NFPN News Notes

The News Notes Archive Has Moved

2011-01-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

To view past News Notes and to read the latest news from NFPN, please visit http://nfpn.org/about-nfpn-new/news-notes.html.

Review, Resources, & Reveling

2010-12-06T08:29:00.001-07:00

As the year 2010 draws to a close, the National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) takes a look at the past even as we look forward to 2011. Here's a recap of some of NFPN's activities over the past year.

Father-Involvement

NFPN, in cooperation with Essential Learning, converted the Basic and Advanced Fatherhood Training Curricula into three online courses with 8 CEU credits available upon completion of all courses.

NFPN also continues to offer the courses through training packages with over 850 workers scheduled to be trained on these materials. NFPN developed a guide for meeting federal Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) standards on father-involvement.

To access the online courses, visit:
http://www.cequick.com/nfpn

For more information and resources on father involvement, including the CFSR guide, visit:
http://www.nfpn.org/father-involvement1.html

Assessment Tools

NFPN offers reliable and valid assessment tools that measure family functioning. The tools are used in over 600 agencies in the United States, Canada, Australia, and other nations. Spanish versions of the tools are available and a research report has been published in Chile on use of the tools in that country. Over 800 workers received training on the tools this past year through the training packages.

For a complete list and description of all assessment tools and training packages, visit:
http://www.nfpn.org/assessment-tools.html

Training & Technical Assistance

NFPN provided webinars this past year on IFPS, father-involvement, and an overview of the NCFAS-G+R assessment tool. An information/training day was held in Atlanta, Georgia, on all of the resources that NFPN offers. Technical assistance on the assessment tools, privatization, IFPS rates, IFPS contracts, and decreasing deaths from child abuse/neglect was provided to programs in 6 states.

If you would like to have NFPN provide an information/training day in your state, or if you need technical assistance, please contact me, Priscilla Martens, at director@nfpn.org.

Presents Galore!

NFPN offers many free resources online. Here's a sampling:

What are the components of an effective child welfare system and what evidence-based programs are available in child welfare?
http://www.nfpn.org/articles-mainmenu-34/24-monograph-an-effective-child-welfare-system.html
All the nuts and bolts of starting or strengthening an Intensive Family Preservation Services program:
http://www.nfpn.org/preservation/ifps-toolkit.html
How can the assessment tools be used for program evaluation?
http://www.nfpn.org/articles-mainmenu-34/116-ifps-paper.html
What can my agency do to help older youth?
http://www.nfpn.org/preservation/186-older-youth.html

For a complete list of free online resources, visit:
http://www.nfpn.org/free-resources.html
http://www.nfpn.org/articles-mainmenu-34.html

Last-Minute Orders

If your agency has year-end funds available and you wish to make a purchase from NFPN, please note that all orders must be placed and paid by December 19. Easy online payment by credit card is available for fast turnaround and delivery!

Reveling

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You!

IFPS is Effective with Older Youth!

2010-11-10T02:00:00.001-07:00

The National Family Preservation Network, in association with Dr. Ray Kirk and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is pleased to release a new research report on the use of Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS) with older youth.

The report addresses a knowledge gap of what can be done to help older youth in order to prevent long term foster care placements and youth aging out of foster care with no resources and expected poor outcomes.

While the youth in this study were involved in the child welfare system, the findings suggest that older youth involved in systems other than child welfare (mental health, juvenile justice, substance abuse) could also benefit from IFPS.

Two agencies provided data on IFPS services to older youth with one of the agencies providing comparative data for younger children. Older youth were defined as ages 12–17 while younger children were defined as ages 0–11.

The major findings of the study are:

IFPS services were highly effective with older youth for both placement prevention services and reunification. The difference in outcomes for older youth vs. younger children was very small:

Younger Children Older Youth
Placement Prevention Success Rate 88% 92%
Reunification Rate 97% 92%
Older youth were more likely to be female and had significantly higher rates of physical and sexual abuse than younger children, as well as family conflict. Other issues much more prevalent in older youth than younger children included adoption disruption, behavior problems, delinquency, child-centered violence, school problems, mental health problems, and substance abuse. All of these issues were effectively addressed in terms of preserving the placement or reunifying the older youth with their families.
The NCFAS and the NCFAS-R assessment tools were found to be reliable for use with both the older youth and younger children. This is critical because the tools measure over 40 factors of family functioning that affect youth and their families and are used in a wide variety of youth- and family-serving systems.
Despite having many more presenting problems than younger children, older youth and their families made just as much progress as younger children and their families on all measures of family functioning with one exception. That exception was the area of child well-being which includes the factors of mental health, child's behavior, school performance, relationship with caregivers, relationship with siblings, and relationship with peers. Since these factors are child-focused, rather than parent-focused, and tend to reflect the older youth's desire for independence and ability to make choices, including bad choices, less progress in this area is perhaps understandable. In any event, somewhat less progress in the area of child well-being did not adversely affect the overall positive outcomes for older youth.
This is the third study that NFPN has commissioned on IFPS; all have shown similar excellent outcomes. NFPN believes that strong IFPS programs are essential in the continuum of services for older youth. Early IFPS programs served primarily older youth and we are now coming full circle to realizing that IFPS is still an excellent resource for adolescents.

Special thanks to the Institute for Family Development and the Philadelphia Youth Services for providing data for this project.

