UC
Grants
Trauma Informed Child Welfare Systems Grant
Substance Abuse and Mental Heath Services Administration (SAMHSA) and National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
The Southwest Michigan Children’s Trauma Assessment Center (CTAC) will implement the Trauma Informed Child Welfare Project, a trauma informed child welfare practice model into existing Michigan county systems and two Native American tribal courts. This project is the first to design a collaborative implementation of the trauma informed Child Welfare Curriculum and Essential Elements of Trauma Informed child welfare practice. Professional disciplines identified to participate include child welfare workers, judges/referees, mental health and caregivers (biological and resource parents). The project aims to transform child welfare service delivery in Michigan by infusing trauma informed child welfare practices that are culturally competent, evidence supported/based, and responsive to the needs of traumatized children. Applications will further include consideration of the unique needs of children entering the child welfare system whose parent(s) have served in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).The project will target change at three levels—system change, service delivery, and child well being through a series of collaborative trainings and service implementation. Change in the perspectives and skills of professionals and caregivers at every level of the child welfare system will be fostered and sustained through training and consultation to county demonstration sites representing urban to rural communities across Michigan. Key stakeholders in demonstration sites will build joint leadership, and teams are expected to integrate new material into their practice and treatment of traumatized children, impacting decision making and policy.
Content will include the Child Welfare Curriculum, a trauma informed transdisciplinary CTAC assessment protocol; and evidence supported/based treatments, including Real Life Heroes (Kagan) and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Cohen, Mannarino) to practitioners through Learning Collaboratives. CTAC will also train foster parents and resource parents from across Michigan in the NCTSN Resource Parent Curriculum, and foster their ability to replicate training through their participation as co-facilitators. Through infusion of a culturally competent, trauma informed practice at all levels of child welfare, positive outcomes for children (safety, permanence, well-being) will be improved, including improved cultural and racial equity of children in placement. Sustainability of system change will be addressed through evaluation of readiness and cultural diversity needs for participating teams prior to training, and Learning Collaborative strategies. The Trauma Informed Child Welfare model, once integrated, will become infused into daily interactions, communications, decisions, and practices and will not require further funding for maintenance. The Trauma Informed Child Welfare Project will offer the first opportunity for evaluation data to determine the efficacy of the Child Welfare model of practice and subsequently will have national implications.
Head Start School Interventions Project Grant
The Southwest Michigan Children’s Trauma Assessment Center (CTAC) and Kalamazoo County Head Start are collaborating to implement a trauma sensitive curriculum, teacher consultation model, and a parenting group for preschool students who have been exposed to violence, their teachers/staff, and their parents. The Head Start School Intervention Project (HSSIP) is based on the current CTAC School Intervention Project funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. CTAC staff are implementing the classroom curriculum, teacher professional development and parenting education. Research measures the impact of the curriculum, professional development, and parenting education on the social/emotional and neurodevelopmental growth of preschool students.
Currently, November 2008, over 370 Head Start children and their parents are participating in the research in both experimental (treatment) and control classrooms. Children from experimental (treatment) classrooms participate in curriculum activities during 30-minute sessions meeting three times per week. Teachers/staff s/aides from the experimental classrooms participate in an initial two-day training and bi-weekly critical incident discussions regarding the impact of CEV. Parents of students in the experimental classrooms are invited to participate in a bi-weekly parenting education during the academic year.
The school interventionist and a team of graduate assistants from the fields of education, occupational therapy and speech and language pathology implement the classroom curriculum directly to the students. The curriculum is based on core elements of trauma intervention (Bloom, 1997, 2005; Ford, 2004, 2005; van der Kolk, 2005). Ongoing professional development and parent education meetings mirror the content of the classroom curriculum. Professional development and parent education group meetings utilize the principles of adult learning theory (Cafarella, 1999, 2002; Lawler, 2000) to connect the impact of CEV with real-life classroom and home experiences. Teachers are invited to complete a pre and post training evaluation to measure the impact of the Head Start School Intervention Training on teacher’s attitudes and perceptions toward children who have been exposed to violence.
Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators