Project Synthesis

COMMUNITY AGENCY REVIEW 2

Community Agency Review

L.C. Berry

Liberty University

Running head: COMMUNITY AGENCY REVIEW 1

Summary

I am a social worker who resides in Brooklyn, St. Clair County, in Illinois. Thus, I frequently come into contact with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Children’s Home + Aid (St. Clair County, 2014). DCFS is an Illinois State Agency and has several locations across the county. The agency gives protective services for abused, neglected, or exploited children. The Illinois DCFS operates under the Individual and Family Services sector and has about 2,600 staff. It was founded on January 1, 1964, and headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, as the state government’s agency responsible for child protective services.

The agency specializes in child welfare, daycare licensing, and child protection services. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the DCFS is mandated to make annual reports to the Governor and General Assembly regarding its activities (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 2020). The report encompasses, amongst other things, serious injuries or deaths of children who were under the DCFS’s custody or whose families directly involved with the agency in the year before the injury or death, etc.

Upon its establishment, DCSF became the first cabinet-level state child welfare agency in the entire United States. The Illinois Department of Health ran child welfare responsibilities. At the same time, several other state agencies, county courts, and private agencies provided minimal children’s welfare services and placement programs. The agency served a peak of about 51,000 children in foster care. The current estimates indicate the number to be at 15,000. The mission of the agency is to ensure the protection of children reported as abused, neglected, or exploited and enhance the capacity and resiliency of their families to provide them care.

Secondly, DCFS aims to provide for and protect the wellbeing of children under its care. Third, it works towards supporting early intervention programs and prevention of child abuse activities while also while partnering with local communities. Lastly, the agency aims at the provision of both permanent and appropriate foster families for children who cannot safely return to their homes. The agency has reunified over 21,000 children with their birth families over the last ten years, licensed about 11,000 daycare facilities, and successfully helped 15,000 Illinois children find foster and adoptive parents.

Furthermore, the agency provides services to 60,000 families and answers over 220,000 calls to the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline annually (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 2020). Thus, its primary objective is to give exceptional professional services to help find both safe, loving, and permanent homes and great futures for the children in the state. The Children’s Home & Aid is also a leading and heavily-established child and family service provision agency operating both in my neighborhood and across Illinois State.

The agency serves over 10,000 families across the southern regions of the state. Its services include early childhood education, crisis intervention, counseling and treatment, parenting, adoption, foster care, etc. The agency has 120 professional staff that operates from several offices located across 12 counties. It also provides several one-time events or activity volunteering opportunities that are available from weekly to once a month to qualified or novice personnel.

The placement of volunteers to various positions depends on their availability, location, skills, needs, interests, etc. For instance, the volunteers can make a difference in the children’s and families’ lives through their involvement in reading stories to a classroom, providing support to office staff, helping children with homework, etc. The agency also involved in advocacy work, through its Ahlquist Center for Policy, Practice, and Innovation, Children's Home & Aid via the educating and informing its supporters, rule-makers, and lawmakers to ensure robust public policies on behalf of children and families (Children's Home & Aid, 2020).

Founded in 1883, Children’s Home & Aid serves more than 40,000 children and families annually, thus helping children recover their hope, health, and faith (Children's Home & Aid, 2020). It links children to a network of mentors, teachers, extended family, care and opportunity, and resources within their neighborhoods and communities. The personnel go to the homes, classrooms, regions, etc. wherever the children and families need them in the course of their daily life. The agency funded through the Head Start and Early Head Start programs, and other non-Head Start sources like the USDA Food Program, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Department of Human Services, the United Way, private contributions, etc.. (Children's Home & Aid, 2020).

Analysis (Analysis of Agencies)

As a faith-based counselor, my objective is to provide an environment that is both safe and supportive and where a therapeutic and collaborative relationship can be conducive to transformations towards positive and holistic growth and development. Thus, I not only work from an emotionally-focused and trauma-based and informed perspective, but also towards the integration of existential, mindfulness, experiential, etc. orientations. Secondly, I dedicate most of my practice to children who are bullied, exploited, abused, and neglected, and those who find it hard to return to their birth families safely.

Third, I also refer my clients to other agencies where they can find appropriate help. Thus, I believe that by partnering with the DCFS and Children’s Home & Aids would provide more exceptional support for my clients. First, as a counselor, I come across several at-risk children and families who are abused, neglected, or mistreated and who lack the capacity and resiliency to provide care for children, respectively. I can refer such cases to the DCFS: the hard part is finding adoption or foster homes for the children. Coming up with safer ways to prevent further abuse by partnering with the appropriate local communities, financing their schooling, home, and other basic needs' expenses through support programs, etc.. (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 2020).

Secondly, the DCFS also partners with local communities and agencies towards supporting early intervention programs and prevention of child abuse activities to ensure that their work is a success. Through my involvement, I can help in identifying the at-risk children and family’s cases and refer them to the agency before their situation worsens. Third, the DCFS receives thousands of reports concerning child abuse and neglect annually.

One of its core mandates is to conduct investigations over the abuse and neglect reports and gather enough evidence and witnesses to build a successful case against the defendants (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 2020).

Thus, as a partner, I can testify as a witness over the abuse cases. The reason is that I receive several reports and have primary data over the same, which can help DCFS conduct successful investigations. On the other hand, I believe that my partnership with the Children's Home + Aids would be equally, if not more, helpful for the victims. First, I can partner as a volunteer, informant, case referrer, advocate for change and adequate policy development, financier or donor, etc. The agency needs mentors, counselors, resources, teaches, among others, to adequately perform services (Children's Home & Aid, 2020). Through my established network, I can help source for program funding. Secondly, I can also refer to cases about at-risk families and children to the agency where they can find more help.

One reason why referral would work best for my case is that my resources and capacity is minimal Hence, my clients would receive more benefits through the partnership. The additional benefit may include foster care and adoption, parenting, crisis intervention, early childhood education, etc. Furthermore, albeit all these benefits, I can also help provide further counseling and treatment therapies to the children and families, and thus giving them more hope, faith, and health. The rationale for my working together with these two agencies is to help find more help for the clients. As individuals, we can only do much. Thus, partnering with other agencies makes us leverage our services for the benefit and betterment of those whom we serve.

Application (Application of Information Regarding the Agencies)

The collaboration or referral arrangement in social services would be slightly different from that in the business world because its primary reason is not incentives. The first assumption would be we both need one another (either through legal mandate or otherwise) and the referral program to work for the mutual benefit of our clients. Thus, a referral or collaboration program based on real partnership rather than referral sources would be an ideal case. The initial steps after identifying the two partners and the objectives for the organization would be to set an appointment with the heads (or their equivalent) of the two agencies (prospective partners), propose the partnership, and set out to work after getting approval (McCord, 2020). In most cases, they would be more than willing to be mutual partners.

It is more accessible to partner with the DCFS because they are mandated by law to take and act on any report regarding child abuse (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 2020). However, I should first discuss my referral plan with senior staff or a member of my organization to clarify the urgency and seriousness of the situation. Secondly, I should discuss with my clients – child and their family or guardian – concerning the need to make the referral. Such discussion and decisions would become recorded in a retrievable form. Secondly, in situations where I have a reasonable concern that a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm, then I would make the referral immediately.

Third, in case of a child who needs a considerable amount of protection and there is no immediate concern about their safety, I may make the referral via telephone, but decide writing at the end of the discussion. If otherwise, I would conduct the reference in writing. However, it would be necessary that I follow the telephone referral by writing before the end of the day. Furthermore, it is a general rule that all the information regarding the child, their situation, and needs taken when making the referral. The DCFS makes an exception by allowing anonymity for the referrer if they believe that they can become subjected to intimidation or harm.

According to the DCFS regulations, information concerning actual or reasonable suspicion regarding child abuse (physical, emotional, or sexual), neglect, and exploitation may be reported immediately through telephone or via writing to allow for further investigation and action. Phone reporting to DCFS can be made through 618-583-2080 or 800-252-2873 and to Children’s Home + Aids through (618) 235-5335 (Illinois.gov, 2020; St. Clair County, 2014). The toll-free lines handled on a 24/7 basis.

References Children's Home & Aid. (2020). Children's Home & Aid - About. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from Children's Home & Aid: https://www.childrenshomeandaid.org/about/ Children's Home & Aid. (2020). Children's Home & Aid - Financial Information. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from Children's Home & Aid: https://www.childrenshomeandaid.org/about/financial-information/ Children's Home & Aid. (2020). Children's Home & Aid - Get Involved. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from Children's Home & Aid: https://www.childrenshomeandaid.org/involved/ Children's Home & Aid. (2020). Children's Home & Aid - Home. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from Children's Home & Aid: https://www.childrenshomeandaid.org/ Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. (2020). Child Protection - Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from Illinois.gov: https://www2.illinois.gov/dcfs/safekids/reporting/Pages/index.aspx Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. (2020). Illinois Department of Children and Family Services - About Us. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from Illinois.gov: https://www2.illinois.gov/dcfs/aboutus/Pages/ab_about.aspx References Cont Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. (2020). Illinois Department of Children and Family Services - OIG Annual Reports. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from Illinois.gov: https://www2.illinois.gov/dcfs/aboutus/oig/pages/com_communications_inspector_prevr p.aspx Illinois.gov. (2020). Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from Illinois Government: https://www2.illinois.gov/dcfs/Pages/default.aspx McCord, P. (2020). How to Make Referral Partnerships Really Work. Retrieved March 27, 2020, from All Business: https://www.allbusiness.com/how-to-make-referral-partnerships really-work-15604676-1.html St. Clair County. (2014). Children and Family Services (A-I). Retrieved March 27, 2020, from St. Clair County - Illinois: http://www.co.st clair.il.us/departments/mentalHealth/Pages/familyA-I.aspx