To view the Older Youth Research Report, visit:
http://nfpn.org/preservation/186-older-youth.html

NFPN's Fall Sale Ends Soon

There is still time to save 20% on purchases of $500 or more of the Assessment Tools Training Packages. NFPN's Fall Sale ends on November 19. Order today!

To get started, request a price quote. Your 20% discount will be applied to your price quote when you place your order before November 19.

Fall Savings

2010-10-13T11:31:00.002-06:00

The Fall Sale of the National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) begins today! From now until November 19 you will save 20% on purchases of $500 or more.

NFPN realizes that funding is tight for everyone, so this is your opportunity to buy what you need at substantial savings. If you already know what items you wish to purchase, you can get started by selecting the products listed on our Web site: http://www.nfpn.org/all-nfpn-products.html

Fill out a training package price quote form and we will apply the 20% discount to the amount listed when you tell us you're ready to order.

If you're not familiar with NFPN's resources, here is a brief description:

Reliable and valid assessment tools (NCFAS, NCFAS-R, NCFAS-G, NCFAS-G+R) that measure family functioning--all tools include comprehensive training packages. The tools are in use by over 650 agencies nationwide and are endorsed as Evidence-Based Practice by three accrediting agencies.

For a more detailed overview of the assessment tools, visit:
http://nfpn.org/articles-mainmenu-34/135-overview-of-assessment-tools.html

To select an assessment tool and get a price quote, visit:
http://www.nfpn.org/assessment-tools.html
NCFAS Training Package to be discontinued. Because the NCFAS is contained within all of the other assessment tools, NFPN will no longer offer the NCFAS tool and training package after December, 2010. Agencies can continue to use the NCFAS if they wish, but NFPN will no longer offer materials or support.

If you're missing some of the NCFAS training package materials, now is the time to order them. Also, now is a good time to consider transferring from the NCFAS to another tool.

Please contact Priscilla Martens, Executive Director, at director@nfpn.org to discuss your needs.
NFPN offers Spanish versions of the NCFAS, NCFAS-R, and NCFAS-G tools and training packages. We will still offer the NCFAS in Spanish after the English version is discontinued. Please visit:
http://www.nfpn.org/all-nfpn-products/145-spanish-training-packages.html
Basic and Advanced Fatherhood Training Curricula. NFPN developed the first-of-its-kind Fatherhood Training Curriculum (Basic) for practitioners. A demonstration project in two child welfare agencies showed that, following training, workers were more likely to identify, locate, and involve the father and his family in children's lives.

The Advanced Fatherhood Training Curriculum assists workers in developing the skills needed to engage fathers.

For more details on the comprehensive training packages and information on father-involvement, visit: http://www.nfpn.org/father-involvement1.html
Online father involvement courses. NFPN, in cooperation with Essential Learning, offers the Basic and Advanced Training Curricula as three online courses. To take the online courses, visit:
http://www.cequick.com/nfpn
Other products. NFPN also has available an IFPS ToolKit, run-time databases for the assessment tools (requires no additional software to run), and recorded webinars on CD-ROM. See the entire catalog of products at:
http://www.nfpn.org/all-nfpn-products.html

Update to September's News Notes

HR 6156 authorizing Title IV-E Waivers was passed by the House! To share your views, contact your two U.S. Senators by visiting:
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_contact_senators.htm.

In closing, our Fall Sale ends on November 19 and the deadline for paying invoices is December 17. Don't delay!

Please call (888) 498-9047 or e-mail director@nfpn.org if we may assist you in any way.

Funding Family-Centered Child Welfare

2010-09-22T00:01:00.001-06:00

Apparent in its name, the child welfare system in the United States is child-centered. Isn't that the way it should be? Let's look at how a child-centered system functions and the outcomes:

The focus of a child-centered system tends toward "rescuing" children from their families, ranging from shipping New York children by the trainload to Midwest families in the mid-1800s to keeping children in foster care until they reach adulthood in the 21st century.
Funding of the child-centered system in the U.S. has been geared toward removal, foster care, and adoption. The reason is that funding and financial incentives are guaranteed for these purposes but not to help families stay together:
- In 2006 the federal government provided $6 billion in entitlement funding for foster care and adoption support and $637 million in discretionary funding for services that include keeping families together.
- States receive incentive payments from the federal government for placing children in adoptive families but no payments are made to states or parents when children are reunified with their birth family.

What are the outcomes of funding a child-centered system?

Over the past decade, reunifications of children with their own families have decreased by 7%.
More youth are leaving foster care at age 18 (increase of 64% aging out over the past decade). With no permanent family and poor prospects for their future, these youth are much more likely to be homeless, incarcerated, and unemployed than other youth their age.
Without financial and policy incentives aimed at keeping families together, more children are likely to grow up apart from their own families.

What would a family-centered child welfare system look like?

A report from Casey Family Programs describes what happened when Congress authorized the Secretary of Health and Human Services to approve waivers to Title IV-E, a program that pays solely for foster care.

The waivers allow states to use the funds as needed, including for in-home services. States that have implemented Title IV-E waivers include California, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, and Oregon.

What are the results of use of the waivers in these states?

The amount of and access to services for families greatly increases (currently 40% of families referred for child abuse and neglect receive no services). More families receive family preservation services. Florida has doubled its spending on front-end services.
More children are either not placed out-of-home or are reunified with their families. In Florida, some counties have reduced the foster care population by 50-60%.
There is less recurrence of maltreatment and fewer re-entries into foster care.

