special in-service training catalog is the product of a dynamic partnership among seven Michigan schools of social work with MSW programs and the Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS). Questions about individual workshops should be directed to the sponsoring school. With the support of DHS, these sessions are free of charge for Children’s Protective Services (CPS), foster care, and adoption workers of both DHS and DHS-contracted private agencies. Many of the workshop topics have applicability beyond child welfare practice. Each workshop is or will be approved for Social Work Continuing Education Credit Hours.

The Michigan Department of Community Health & The Michigan Association of CMH Boards Present:

ANNUAL HOME AND COMMUNITY BASED WAIVER CONFERENCE

September 9 & 10, 2009
Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center, MSU, East Lansing

3 Featured Waivers:
Children€™s Waiver Program (CWP)
Habilitation Supports Waiver (HSW)
Serious Emotional Disturbance Waiver (SEDW)

DHS has issued an L-letter to its county directors, district managers and child welfare urban field operations director, outlining the process for implementing Michigan PA 260 of 2008, which allows for the development of a guardianship assistance program.

On April 1 and 2 The State Court Administrative Office, Child Welfare Services Division Governor's Task Force on Children's Justice will present: "Addressing Invisible Injuries: Child Neglect, Exploitation, and Emotional Abuse" at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in Lansing.

There is no registration cost to attend this conference and registration is on a first come, first serve basis.

By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN • Associated Press • March 8, 2009

LANSING — Ismael Ahmed is not a man who dwells on the negative.

When the 61-year-old took over as director of the Michigan Department of Human Services 18 months ago, he found an agency under fire for not preventing the death of 7-year-old Ricky Holland at the hands of his foster parents and for failing to get more welfare recipients into jobs. Morale was low, caseloads high.

• RICKY HOLLAND'S STORY: Read the 14-part Free Press series on the Ricky Holland case

But Ahmed is starting to get a handle on the agency's woes, and on giving better service to those it helps.

He drew more than 5,000 people to a statewide poverty summit, is working with other state agencies to get better job training for the poor and is making sure more low-income families get food stamps and cash assistance in the down economy.

"We have a clear mission ... to protect vulnerable children and families," he said in a recent interview. "Everything proceeds from that."