Working with Families

The Florida Institute for Child Welfare, through partnerships with the Department of Children and Families (DCF), community-based care agencies, and other managing entities, works to support families navigating the child welfare and court systems through evaluations of services. To promote successful outcomes among children and families, parental behavioral health needs must be assessed and treated simultaneously with the interventions provided to children. Most importantly, ensuring follow-up of receival of services is critical to successful intervention for parents involved in the child welfare system.

Significantly, a recent study contracted by the Institute found that when examining parents' behavioral health status, 66 percent reported a lifetime history of mental illness, 72 percent reported substance abuse, and 77 percent experienced current or past interpersonal violence, including a history of sexual, physical, or other forms of abuse (Flynn et al., 2017). Of these parents, follow through of services was largely variable with no evidence that referral services were received. The Institute identified this need and engaged in research to address the gaps in integration for behavioral health needs, providers, and their relation to child welfare personnel.

The Institute conducted evaluations assessing the quality of the current care services available to families and their implementation within Florida. Through collaboration with the Children's Home Network (CHN) and Kid's Central, Inc. (KCI), the Institute is examining the effectiveness of child permanency and placement with kin through the Kinship Navigator Program. This research identifies protective factors associated with children removed from their biological parents and placed with kin, examining the behavioral well-being of such children in comparison with those placed in out-of-home care.

In addition, in 2020, the Florida Legislature mandated that the evaluatee the newly created Guardianship Assistance Program (GAP). Through a contract with Dr. Gillen at the University of Florida, it was determined that there was a need to streamline the process for caregivers to receive GAP resources, a need for resources directly serving caregivers, and solutions to remove barriers to access GAP resources.

Furthermore, per statute, the Institute has conducted two evaluations of Florida's Early Childhood Courts (ECC). The first evaluation looked at the processes of the judicial teams and the fidelity to the model. The second evaluation sought to determine the current effectiveness of therapeutic modalities used within the Early Childhood Courts throughout the state. Recommendations for future work include training for case managers on the use of screening tools and evaluating behavioral health outcomes with child welfare-involved families, as well as piloting and evaluating joint training between service providers to improve communication and coordination among service agencies.

The Institute is a collaborative partner with DCF to provide training, technical assistance, and evaluation research in several areas including working to enhance the evidence base for the effectiveness of current initiatives including kinship care. In addition, continued work in the identification of gaps in current child welfare practices will ensure that quality of service delivery and policy changes are addressed, and solutions identified.