Even with these good outcomes, however, waivers need to be reauthorized by Congress in order to continue. New legislation (H.R. 6156) has just been introduced in the House of Representatives that would allow up to 10 states to be approved for Title IV-E waivers.What do you think about this issue?

To learn more about Title IV-E Waivers, read the Casey Family Programs report at:
http://www.casey.org/resources/publications/NeedForWaivers.htm

To find out how to contact your federal senators and representatives to share your views about Title-IV-E waivers, visit:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/contactingcongress.html

To help NFPN determine the level of support for Title IV-E waivers, vote your preference on "Today's Poll" at:
http://www.nfpn.org

Home Visiting in a Nutshell

2010-08-25T07:45:00.006-06:00

As part of the comprehensive health care legislation, Congress provided $1.5 billion over 5 years for the Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. The funding is to be used for high quality, evidence-based, voluntary early childhood home visitation services.

Eligibility

An eligible family includes a pregnant mother, and the father if available; or the parent or primary caregiver of a child from birth to entry into kindergarten. Priority is given to high-risk children and families described in the law as:

Low-income families,

Pregnant women not yet 21 years old,

Families with histories of child abuse or neglect and/or involvement with the child welfare services,

Families with a history of substance abuse or in need of treatment or who use tobacco products in the home,

Children with low student achievement and/or developmental delays or disabilities,

Families who had a member serve in the Armed Forces, or have had multiple deployments outside the country.

Benchmarks

In order to participate, states must designate a lead agency, prepare a needs assessment due September 1, and establish benchmarks to show improvement in the following areas:

Prenatal, maternal, and newborn health, including improved pregnancy outcomes

Child health and development, including the prevention of child injuries and maltreatment and cognitive, language, social-emotional, and physical developmental indicators

Parenting skills

School readiness and child academic achievement

Reductions in crime or domestic violence

Family economic self-sufficiency

Coordination and referrals for other community resources and supports

Models

States are required to select service models that meet certain requirements:

They must use at least 75 percent of their grant funds to support evidence-based home visiting models that have been in existence for at least three years and have been evaluated through well-designed and rigorous randomized control trials or quasi-experimental research designs.

The remaining 25 percent of grant funding can go to promising and new approaches that have been developed or identified by a national organization or institution of higher education and that will be evaluated through a well-designed and rigorous process.

Home visiting models that are widely recognized and have been in existence for at least three years include the following:

Nurse-Family Partnerships
http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org

Healthy Families America
http://www.healthyfamiliesamerica.org

Parents as Teachers
http://www.parentsasteachers.org

The Parent-Child Home Program
http://www.parent-child.org

HIPPY
http://www.hippyusa.org

States can use a smaller portion of their funding (25%) for promising models and the National Family Preservation Network believes that promising models include:

SafeCare®
http://chhs.gsu.edu/safecare/training.asp

Homebuilders® model of Intensive Family Preservation Services
http://www.institutefamily.org

Evaluation

No matter which model is used, states are required to conduct an evaluation to show the effectiveness of the model and achievement of benchmarks.

NFPN recommends that states use the NCFAS-G with their home visiting programs to assess families and to measure results. An early research study of a home visiting program using a modified version of the NCFAS found significant improvement in family functioning (de la Rosa, Perry, Dalton & Johnson, 2005). Since that study was published, the NCFAS-G has been developed with reliability and validity established in a program to divert families from the child welfare system.

The NCFAS-G incorporates the NCFAS domains:

Environment

Parental Capabilities

Family Interactions

Family Safety

Child Well-Being

And it adds three additional domains:

Social/Community Life

Self-Sufficiency

Family Health

All of these domains can be used by the home visiting worker to assess the family and prioritize needs and services. Family progress can be tracked at regular intervals and aggregate data provides an agency with the measures needed to show improvement in benchmarks set in the federal legislation.

Conclusion

In summary, home visiting programs are currently a high priority of the federal government and all of us can make use of opportunities to learn more about this issue and lend our expertise and experience wherever possible.

To view a more detailed summary of the home visiting legislation, download the Children's Defense Fund report, "New Investments to Help Children and Families":
http://tinyurl.com/new-investments-pdf

For more information on the NCFAS-G, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/ncfasg-package

Priscilla Martens, Exec. Dir.
National Family Preservation Network
director@nfpn.org | 888-498-9047

Are you meeting CFSR requirements for Father Involvement?

2010-07-28T08:13:00.005-06:00

All states are required to participate in the federal Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) that measures outcomes in child welfare agencies.

While there is no specific measure for father involvement, there are several proxies under a Child Well-Being Outcome that include:

the worker's assessment of parental needs,
the family's involvement in case planning, and
the worker's visits with children and with parents.

State child welfare agencies performed poorly on these measures in the first round of the CFSRs; even when the performance was rated as a "strength" it was applicable to mothers, not fathers.

The second round of the CFSRs is currently underway, and reviews completed to date indicate that states are doing even worse than the first round in the area of father involvement.

What can be done to help states improve their practice and outcomes?

The National Family Preservation Network (NPFN) has developed a guide to assist child welfare agencies on father involvement.

Here are some of the recommendations:

Assessment
Conduct an organizational self-assessment to determine what your agency is currently doing and then develop a plan of action

Motivation and Training
A focus and training on father involvement have been linked to workers increasing efforts to identify and locate fathers and involve them in case planning.

