Since you last joined us in season one, our team at the Institute for Child and Family Well-being has been busy learning from the experts that you heard here, community changemakers from across our state, and the latest evidence from lots of reading. Through that learning, we developed four critical pathways that will serve as roadmaps to help us focus our efforts, foster deeper relationships across systems and communities and clarify shared goals. As a small team, we know that we can't achieve our goal of reducing family separations for reasons of neglect across the state of Wisconsin on our own. So we hope through this podcast, convenings, and ongoing shared learning that we can serve as a catalyst of change. As my team at the Institute has learned this past year and a half, the evidence may take us and you to new places that lead to better outcomes for families. In this first episode, I talk with my team to introduce this season of the podcast so that they can share with us how we got here, where we're going, and what you can anticipate hearing from our experts in season two.
Overloaded: Understanding Neglect – Season 2
Show Notes: Episode 1 – Understanding the Critical Pathways with the ICFW Team
Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):
Host: Luke Waldo
Experts:
:00-2:25 – Luke Waldo – Opening Credits and Introduction
2:26-2:45 – Luke and Gabe McGaughey Opening
2:46-2:58 - Luke – Why do you believe that we need an approach like Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities (SFTCCC) right now to address neglect?
2:59-3:35 – Gabe – Neglect has remained stubbornly persistent as the primary reason for family separations into the child welfare system, and accounts for around 70% of all child removals in Wisconsin and nationally.
3:36-3:39 - Luke – Can you talk more about how neglect is a complex challenge?
3:40-4:29 – Gabe – Neglect’s complexity illustrated by unstable housing. “Are there things we can learn from efforts in different communities that could be generalized into policy or systems change?”
4:30-4:35 - Luke - How would you describe SFTCCC? How are you hoping it works?
4:36-5:15 - Gabe - “In many ways, SFTCCC is about preaching to the choir, but we want to get the choir to sing the same song, on time, and in tune to support lasting change.”
Prevention efforts across the state aren’t a highly structured, connected, or funded effort like Child Protective Services.
We want to create a network of changemakers that can connect their efforts and communities to others doing similar work across the state.
Creating a network of prevention efforts provides the opportunity to cultivate not only lessons learned and new ideas, but policy recommendations generated with the people working closest with these families, and the families themselves.
5:16-5:20 - Luke – How does SFTCCC line up with other state efforts?
5:21-5:52 - Gabe - There are several high-quality efforts focused on prevention policy, and we want to help connect and elevate those efforts.
This is a 5-10 year objective that will require focus and longevity.
5:53-6:12 - Luke - What have we learned so far in SFTCCC?
6:13-7:35 - Gabe - People serving families overloaded by stress are working hard, but also see the challenges play out every day. People believe that preventing neglect is possible, and they want to come together to talk about the challenges, and possible solutions, they’re facing.
One of the biggest lessons learned is getting other people to think differently about families who are overloaded by stress. How do we start to tell stories differently that help shift mindsets that are barriers to lasting change?
7:36-7:48 – Luke – What is the Economic Stability Critical Pathway, and why is it critical in helping us achieve our objective?
7:49-9:39 - Gabe – Introducing Economic Stability Critical Pathway
9:40-10:05 - Luke – What systems, organizational, and community partners have we identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? Who do we still hope to identify and engage?
10:06-13:26 - Gabe – Workforce Development Boards, TANF providers, and other partners who haven’t always seen themselves as child maltreatment prevention professionals. We are working to engage housing and anti-poverty partners. Relationship-building will be critical. Poverty-informed care through models like Mobility Mentoring.
13:27-13:53 - Luke – Introduction to Meghan and Social Connectedness Critical Pathway
13:54-18:56 – Meghan Christian – Impacts of social isolation and social connectedness on how we care for ourselves and families.
18:57-19:24 – Luke - What systems, organizational, and community partners have we identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? Who do we still hope to identify and engage?
19:25-21:44 - Meghan – Those who know that they help prevent child neglect, and those who don’t know yet.
