DCF Announces Robust Child and Family Well-Being Initiative to Better Support Families – Alachua Chronicle

Press release from Florida Department of Children and Families

Yesterday, Department of Children and Families (Department) Secretary Shevaun Harris announced the creation of a Family Navigator initiative to enhance the safety and well-being of Florida children after a report of potential child abuse or neglect.

After reviewing past child welfare cases and reports to determine commonalities and further evaluating current practices, the Department developed a new model aimed at addressing deficiencies in the child welfare system, including enhanced engagement and ensuring families receive the right supportive services at the right time. This new model will enhance the Departments engagement efforts with families, further promoting safe, resilient families.

Building on the recent momentum of historic funding for Floridas child welfare system, the Department has gathered industry leaders from all parts of our system to help create supports to enhance the well-being of Floridas families, saidSecretary Shevaun Harris. With the deployment of Family Navigators, the Department will use these clinicians to meet families where they are to help parents and children heal from trauma and overcome mental health and substance abuse challenges to help promote safe, resilient families.

Over the last few weeks, the Department has worked with child protection and behavioral health leaders across the state to form a new strategy, which will improve supports for child protective investigators (CPI) to enhance outcomes for Floridas families.

Secretary Harris push to enhance the engagement and support we provide to families in the system is the right way we should be approaching protection and prevention, saidWilmine Merilan-Louis, Child Protective Investigative Supervisor, Broward County Sheriffs Office. We must continue to examine our practices and figure out what is working and where we can make improvements. The children of our state deserve this kind of innovation and leadership, and the Broward County Sheriffs Office is energized by this new model and forward thinking.

Ensuring that our survivors have the resources they need to thrive in the community is our top priority, saidDr. Gail Patin, Chief Executive Officer of Hubbard House. We know that partnership among providers, advocates, and the state is vital to enhancing the system. We are encouraged by the Departments leadership and thank them for convening todays panel and for the Family Navigator initiative.

Integration of behavioral health and child welfare is at the foundation of our mission at Citrus Health, saidMaria Alonso, Chief Operating Officer of Citrus Health Network. Our vision will only come to fruition if we holistically wrap our services around our families to further ensure their well-being. This announcement by the Department is an encouraging step forward, and we are excited to be part of the implementation.

When we work with a family in crisis, it is imperative that the right supports are not only offered, but utilized to further stabilize and enhance recovery, saidMike Watkins, Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Florida Health Network. It is clear that, through intentional collaboration with community partners and with Secretary Harris recommendations, we can ensure that Floridas families have not just access, but engagement to the appropriate, timely help they need and deserve that will help them overcome the challenges they are presented with.

A cornerstone of the field of psychiatry is relying on evidence-based methods, and working with an administration that values enhancing accountability for mental health and substance abuse providers is encouraging for us to hear, saidDr. Courtney Phillips, Director of Behavioral Health, Health Care District of Palm Beach County. Most importantly, in order to improve the well-being of Floridas families, we must employ a model shift that focuses on implementing 24-7 access to evidence-based compassionate substance use care that is available throughout the lifespan of the patient due to its chronic nature.

As a person with lived experience of the system, I know that in concrete times of need, positive social connections and understanding can make a world of difference for a family, saidVictoria Camper, Parent Representative. This model has the capacity to support families through authentic engagement and coordination of services.

A key component of ensuring child safety, and family well-being, is activating community resources, supports, and mental health treatment services timely and appropriately. As trained clinicians, Family Navigators will work alongside the CPI and family to quickly help assess, locate, and provide pivotal services to ensure the family unit is stabilized, safe, and on a pathway to building a resilient family unit. Floridas child and family well-being system will continue to invest in fully embodying a trauma-responsive system of care where the Department, Community-Based Care organizations, and Managing Entities come together to provide more meaningful services that promote positive outcomes to enhance the overall, long-term well-being of the family.

The Department will create a new Family Navigators resource:

The Department will also implement the following additional actions:

These actions will ensure that the Department will work to activate communities across our state to wrap vulnerable families with intensive supports to maintain children in a safe, united home. Along with the Departments vast programs, partners, and providers, the Office of Child and Family Well-Being will work to closely integrate safety and well-being into the system of care to enhance service capacity and supports for families.

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DCF Announces Robust Child and Family Well-Being Initiative to Better Support Families - Alachua Chronicle