Engaging Fathers
By keeping the benefits of father involvement in a child's life uppermost in mind, the worker can develop a friendly, non-judgmental approach to engaging the father and also enlist the mother's (and other kin) assistance in helping the father connect to the child.

Reinforcement and Instilling Cultural Change
Involving fathers is not a one-time event. It requires integration into agency policy through ongoing training, evaluation, collaboration with other agencies serving fathers, and supervisory and administrative support.

Will this improve practice and compliance with CFSR?

Perhaps you're wondering how you can know if this investment of time and resources will actually result in improved practice and improved compliance with CFSR requirements.

Here's an example of one agency that took the risk:
The state of Kansas is one of the few states that received a rating of strength on areas reflecting father involvement in the first round of the CFSR. However, Kansas did not fare as well in the second round of the CFSR and included father engagement in their Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).

One state-contracted provider in Kansas, DCCCA, decided to pursue quality improvement in the area of father involvement. DCCCA's goal was to improve performance on child welfare agency on-site case audits (100 per quarter) of five key items measured in quarterly case reviews--

Initial comprehensive assessment of the father's needs;
Provision of appropriate services to the father to address identified needs;
Active involvement by the father in the case planning process;
Quality of the visits between the caseworker and the father; and
Frequency of the visits between the caseworker and the father.

Within 15 months (based on 2009–2010 data) DCCCA workers raised their performance levels on the 5 indicators by an average of 33%.

It is possible to improve father involvement practice and meet CFSR standards!

The secret to sustaining father involvement is to integrate it into an agency's core components, into what you do every day.

To read the full guide on meeting CFSR requirements for father involvement, visit:
http://nfpn.org/father-involvement1/meeting-cfsr-standards-report.html

Summer Activities

2010-06-28T06:00:00.001-06:00

Summer is generally a more relaxed time of year, so it's a good time to:

catch up on reading,
discover new resources,
take an online class, and
register for conferences.

I will address all of these activities in this NFPN News Notes. Let's begin with the most time-sensitive ones.

IFPS Webinar—Tuesday, June 29
The webinar will provide an overview of NFPN's IFPS ToolKit and information from the states of Missouri and Indiana on their intensive in-home services programs.

The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, June 29, at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Register for the webinar now

Father-Involvement Introductory Online Course
NFPN, in cooperation with Essential Learning, is offering the first course on father-involvement for half price (only $10!) through June 30. Access the course and claim your discount today

Better Care Network
The best source of information for global issues regarding children is the Better Care Network (BCN). Visit the BCN Web site and sign up for their informative e-newsletter.

BCN has just released a toolkit designed to support practitioners and policymakers around the world in planning for and delivering better care for children--including family strengthening and out of home placement.

Access BCN's free toolkit

Family-Strengthening Symposium
The Center for Family Strengths at the University of Houston-Downtown is offering a Symposium on Family Strengths and Diversity on September 7-9. For more information, please visit: http://www.uhd.edu/cfs

The Best E-Newsletter for Nonprofits
The Blue Avocado — "Practical, provocative, and fun food-for-thought for nonprofits." Check it out at: http://www.blueavocado.org

In closing, please note: If your fiscal year ends June 30 and you want to purchase a product from NFPN before then, please order and pay online by credit card today. NFPN's invoice/shipping department will be closed from June 29 to July 6.

Have a great summer!

—Priscila Martens, Executive Director
National Family Preservation Network
director@nfpn.org | 888-498-9047

Preserving IFPS

2010-05-26T15:00:00.003-06:00

You may have noticed the poll on the Web site of the National Family Preservation Network (NFPN). Currently, we are asking, "Is your state cutting funding for Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS)?" There are 5 responses indicating that IFPS is being cut, so it's timely to address how to preserve Intensive Family Preservation Services!

Preserving IFPS basically equates to education. It requires initial and ongoing education of the state governor and his staff, state child welfare administrators, program managers, and caseworkers. All of these have specific roles, such as, funding and overseeing IFPS and referring families for services.

For example, many state legislatures have adjourned for the year and the legislators are in their home districts. This is an excellent time to meet with your legislator to explain why IFPS is important, the cost-savings in comparison to out-of-home placement, and the effectiveness of IFPS. NFPN has resources to help in that regard. Begin by reading, "Is Cutting IFPS in a Budget Crisis a Good Idea?" as this document has been enlisted in the past to give to elected officials and has resulted in averting funding cuts.

One year ago NFPN released the IFPS ToolKit and it remains the most comprehensive resource available on every aspect of Intensive Family Preservation Services. The IFPS ToolKit is the featured free resource on the Web site during the next month and you may print any portion of it for distribution. Decision makers will also need to know how effective IFPS is in your state. The State of Missouri provides an annual report on their intensive in-home services. While the report has a lot of detail, it is simple to understand and thus provides a good model for the type of information that's useful to share with key people.

NFPN is close to having the research report completed on the use of IFPS with older youth. We expect the report to demonstrate that older youth and their families benefit from IFPS in much the same way as younger children and their families. This report will be critical to give to child welfare agencies searching for alternatives to youth aging out of foster care with poor outcomes for their future. Watch for the report's release in an upcoming NFPN News Notes.

Finally, if your state is considering cuts to IFPS, please contact NFPN and let us help you develop a plan to stop that from happening. Even better, let's develop a plan to strengthen and expand IFPS in your state!