21:45-22:11 - Luke - What will success look like for this Critical Pathway?
22:12-25:16 - Meghan – Centering our lived experience. Reliable, resilient networks of organic social connectedness.
25:17-25:36 – Luke and Meghan – Thank you
25:37-26:06 - Luke – Introduction to Megan Frederick-Usoh and the Workforce Inclusion and Innovation Critical Pathway
26:07-29:53 - Megan Frederick-Usoh – Introduction to Workforce Inclusion and Innovation Critical Pathway. Burnout and turnover in our child welfare system have a profound impact on the families that they serve.
Moral injury.
Diversity and inclusion strategies need to address the lack of representation in our workforce.
29:54-30:40 - Luke - What systems, organizational, and community partners have we identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? Who do we still hope to identify and engage?
30:41-32:58 - Megan – Lived experience partners. Child welfare professionals. Mandated reporters. Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity. We hope to engage more lived experience partners, particularly Peer to Peer Support Specialists.
32:59-33:51 - Luke - What will success look like for this Critical Pathway?
33:52-34:51 - Megan – Shine a brighter light on the importance of caring for and diversifying our workforce, and the relationships between our workforce and families.
34:52-35:24 - Luke and Megan – Thank you
35:25-35:48 - Luke – Introducing Leah Cerwin and the Community Collaboration Critical Pathway
35:49-37:05 – Leah Cerwin – Introducing Community Collaboration Critical Pathway
37:06-37:24 - Luke – What systems, organizational and community partners have we identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? Who do we still hope to identify and engage?
37:25-39:43 - Leah – Individuals and families with lived experience, mandated reporters – law enforcement, school staff, medical staff -, and judges and legal parties.
39:44-39:53 – Luke – What will success look like for this Critical Pathway?
39:54-41:37 - Leah – Equity. Service and systems accessibility.
36:01-36:20 - Luke and Leah – Thank you
41:57- 42:12 – Luke – Thank you and transition to what we’ve learned and our call to action.
42:13-42:48 – Luke – What have we learned?
42:49-45:05 – Gabe – Mindsets are often some of the biggest challenges and opportunities to meaningful systems change. Are families neglecting their kids, or are our systems and communities neglecting their families?
45:06-45:22 - Luke – What’s our call to action?
45:23-46:50 - Gabe – Call to action – Build new relationships and trust within and across systems and communities.
46:51-47:26 - Luke – Thank you and closing
47:27-48:54 - Luke – Closing Credits
Join the conversation and connect with us!
Luke Waldo 00:09
Welcome to Season Two of Overloaded: Understanding Neglect, where we explore the critical pathways that lead to child and family well-being and reduce family separations for reasons of neglect.
Luke Waldo 00:24
Hey everyone, this is Luke Waldo, your host for this podcast series and the Director of Program Design and Community Engagement for the Institute for Child and Family Well-being. Our partnership between Children's Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's Helen Bader School of Social Welfare.
Luke Waldo 00:38
Welcome back to Overloaded: Understanding Neglect as we embark on our second season. Since you last joined us in season one, our team at the Institute for Child and Family Well-being has been busy learning from the experts that you heard here, community changemakers from across our state, and the latest evidence from lots of reading. Through that learning, we developed four critical pathways which will serve as roadmaps to help us focus our efforts, foster deeper relationships across systems and communities and clarify shared goals. As a small team, we know that we can't achieve our goal of reducing family separations for reasons of neglect across the state of Wisconsin on our own. So we hope through this podcast, convenings, and ongoing shared learning that we can serve as a catalyst of change. As my team at the Institute has learned this past year and a half, the evidence may take us and you to new places that lead to better outcomes for families. I wanted to talk with my team to introduce this season of the podcast so that they can share with us how we got here, where we're going, and what you can anticipate hearing from our experts in season two. So before I introduce you to Gabe McGaughey, our Institute Co-Director, Meghan Christian and Leah Cerwin, our Well-being Lead Clinicians, and Megan Frederick-Usoh, our Translational Design Coordinator, please remember to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review to let us know how we're doing. Now onto the episode.
