Agenda - 04-19-1994-X-A - Laserfiche WebLink

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7 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHILDREN'S SERVICES SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY CHILD PROTECTION TEAM December 16, 1993 Since the last report of the Children' s Services Sub- Committee which was submitted to the full Community Child Protection Team on April 15, 1993, several additional members joined the sub-committee. These include: Denise Shaffer, Gloria Taylor, and John Turner. The report of April 15, 1993 and a complete list of sub-committee members is attached. The sub-committee met three times on April 29, 1993, May 26, 1993, and November 17, 1993. Discussion at the meeting on April 29, 1993 centered around developing a working definition of "preventive services" and consideration of ways to deliver these services. Preventive services were defined as services which are necessary to build capacity in at-risk families so that they can learn to function competently in order to prevent the negative social and other types of consequences which lead to their referral to the Children' s Protective Services system. The model preferred by the sub- committee for delivery of these services is one with a strong outreach component. Programs currently in operation and which seem to be making a difference were considered. These include: the Fast Track program in Durham which increases parental involvement for at-risk children in 1st grade and tracks their progress longitudinally; also, the Maternity Care Coordination (Baby Love) and Child Service Coordination (CSC) programs which provide case management and early intervention services to pregnant women and their children. The sub-committee felt that, in order to maximize the preventive approach and to utilize scarce resources wisely, it may be best to begin intervention in the prenatal period and to expand the Baby Love and CSC programs to serve more families by increasing eligibility thresholds. Discussion during the meeting on May 26, 1993 focused on possible strategies which could be used to quantify the gaps in direct service delivery and.-service delivery system barriers identified in the April 15, 1993 report. A draft survey tool was developed and piloted on a limited scale. The intention was to distribute the survey to school counselors, staff of the various human service agencies, police, courts, and day care professionals. Due to time constraints, we were unable to pilot the survey to school personnel, as we had planned, prior to the summer recess. In addition, the sub-committee experienced difficulty continuing its work during the Summer and early Fall with vacation schedules and members being involved in initiatives such as Smart Start.