Resource List:

Is cutting IFPS in a budget crisis a good idea?
http://nfpn.org/articles-mainmenu-34/25-is-cutting-ifps-in-a-budget-crisis-a-good-idea.html

IFPS ToolKit
http://nfpn.org/preservation/ifps-toolkit

Missouri IIS Report
http://nfpn.org/preservation/missouri-iis-report

Contact NFPN
E-mail: director@nfpn.org

Priscilla Martens, Exec. Dir.
National Family Preservation Network
director@nfpn.org | 888-498-9047

New Website Look & Free Resources

2010-04-21T12:00:00.000-06:00

The National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) has a new look! You can check it out by visiting http://www.nfpn.org

While keeping up appearances is important, the main reason for the new look is to make it easier and simpler for you to find what you need, while at the same time adding more resources. How are we doing that? Here are some examples:

If you click on Preservation, you'll see that we now have a menu of articles related to that topic. We'll continue to add more articles about family preservation programs from states with effective programs. You will be able to find out what other states are doing, select the best model for your state or program, and contact a resource person to answer your questions. Please contribute content by sending us information about strong IFPS programs.

A big attraction on NFPN's website is the Assessment Tools. When you click Assessment Tools, you'll find a menu of all of the tools. You can choose a quick overview or click on a specific tool for more information. If you're interesting in pricing, just complete the pricing inquiry form.

The goal of the new look is quicker, easier, simpler access while still providing more information and more choices. Let us know how we did by completing the poll on the Home page.

Free Resources for Father-Involvement

NFPN has been showcasing its father-involvement resources this month. Over 500 people registered for the Father-Involvement Webinar held on April 12! If you didn't participate in the webinar, you're not left out. You can still access a free replay of the webinar.

Additional free resources on father-involvement include:

Messages that all children need to hear from their fathers
A research report connecting father-involvement training to workers increasing their efforts to identify, locate, and involve fathers in their children's lives
A comprehensive report on the importance of fathers

Let's get started!

To share information about your state's IFPS program (brief evaluation reports are primarily what we're looking for) and provide contact information, please e-mail director@nfpn.org

To access the father-involvement webinar recording, please visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/919403449

To discover what messages children need to hear from their fathers, visit: http://nfpn.org/free-resources/174-free-resource-of-the-month.html

To read a research report on what happens when workers are encouraged and trained to engage fathers, visit: http://www.nfpn.org/articles-mainmenu-34/29-fatherhood-in-the-child-welfare-system-final-research-report.html

To read a comprehensive report on the importance of fathers, visit: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/fatherhood/index.cfm

Free Father-Involvement Webinar: Applying the Latest Research Findings to Practice

2010-03-25T10:30:00.001-06:00

You're invited to attend a free...

Father-Involvement Webinar
Applying the Latest Research Findings to Practice
Demonstration of Three Fatherhood Online Courses

Monday, April 12
10 a.m. PDT
11 a.m. MDT
12 Noon CDT
1 p.m. EDT

Duration: One Hour

To register, go to:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/919403449

Webinar Hosts
National Family Preservation Network (NFPN)
Essential Learning (EL)

Introduction:
Priscilla Martens, NFPN Executive Director

Presenters:
Dr. Marsha Kline Pruett, Ph.D., M.S.L.
Maconda Brown O'Connor Professor
Smith College & School for Social Work

Leslie Mariner, SVP Business Development
Essential Learning

Join us for this free webinar and learn valuable information about father involvement. Dr. Marsha Kline Pruett will share results from a recent study about the best interventions with fathers and their positive effect on the father's relationship with the child, daily child care, and the child's behavior.

You'll also have the opportunity to get a sneak peek at NFPN's father-involvement courses available online.

Immediately following the webinar, you can begin taking the online courses at a significant discount when you sign up for all three.

About NFPN
Our mission is to serve as the primary national voice for the preservation of families. Our mission is achieved through initiatives in the areas of family preservation, reunification, and father-involvement. NFPN developed the first-of-its-kind father involvement curriculum and successfully field-tested it in two child welfare agencies. A research paper has been published indicating that with training and assistance, workers will increase efforts to identify, locate, and involve fathers in their children's lives. NFPN has developed basic and advanced training curricula on father-involvement and has partnered with Essential Learning to offer the curricula as three online courses.

About Dr. Marsha Kline Pruett
Dr. Marsha Kline Pruett, Ph.D., M.S.L., is the Maconda Brown O'Connor Professor at Smith College School for Social Work. Dr. Kline Pruett has trained professionals throughout the country, and served as commentator on radio and television news. She has more than twenty years of clinical experience with individuals, couples, families, and children, and has been trained in both Family Therapy and Divorce Mediation. Her current clinical work includes consultation to couples regarding the decision to divorce, parenting plan development, and co-parenting difficulties; consultation to attorneys, collaborative divorce, and mediation. Nationally noted for her research regarding father involvement, child adjustment to divorce, parenting plans for young children, school interventions, and work/family conflict, Dr. Kline Pruett has written over 75 articles, chapters and reviews and is the co-author of Your Divorce Advisor: A Lawyer and a Psychologist Guide You through the Legal and Emotional Landscape of Divorce (2001) and Partnership Parenting: How Men and Women Parent Differently and Why it Helps Your Kids and Can Strengthen Your Marriage (2009).