Luke Waldo 02:26
I have the great pleasure of starting this new season with my boss and colleague and fellow collaborator on our Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities initiative, Gabe McGaughey. Welcome, Gabe. I'm looking forward to our conversation today.
Gabe McGaughey 02:43
Great to be here, Luke. So am I.
Luke Waldo 02:46
Why do you believe that we need an approach like Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities, lovingly known as SFT-Triple-C right now to address neglect?
Gabe McGaughey 02:57
Neglect is a complex, persistent challenge with roots in both systemic oppression and interpersonal trauma. These root causes are different than physical or sexual abuse, the other maltreatment types that Child Protective Services respond to both of those areas. We've seen dramatic improvement and professional prevention efficacy over the last 20 to 30 years. However, during the same time period, neglect persists and has become the most common reason for children to be removed from their families, to be separated from their families into foster care accounted for 70% of the removal reasons in the state of Wisconsin and about the same nationally.
Luke Waldo 03:36
Can you talk more about how neglect is a complex challenge?
Gabe McGaughey 03:40
Neglect is complex in a number of ways. It crosses multiple systems. It's not just one issue, but really a constellation of challenges for our families, all presenting differently depending on the community we live in. And when I say that when you think about neglect, housing, the systemic issues are what I'm talking about. And we think about housing as a good example. Safe and stable and healthy housing is essential to child health and well being. But when we look at the housing challenges for families who are overloaded by stress across the state that presents differently in Milwaukee than it does say Stevens Point. But are there things that we can learn from the effort, local efforts in these communities focused on addressing housing, for example, that could be generalized into policy or broader systems change for the state as a whole?
Luke Waldo 04:30
How would you describe SFTCCC? And how are you hoping it works?
Gabe McGaughey 04:36
Prevention efforts across the state aren't highly structured, connected or funded like child protective services to address these problems. We want to create a network of changemakers, early adopters, and innovators that can connect their efforts and communities to others doing similar work across the state, and are hoping by creating this connection these networks of prevention efforts to provide the opportunity to cultivate not only lessons learned and new ideas, policy recommendations are generated with the people working closest with these families and the families themselves. In many ways, SFTCCC is about preaching to the choir. But we want to get the choir to sing the same song, on time, and in tune to support lasting change.
Luke Waldo 05:16
So how does SFTCCC line up with other state efforts?
Gabe McGaughey 05:21
There are several high quality initiatives focused on prevention policy, and we don't want to replicate or compete with any of those efforts, but rather connect and elevate them. And doing so we hope we can accelerate the impact of a collective network as opposed to just the individuals. While there are many aligned efforts in different communities around the state or within state government, the complexity of neglect, how it plays out differently depending on local resources, we realize that this is a five to 10 year objective that will require focus and longevity that we hope to contribute to.
Luke Waldo 05:53
So as I mentioned in the introduction, this podcast season will be focused on our four critical pathways. Can you share what we learned in the building a shared understanding phase that led to these four critical pathways?
Gabe McGaughey 06:11
In our first phase of SFTCCC, we really focused on building a shared understanding of neglect and identifying with our emerging community what they thought were the critical pathways forwards, forward to prevention, specifically, preventing family separations for reasons of neglect. These were these critical pathways aren't about explaining neglect, or saying this is the root cause or this one, you know, one plus one equals two or anything like that. They're what they're about is what our community felt was, were both the most important and pressing opportunities for change. We learned that people serving families overloaded by stress are working hard. But I also see the complex challenges play out every day, not in an abstract way, but in real concrete ways that hinders families health and well being. And across the board, people attending our events believe that preventing neglect is possible. And they responded well to having a space to come together to talk about the challenges and possible solutions to the barriers. And so through individual interviews with key experts and stakeholders, several virtual roundtables with people from across the state, and a datawalk to really connect the best available evidence with what our community was saying, was saying, we landed on four current, these four critical pathways of economic stability, social connectedness, workforce inclusion and innovation, and community collaboration.
