Podcast Season 3
Perspectives on the Family First Prevention Services Act
Season 3 of the Institute's Child Welfare podcast focuses on the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) of 2018. Join Dr. Jessica Pryce as she speaks with leaders across child welfare about FFPSA and its impact on Florida's frontline professionals and families.
FFPSA aims to prevent unnecessary removal of children from their families by allowing federal funding for mental health services, substance use treatment, and in-home parenting skill training. It also attempts to improve the well-being of children in foster care and provides for increased support for young people as they transition from foster care to adulthood.
This podcast season premiered the summer of 2021 and FFPSA was implemented in Florida September 2, 2021.
Host:
Jessica Pryce
Jessica Pryce
PRODUCER:
Marianna Tutwiler
Marianna Tutwiler
SOUND ENGINEER(S):
Breanna Bruner & Ryan Rezaian
Breanna Bruner & Ryan Rezaian
AVAILABLE ON:
EPISODE 1 - How will the FFPSA Change My Work with Families?
"I really think evidence-based practice is here to stay for the long-haul. I think it is future of child welfare and of human services, in general." - DeStephano
Listen to Chris Groeber and David DeStefano discuss how the FFPSA will change the way frontline staff will work and how the Act will ultimately improve outcomes for families.
GUESTS:
Chris Groeber
Chris Groeber, MSW, has over 32 years of child welfare experience. He is currently a faculty member in Social Work at the University of South Florida. He also manages a small human service consulting company called "Gro and Co." and works with several other consulting companies. Previously, Chris was the U.S. CEO for Key Assets, part of an international child welfare organization. Chris has developed many programs for child welfare, both in his home State of Kentucky and nationally. He has served as author and Principle Investigator on federal projects while on faculty at the University of Kentucky and has implemented numerous statewide training programs for foster and adoptive parents.
David DeStefano
David DeStefano has nearly 30 years' experience providing consultation on various issues impacting the implementation of child welfare and other health and human service programs. During his career, he has provided consultation and operational support on various aspects of child welfare programming in more than a dozen states and has worked extensively with Florida CBCs as well as the Florida Department of Children and Families. His primary areas of work focused on program analysis and practice integration in the area of child welfare. Mr. DeStefano holds a BA in Psychology from Purdue University and an MA in Public Policy.
RESOURCE:
AVAILABLE ON:
EPISODE 2 - Revisioning Residential Care Services for Children and Youth: FFPSA and the Group Care Quality Standards Assessment
"FFPSA, I think the best way to look at it when it comes to residential care is really an opportunity to revision. It's a long-standing need to really revise and find residential care's best, right place on the child welfare continuum." - Boel-Studt
Join us as we discuss recent federal and state child welfare policies and their implications for the future of residential group care. We will exam the FFPSA and how it affects the availability of federal dollars to specific residential care settings and places limits on placement timeframes. Dr. Pryce will speak with Dr. Shamra Boel-Studt and Ms. Zandra Odum to learn about Florida's efforts to implement the FFPSA and the new mandated accountability system.
GUESTS:
Dr. Shamra Boel-Studt
Shamra Boel-Studt, PhD, MSW is an Associate Professor in the College of Social Work at the Florida State University and a faculty affiliate of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare. Dr. Boel-Studt has over 15 years of experience in practice, training/technical assistance, research, and evaluation in child welfare. She has expertise in intervention research, measurement, and statistics. Her research focuses on improving the quality and effectiveness of services for youth served in residential care settings. She is serving as the principal investigator for the Florida Group Care Quality Standards Assessment.
Ms. Zandra Odum
Zandra Odum, M.Ed. currently serves as a Project Coordinator in the Office of Child Welfare within the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF). In her present role, Zandra actively engages with internal and external stakeholders to provide project planning, coordination, and implementation support for multiple statewide initiatives. For the Group Care Quality Standards, she is serving as the project lead for DCF. Zandra has more than 20 years experience working in the areas of education and child welfare, which includes time spent as a counselor, supervisor and operations manager with the Florida Abuse Hotline, program director with Children's Home Society, school-based behavioral specialist in Leon County, residential care specialist with an all-girls group home, and youth educator with a community organization.
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EPISODE 3 - Collaborating in order to meet the evaluation criteria of the Title IV-E Clearinghouse
"Having a strong connection between both entities, the research team and the leadership team, you can really have those conversations and really get at the best approach to the evaluation so that everybody is feeling confident in moving forward." - Yelick
This episode explores the Kinship Caregiving and Kinship Navigator Programs. Michelle Mongeluzzo and Dr. Anna Yelick discuss the Kinship Navigator Program at Kids Central, Inc., a community-based care lead agency in Florida and the evaluative work the Florida Institute for Child Welfare has been contracted to complete. Hear the guests discuss the importance of collaboration in this type of research work, specifically, the buy-in needed from the agency-level and the support the research team needs from agency leadership.
GUESTS:
Dr. Anna Yelick
Dr. Anna Yelick completed her dissertation in the Spring 2018 at Florida State University, which focused on potential biases in removal recommendations based on family structure. Dr. Yelick accepted a position with the Florida Institute of Child Welfare as a post-doctoral fellow, working alongside Dr. Pryce and the FICW affiliates. Dr. Yelick hopes to continue to examine decision-making among child welfare professionals to better serve children and families most at need. Dr. Yelick is currently working several Institute projects including work on disparity within the child welfare field, using predictive analytics to improve workload among child protective investigators, and training for child welfare supervision.
Michelle Mongeluzzo
Michelle Mongeluzzo holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminology from St. Leo University and has over 22 years of experience working with at-risk children and families in the child welfare system. She has a solid understanding of the Florida child welfare system. Her range of experience includes working for Community Based Care in various roles to include supervisory and quality management along with, child protective investigations with the Florida Department of Children and Families. She has extensive experience engaging and creating connections with community stakeholders on the behalf of children and families in need. In addition, she has over 13 years of management experience. During the last 11 years she has directed the development of the Kinship Program along with the Family Resource Centers in Marion, Lake and Sumter Counties. In this role, she has been instrumental in the expansion and development of both programs, elevating the services provided in each program along with assisting them in gaining COA certification.