About Essential Learning
Essential Learning (EL) is the largest provider of e-learning services for the human service industry and serves more than 750 agencies nationwide. EL will reduce training costs and ensure compliance with training mandates and offers an extensive library of online courses on children/youth/families, developmental disabilities, mental health, workforce development and OSHA and compliance topics.

Want to learn more about Essential Learning? Request an individual demo (http://www.essentiallearning.com/request_demo.htm) of our services today.

For more information, visit www.essentiallearning.org/dd or contact us at 1-800-729-9198 ext. 284.

Register today for the free father-involvement webinar to be held on Monday, April 12:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/919403449

Priscilla Martens, Exec. Dir.
National Family Preservation Network
director@nfpn.org | 888-498-9047

Informing & Advancing the Field

2010-02-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

The National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) is pursuing a goal in 2010 to inform and advance the field in the areas of family preservation, reunification, and father-involvement.

Here's how we intend to do that and how you can get involved:

Providing More Online Information and Resources on Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS)
State child welfare agencies are looking for ways to cut costs but still provide effective services. For every dollar invested in IFPS, states save $2.54 in out-of-home placement costs and children safely remain with their families. To further achieve the mission of serving as the primary national voice for the preservation of families, NFPN will provide assistance for strengthening and expanding IFPS by restructuring our Web site (nfpn.org) to provide more easily obtainable information and resources about IFPS. We will also offer a list of contacts in strong IFPS states.

How You Can Get Involved: Please e-mail recent (within past two years) reports and articles on strong IFPS programs to NFPN (director@nfpn.org). If you work in a strong IFPS state and would like to serve as a resource person, please e-mail your contact information (name, title, agency name, e-mail, phone number, mailing address).

Identifying Core Elements of Reunification Programs
Research and findings on reunification programs (including intensive reunification services) lag behind the research and findings that have resulted in effective intensive family preservation services programs. Twelve years following the implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), reunifications have declined while guardianships and adoptions have increased. In addition, there have been no improvements in the likelihood, rapidity, or safety of reunifications. Because child welfare agencies still intend to reunify at least half of the children in out-of-home placement, it is essential to again focus research, resources, and funding on reunification.

NFPN is embarking on a project with multiple researchers and sites to identify the common core elements of effective reunification programs. We will be targeting programs that use the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale for Reunification (NCFAS-R) in order to have a common measurement tool.

How You Can Get Involved: Please e-mail recent (within past two years) reports on reunification programs (both effective and ineffective programs) to NFPN (director@nfpn.org). The greatest need is for data and findings on reunification programs using the NCFAS-R.

To view the complete report on the impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act, visit:
http://www.urban.org/publications/1001351.html

Three Online Courses Now Available on Father-Involvement
In cooperation with Essential Learning, NFPN has converted the Basic and Advanced Fatherhood Training Curricula into three online courses. The courses include a full array of training on father involvement with 8 CEU credits available upon completion of all three courses. Not familiar with online training? Watch for details on an upcoming webinar in April on father-involvement that will include a demonstration of the online training. To access the fatherhood courses, visit:
http://www.cequick.com/nfpn

NFPN Offers Top-Ranked Assessment Tools
NFPN offers 4 assessment tools in the area of family functioning. The tools have been reviewed and approved by the Bay Area Social Services Consortium Research Team at Berkeley, CWLA Research to Practice Initiative, and the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare. Over 500 agencies nationwide and in Canada and Australia use the tools in the child welfare, mental health, juvenile justice, behavioral health, public school, and other systems. The assessment tools are compatible with a variety of other tools including risk/safety, structured decision making, and specific assessments for substance abuse, mental health, etc.

For more information about the tools, please visit:
http://nfpn.org/tools-and-training

For a price quote, complete the online pricing inquiry form at:http://www.nfpn.org/ncfasrg-price-quote

New Opportunities

2010-01-27T12:34:00.001-07:00

Most of us are probably happy to have 2009 in the past. It was a difficult year with worthy initiatives put on hold and funding reduced for programs that help families.

The National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) is beginning 2010 with renewed hope and a determination to do more this year to assist those who are on the front lines working with families.

In this News Notes, NFPN will share some initial plans for the year and solicit input as to how we can best serve you.

Research on Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS) with Older Youth
During the past year, NFPN has received data on older youth from two sites (Institute for Family Development in Washington State; and Youth Services, Inc., in Philadelphia).

A researcher is analyzing the data and will prepare a report on findings, to be released within six weeks. We anticipate positive findings on the use of IFPS with older youth and a profile of the older youth who need these services.

Father-Involvement Online Course - Part 2
Part 2 of the Father-Involvement Online Course is now available through NFPN's partnership with Essential Learning. This is the second in a series of three courses. The third course will be available by the end of February.

NFPN is continuing the low introductory price of $17 per course. To take the first and second courses, visit http://www.cequick.com/nfpn.

Faster & Easier Online Ordering
NFPN recently upgraded the e-store on our Web site to help you obtain our products easier and faster.

Did you know that on average, orders paid by check take almost a month to complete -- time during which your workers could learn how to use the assessment tools or develop skills for father-involvement.

With NFPN's upgraded online store, you can now complete your order in minutes. With 3 simple clicks, your secure credit card payment can be approved and your order ready to ship. Training materials are usually shipped within 24 hours of payment and are delivered within the USA in 7 days or less (expedited shipping options are available).

Outside the USA? Online credit card payment will ensure that you get the most accurate currency exchange rate. It eliminates all risk of your check being misdirected or lost in the mail. NFPN's online credit card transactions are secure and the preferred method of payment for all international orders.