Luke Waldo 07:35
So let's start with the economic stability pathway. What is, Gabe, the economic stability critical pathway? And why is it critical in achieving our objective?
Gabe McGaughey 07:49
Economic stability is our critical pathway that's really focused on elevating financial policy and programmatic interventions that reduce stress and foster positive parent child interactions addressed by poverty related challenges. So if we think about children that being neglected because they live in poverty, but when we think about poverty, and the intersection with neglect, poverty is about the lack of essential resources such as living wage, safe and affordable housing. And those conditions that are come out of that lack of resources, and how that overlaps and ties into neglect. Some neglect is also defined as a failure or inability of a parent to provide these essentials to their children, such as housing to healthcare and so on. Poverty and neglect really overlap in a lot of ways, just because, but it's not as straightforward as being causal. There's a lot of I don't want to sound like we're oversimplifying neglect, neglect is really quite complex. But at the same point in time, there are over 85% of the families who are in care, in foster care nationally, are coming from families that live 200% are below the poverty line, we have to start talking about poverty. Even though in Wisconsin we have in our state statutes, we say if we take children from their families, for reasons of neglect, it has to be for reasons other than poverty. At the same point in time, when we look at the Child Welfare population, you can really see the trend and the overlapping issues between poverty and the challenges that families are involved with child welfare system are facing.
Luke Waldo 09:40
So if we're to be successful, Gabe, in the economic stability critical pathway, who do we need to be engaging? Who have we already engaged in many ways and who do you anticipate being a partner of this initiative who maybe traditionally has not as you said before seen themselves as a partner in child maltreatment prevention?
Gabe McGaughey 10:05
So when we talk about what systems, organizational and community partners are essential for addressing economic stability for children and families, we have to talk about those, those system actors that don't view their work as child maltreatment related. Frequently, we have to talk about workforce development boards, we have to talk about TANF providers, we have to talk about housing providers and landlords, we really have to start looking at this from a broader perspective. And that's I think, one of the challenges with any kind of prevention effort, or for around families who are overloaded by stress. They really don't, there is no system, or payment structure, or funding or anything that ties these systems together in a way that can create easy, definitive action. Everything is local, everything is dispersed. There are similarities, but they're not the same. And so really, when we talk about potential path partners we are going to need folks who don't necessarily need to do a lot differently. It's more about how do we start having the shared conversations when it comes to housing, and economic supports for families are challenges like the benefits cliff, if we really want families to be successful and stable and financially secure. And understanding the impact that that has on health care, schools, educational outcomes, what it means for costs and opportunities and all these different systems, looking at these different players, and engaging them, it's going to be critical. In terms of who we still hope to identify, engage? I think we're really starting to engage some of our housing partners here in Milwaukee. Statewide, we want to look at the anti- poverty organizations around the state, there's different ones around different regions. And really kind of start thinking about moving the first step in systems change is really about building relationship between system actors that weren't there previously. So it's really gonna be a lot of relationship building at first. At the same time, the question is, I think one of the challenges with economic stability for families, that being our critical pathway is a lot of our people doing this work with people who may be listening to this podcast, don't necessarily feel like they are positioned to take action on such a big topic, and such a long standing historical topics such as poverty. So thinking about how do we talk about issues, and interventions like Mobility Mentoring? How do we talk about having, providing more poverty-informed care? How do we look, how do we support staff and looking at these solutions differently so they can engage families, build trust, and support them in reaching the goals that they want to reach?
Luke Waldo 13:27
Now I'd like to invite Meghan Christian from our Institute team to introduce our social connectedness critical pathway. Welcome, Meghan. It's great to see you.
Meghan Christian 13:36
Hi, Luke. Thanks for having me. Of course.
