Preservice Training Collaboration
The Florida Institute for Child Welfare’s GROW Center is supporting the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) during its modernization of preservice training for child protection professionals. Remodeled as The Florida Academy for Child Protection and Family Resilience (The Academy), the new preservice training implements evidence-based learning programs to provide an immersive learning experience and to retain a stable workforce.
To help determine the feasibility and efficacy of this redesign, the GROW Center has partnered with Dr. Morgan Cooley at Florida Atlantic University to conduct ongoing evaluation efforts.
Virtual Reality
A major innovative component of The Academy is virtual reality (VR) training to enhance the way child welfare professionals prepare for the job. The Institute’s GROW Center and DCF are investing in learning methods that combine immersive VR training scenarios with curated seminars, in which child welfare professionals experience scenarios like those they will encounter in the field at zero risk to themselves or clients. As a form of reflective practice, participating child welfare professionals can demonstrate and practice their critical thinking, reflection, and decision-making skills, which helps assess and develop their readiness for the field.
VR training includes a group debriefing designed to help participants make honest assessments about themselves that can build empathy, reduce bias, and improve decision-making. The Institute is committed to serving as an innovative source of new technology to better prepare and support Florida’s child welfare workforce and the families they serve.
Train-the-Trainer Seminar Facilitation
Part of the GROW Center’s facilitation of statewide implementation of VR technology includes hosting Train-the-Trainer seminars for selected case managers and investigators. These opportunities provide staff with a first-hand experience with VR technology and participate in the facilitation seminar to prepare them for statewide region/circuit distribution and future training. Participants offered their thoughts after experiencing the seminars below.
“I think virtual reality will change the way that child welfare professionals are trained due to the fact that when I went through training many, many years ago, we didn't have that opportunity.”
-Rachel Helton, Trainer with Kids Central, Inc.
“We're starting to see a new wave of utilizing technology and technological developments of getting a more interactive product and not just going through learning from a textbook.”
-Mathew Luchenburg, Family Services Specialist at DCF
Career-long Support
MyALIGN is a customized digital platform developed under the GROW Center with input from DCF leadership, lead agency representatives, case management service representatives, and other stakeholders. As a centralized hub for the child welfare professional community, MyALIGN provides onboarded child protective investigators and case managers with career coaching and personal well-being support through networking, courses and learning pathways for ongoing advancement and career progression, shared insights on relevant issues in the field, tips to balance wellness, and problem-solving tools to expand confidence in their work.
Workgroup Participation
As part of our foundational pillars, the Institute provides technical assistance to The Academy redesign through participation in the Capability Building Center for States workgroups. Institute leadership participates in the communication, implementation, and evaluation sub-groups, in which members strategize the development and implementation of The Academy preservice training.
Alignment of Curriculum & Interventions
The GROW Center participates in several workgroups and implementation meetings with the Department and Community-based Care organizations to support the strategic implementation of the new Academy and ensure GROW offerings and supports are aligned and relevant to the needs of new and existing child welfare workers. This includes keeping a pulse on areas of need regarding curriculum topics to align the development and design of the GROW Center's learning assets to the needs identified in these meetings. It also focuses on understanding the status of Department-led well-being, coaching, and leadership development interventions, so that the GROW Center can focus on addressing gaps and implementing sustainable solutions.
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