Keeping You Informed
NFPN's chief methods of communication are the Web site and this e-newsletter. We encourage you to ask your colleagues to sign up for the NFPN News Notes, and to sign up yourself if you receive it second-hand.

We limit NFPN News Notes to 15 issues per year so we won't clog your e-mail inbox or waste your valuable time. Once or twice a month we deliver the latest news, resources, and information about family preservation, reunification, and father-involvement.

To sign up for NFPN News Notes and find more resources, visit:
http://www.nfpn.org

How can NFPN best serve you?
NFPN's mission is to serve as the primary national voice for the preservation of families. Our mission is achieved through initiatives in the areas of family preservation, reunification, and father-involvement. NFPN offers research-based tools, training, resources, and technical assistance to public and private child- and family-serving agencies.

How are we doing?

Please take a moment to share your thoughts in our online survey, to help NFPN better meet your needs:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3ZXCZCQ

Take the Online Father-Involvement Course Today

2009-12-14T13:39:00.001-07:00

The National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) is pleased to announce the release of the first online course on father-involvement. Two additional courses will be released at a later time. The courses provide continuing education credits, and after taking all three, you will be issued a certificate of completion of training in father-involvement.

NFPN is offering the first course during the month of December to our customers and supporters. We are inviting your feedback after taking the course. NFPN wants to ensure that the father-involvement courses are engaging, informative, skill-building, and immediately applicable to your work with fathers and families. After taking the course, please complete the brief survey by clicking on the link at the end of this News Notes.

NFPN is partnering with Essential Learning in offering this online training. The courses are set up on a separate Web site (CE Quick) hosted by Essential Learning. Technical support is also provided by Essential Learning.

To take the first course, visit http://www.cequick.com/nfpn and follow the instructions below:

Select an accreditation organization (select the organization that provides CEUs for your agency). For assistance in selecting, click the Accreditation Information tab. If you don't having an accrediting organization, select "generic completion."
Select All Subjects.
Click "Next."
Click to put a checkmark by "Engaging Fathers in Children's Lives: Part 1."
Click "Add Courses to Chart and Checkout."
The course price has already been discounted, so click "Checkout" and proceed with payment.

If you experience any technical difficulties, please see the FAQ tab on the CEQuick site or click on "Contact Our Support Team" (right side on home page) for links to Essential Learning Troubleshooter, Knowledge Base, and Submit Support Ticket.

Since developing the research-based father-involvement curricula, NFPN has been contacted by many agencies that do not have a funding source to pay for the training packages. In response, NFPN is offering the lowest-cost option available for comprehensive training that closely follows our fatherhood curricula. The discounted price of $17 per course means that you're getting three workshops for the cost of one!

After taking the course, please take a few minutes to complete the online survey to provide feedback at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NFQT2MW

Father-Involvement Curriculum is Going Online

2009-12-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

The National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) is launching a new online training website called CEQuick. The online training curriculum "Father-Involvement" will be offered in three courses.

The CEQuick website is hosted by Essential Learning, and the curriculum is designed for busy professionals who want to find a convenient way to increase their knowledge and skills on father-involvement at low cost and no interference with other responsibilities. The no-hassle online training will also include continuing education credits!

For those of you familiar with taking courses online, you're ready to go. For others who are less familiar with online courses, here's a quick overview:

First go to the CEQuick site (the website is coming soon)
Sign up for Course 1 (more courses available in January)
Pay online by credit card
Take the first course

It's that simple!

If you would like more information about online training, please visit:
http://essentiallearning.com/elearning_research_solution.htm

The first of the three courses is in the final stages of completion and will be released next week. The next NFPN News Notes will include the website link to the CEQuick site.

Benefits of Online Training -- Easy access anytime and anywhere.
If you're interrupted or don't have time to complete a course in one session, you can return to it at a later time.

After you have reviewed all of the materials for the course, you will take a post-test. With a passing score of 80%, you will be issued continuing education credits. Then, watch for the release of the next course.

When you take all three courses for the total cost of about $50, you will be issued a certificate of completion for training in father-involvement.

Here are some other benefits of taking this curriculum online:

Many agencies want to offer their workers group training on father-involvement but cannot prioritize or fund it during this economic recession. Individualized training is a low-cost alternative. Check to see if your agency would reimburse the cost.
The online curriculum is based on NFPN's Fatherhood Training Curriculum, which is research-based and has been field-tested in a successful demonstration project.
NFPN's fatherhood materials are unique for training workers and are the most comprehensive available.
NFPN will continue to offer the Basic and Advanced fatherhood curricula training packages for group training and will apply a credit towards agency purchase of online training for individuals.

Free Shipping and Discounts before December 22
NFPN's fall sale continues with a 20% discount on orders above $500 and free shipping on every order! Place your order today by visiting:
http://nfpn.org/products--shop

If you have a question about the online father-involvement course or about ordering a product, please contact Priscilla Martens, Executive Director, director@nfpn.org.

Hope, Encouragement, Assistance

2009-10-28T03:00:00.001-06:00

Many family-serving agencies are struggling during this economic downturn. It’s tough to keep the doors open while simultaneously trying to meet the increased needs of families.

Although the National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) shares these challenges, we’ve decided to try to focus our time and energy on hope, encouragement, and assistance.