Luke Waldo 13:41
So Meghan, if you could tell us a bit more about the social connectedness critical pathway, and why we believe it is critical to our initiative success?
Meghan Christian 13:53
Sure, the social connectedness critical pathway is all about advancing opportunities for people to experience a sense of belonging, being cared for, valued and supported, and trying to unload family stress levels, through organic interactions and meaningful relationships. In other words, fostering space and time and energy together with each other. We all experience the sun rising and setting but we don't all have the same 24 hour days. Our life is sandwiched in between these few hours a day that we're not trying to gather money or eat or travel or sleep. If, if any one of those really gets out of balance or can be carried out in its optimal efficiency, there goes all of our time, all of our space, all of our energy for any connectedness that we could have with people in our family or in our community. After years of working with families with really young children, some of whom are showing, you know, kind of behavior problems or kind of stressing their caregivers out was doing that work a stunning majority, truly a majority of families say that getting five minutes of one on one time with their kiddo is a significant barrier, or nearly impossible things to do. And so much of a stunning majority, where I just, you know, it became about like, this is a, this is a cultural issue. It was not any one family who didn't want to hang out with their kid or they didn't want this time. It's the way our days are, are structured and time is just fleeting. And we know that kids thrive when they have caring responsive adults. And so if five minutes is hard for their identified caregiver, you know, on a daily basis, how often those needs are going on met. But also the adults need for connection is is also going unmet there, too. So it's truly critical for us to, you know, elevate the connectedness of a whole community. Because really, the difference that I have seen through the years, is does the parent have a network? Or do they not, and outcomes are extraordinarily better for people who have the support networks, whether it's the adults or the kids. So it's so mission critical that we succeed in advancing these opportunities to experience a greater sense of belonging and value and care. Because whether or not a caregiver has a social support system, I mean, that is the usually the significant determining factor of whether a parent succeeds in programming that typically I was involved in, in my work. That was, that was it improving social connectedness extends beyond any single system, or program. It's really about resilience. And when people are socially connected, they're better able to navigate life's challenges, and cope with the adversity that is everyday life, and the unusual stresses, anxiety and depression. Nearly a quarter of Wisconsinites, though, say that they only sometimes or never experience the social and emotional support that they need. And you could make the case in Wisconsin, I think culturally that that's a pretty underreported statistic, when you consider Wisconsinites kind of tendency towards avoidance or even kind of disconnecting or dissociating from our needs, for the sake of keeping peace. So I mean, like oppositely, in contrast, like what are the consequences of social isolation, it said that there, it's like smoking nearly a pack of cigarettes a day. It increases vulnerability to heart attacks and dementia, mental health disorders, premature death, when we're socially isolated, and we're caregivers to children, also, we're less likely to have the coping skills in the community, like extended family, or friends, casual acquaintances, coworkers, to support us when we become overloaded. And it's in these critical moments, our kids become vulnerable to neglect. So in this way, social connectedness is nourishment, a nurse, and a superhero for all the things that it is preventing and giving rise to.
Luke Waldo 18:57
Thank you, Meghan, for sharing the kind of vision of the social connectedness pathway, and certainly what it's hoping to confront and find solutions for. So with that in mind, what systems, organizational and community partners have we already identified and engaged as critical to this pathway? And then second, who do we still hope to engage in this process?
Meghan Christian 19:25
Sure. So that's a, you know, soft skills kind of question. And we're really just really just beginning. And thankfully, there are many groups who have been excelling at creating spaces where people can grow their own personal social connectedness and networks. And the list is long. And as we continue into this, hopefully the list of people who wevhave engaged and identified will grow. But I see it kind of starting off in two categories where we're at right now. People who are aware of their role in preventing child neglect. And those who don't yet know. Initially, we've been talking with networks that know that they play a critical role in preventing child neglect. Some of these groups are Family Resource Center networks, Wisconsin's Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, Casey Families, Safe Families for Children. We will be looking to engage other groups like Parenting Network, philanthropies, intergenerational care facilities, and mental health partners. Who are we looking to make some population level headway? You know, we have to get further, further upstream, then something bad has already happened, there's already been a psychological or physical injury that needs recovering from, we have to get further up that of course, we need to be able to address and have access when those things happen. But as a whole system, we just need to move up the bank, up the shore. So also on this list are groups and networks who we suppose don't yet know how vital they are to child neglect prevention. Small groups, small business groups, public works departments, like transportation, or animal shelters, bus drivers, city developers, venue staff, all of those folks that that may not yet know just how deep and how meaningful their work is, and trying to bring them in as well.
