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Partners in Child Protection: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Assessment in Child Welfare

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Trauma Responsive Child Welfare Systems

Abstract

The Partners in Child Protection (PICP) project is a trauma-informed, evidence-based assessment and consultation program designed to support collaborative decision-making and service provision within the child welfare system. PICP is an academic-public child welfare partnership that utilizes state-of-the art assessment technologies to develop case plans that better promote the permanency, safety and well-being of children. PICP also supports decision-making through training, coaching, and consultation services provided to individual child welfare workers and service teams. The program serves trauma-exposed youth aged 0–18 who are actively involved in the child welfare system and includes two types of assessments—a comprehensive family assessment model and an individual trauma assessment model. Both assessment protocols employ overlapping methodologies designed to reduce bias and accurately identify areas of converging data to be targeted in case planning. PICP evaluation data indicates the successful identification of traumatic stress-related symptoms for referred children, the importance of applying a therapeutic jurisprudence framework when working with child welfare involved families, the reduction of risk rating scores for families receiving recommended services, and the utility of multi-method, standardized assessment approaches in child welfare. This chapter provides a description of the project, the assessment protocols utilized, and the implementation strategies applied to support and maintain the partnership. The incorporation of adequate structures to promote cultural sensitivity within the PICP project is also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Kentucky Center on Trauma and Children, 3470 Blazer Parkway, Suite 100, Lexington, KY, 40509-9959, USA

    Adrienne Whitt-Woosley Ph.D. & Jessica Eslinger Ph.D.

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Center on Trauma and Children, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, USA

    Ginny Sprang Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Adrienne Whitt-Woosley Ph.D.
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  2. Jessica Eslinger Ph.D.
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  3. Ginny Sprang Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adrienne Whitt-Woosley Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Social Work Trauma, Education and Workforce Development, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, West Harrison, New York, USA

    Virginia C. Strand

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Center on Trauma and Children, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

    Ginny Sprang

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Whitt-Woosley, A., Eslinger, J., Sprang, G. (2018). Partners in Child Protection: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Assessment in Child Welfare. In: Strand, V., Sprang, G. (eds) Trauma Responsive Child Welfare Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64602-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64602-2_8

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