Let’s Begin With Hope
I’ve heard two seemingly contradictory messages from my pastor in the past few months: The hard times will come to an end and this is no time to be stingy! How do those two fit together? Shouldn’t we be hunkering down while waiting for the hard times to end? The answer to that is a resounding no! The more generous we are in our personal and professional lives during these hard times, the more we help other people to make it through, and that contributes to ending the hard times!

How about some encouragement?
If we believe that the hard times will come to an end, then we need to be prepared! At NFPN we are planning new initiatives that include harnessing technology (blog, online courses, webinars) to reach more people more efficiently. We’re seeking new sources of revenue (sponsorships) that will enable us to get our resources more broadly distributed, both in the USA and in other countries, and to fund our initiatives to build best practice. Of course all of us, NFPN included, must deal with the daily pressure of limited finances but we also need to position ourselves for a brighter future!

And Now For Some Assistance
NFPN recognizes that many agencies are holding off on making purchasing decisions. Yet the need for resources to aid workers in helping families is only increasing. NFPN offers resources and assistance to family-serving agencies in order that families can be helped more effectively. We believe that the best way right now to get our resources into your hands is by offering all of our products at reduced cost.

In case you haven’t visited the Web site recently, here’s a list of NFPN’s products:

4 Assessment Tools with comprehensive Training Packages (NCFAS, NCFAS-R, NCFAS-G, NCFAS-G+R)
3 Spanish-version assessment tools/training packages (NCFAS, NCFAS-R, NCFAS-G)
4 Database CDs for Windows PCs (NCFAS, NCFAS-R, NCFAS-G, NCFAS-G+R). These are self-contained Access runtime databases and do not require any additional software to run. They are only available to licensed users of the corresponding training packages.
Basic Fatherhood Training Curriculum Package. Includes training manual that can also be purchased separately, training script, PowerPoint presentation, handouts, resources for workers, activities for dads and children, message for moms, video.
Advanced Fatherhood Training Curriculum Package. Includes training manual, training guide, how to communicate with fathers, case examples with coaching on engaging fathers, video with best practice.

Other products:

IFPS ToolKit
CD-ROM Webinar demonstrating how to use the NCFAS-G+R database

Starting today, shipping and handling costs will be waived on all product purchases. For purchases of $500 and above, NFPN is offering a 20% discount. This is the largest price reduction that NFPN has ever offered, so please take advantage of it by visiting our store at: http://www.nfpn.org/products--shop/

To receive your discount, orders must be placed/paid by December 22, 2009, when the sale ends.

If you have questions regarding products or discounts, please contact Priscilla Martens, Executive Director at director@nfpn.org.

Harnessing Technology

2009-09-16T12:00:00.002-06:00

With this issue of NFPN News Notes, the National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) is increasingly harnessing technology in order to expand readership and to provide a forum for feedback. Subscribers will continue to receive the newsletter by e-mail, but it will also be posted on NFPN’s new blog (http://nfpnnewsnotes.blogspot.com). The blog offers you an opportunity to give immediate feedback on issues and to hear what others have to say.

In addition to the blog, NFPN is harnessing technology for training and technical assistance (T/TA). NFPN just completed its first webinar, a T/TA on the NCFAS-G+R database for Alaska social services providers. NFPN recorded the webinar, so now anyone can access it for the low price of $5. It is applicable to all the assessment tools (NCFAS, NCFAS-R, NCFAS-G, NCFAS-G+R) and demonstrates how easy it is to use the database. If your agency is not currently using an assessment tool, or is using a paper-only tool, this webinar is a great overview of NFPN's data entry system. To register and get immediate access to the webinar, visit http://tinyurl.com/nfpn-product-id-28.

Still another technological tool that NFPN will be harnessing soon is online courses. NFPN is partnering with Essential Learning to develop an online course for the Basic Fatherhood Training Curriculum. The online course will allow workers to increase their knowledge and skill level on father-involvement and to receive CEUs, all at a low cost. The course is expected to be available by the end of October—more details will follow.

NFPN will also be looking at other ways to harness technology. The word harness is used intentionally based on the dictionary definition “to control so as to use the power of,” as opposed to being controlled by the power of something else since it’s easy to be controlled by technology! I just completed a week of learning the intricacies of setting up a webinar, including hours spent on technical glitches. Harnessing technology requires time that has to be taken from other tasks and responsibilities. With one full-time staff, NFPN needs to constantly strive to make the optimal use of time, so don’t plan to hear from me any time soon on what I’m eating for breakfast!

Harnessing technology also requires having the right equipment. Fast and faster are better! Unfortunately, fast is not compatible with my five-year-old computer. NFPN’s webinar host politely asked me how my computer kept up with the presentation. “Only a few seconds behind,” I replied cheerfully, but of course, that won’t be sustainable for much longer.

The goal for harnessing technology is to improve NFPN’s products and services. In order to achieve this goal, NFPN needs your input and assistance. Here’s what I’m requesting from you: On NFPN’s blog, please post constructive comments that deal with issues, not personalities.

If you have a heart for family preservation and love technology, NFPN would welcome volunteers to help out with further developing our blog and other social media. When you find good examples of the use of social media, please pass them along.

If you know of a funding source for technology (computers, software, printers, technical assistance), please e-mail the information to director@nfpn.org.

How does your agency harness technology?

	Younger Children	Older Youth
Placement Prevention Success Rate	88%	92%
Reunification Rate	97%	92%