Luke Waldo 21:44
Thanks again for sharing that, Meghan. It's exciting to hear the work that's already been done, the relationships that have been established and the many, many partners that we aspire to connect to this important initiative and critical pathway. So I'd like to finish today with a bit of visioning. So if we are successful, Meghan, with this critical pathway focused on social connectedness, what would that look like?
Meghan Christian 22:12
Well, that's great question, Luke. First and foremost, success will be started through centering our own lived experience, as a group, as it's related to social connectedness and social isolation. That means that we're going to have to talk about some things and share some things perhaps that normally in this field, we're the one asking those questions. But if it's coming from a lived experience, we are that we are the population. Success is going to look like reliable and resilient networks of organic social connectedness, and improved mental and emotional wellbeing for whole communities. The goal is really to create enough space and time for people to be able to grow their bandwidth or energy bandwidth to be able to be a part of networks, where they can give an experience belonging and care and being valued. Now, that doesn't mean that we are shooting for every one having a therapist all the time. Yes. When in a crisis, we can we sure need to do better on the accessibility front. And there's lots of lots of people on that, on that movement, but we ultimately we have to reduce the number of people who reached that point. Because in many ways the state of mental health in America is symptomatic of our culture, the rush, the hustle, the grind, the everything's alright, don't ask me how am I doing? Now? Consider how can we de-professionalize or decentralize getting the social connectivity, social connectedness need met? So that if relationships become unsafe, or unhealthy, safe separation can happen. And it's possible because there's a property owner in the area who is willing and knowledgeable and able to or when there's nothing to do, or if there's everything else to do and you just are you just can't bring yourself to do it. And there's something else to do besides numb out from substances. How do we work ourselves out of a job is something that is said, we'd like to work ourselves out of a job but in reality, the way our world is set up that makes people kind of nervous and how do we work ourselves maybe into a different job? One that is our efforts are spent more on family empowerment and enrichment, strengthening, spending that time instead of toiling and wrestling and with the scars of stress, overloaded families, trauma. At some point, we just, we really have to reduce the number of people who are understandably in crisis. And that's really the goal of of social connectedness critical pathway.
Luke Waldo 25:17
Thank you Meghan for spending some time with me today and for sharing our vision for this important social connectedness critical pathway.
Meghan Christian 25:26
Course. Glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
Luke Waldo 25:37
Now, I'd like to welcome Megan Frederick-Usoh of our Institute team. She's going to introduce us to our Workforce Inclusion and Innovation Pathway. Welcome, Megan. It's nice to have you today.
Megan Frederick-Usoh 25:50
Thank you, Luke. I'm glad to be here.
Luke Waldo 25:53
So, if you wouldn't mind, I would love it if you would introduce our audience to the workforce inclusion and innovation critical pathway and why it is critical in achieving our objective.
Megan Frederick-Usoh 26:07
Our current workforce struggles with excessive burnout and turnover, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2022, surpassing the average for all occupations, employment growth for social workers is expected to increase 9% from 2021 to 2031. But with many separations resulting from workers that are choosing to transfer to other occupations or exiting the labor force, right now the median caseworker stays on a job for only about 1.8 years, for a rate of 30%. However, the annual turnover rates are considered healthy around 10 to 12%. And this national rate is similar to that of what we see with our initial assessment specialists in Milwaukee. Why this is bad for overloaded families? It makes us have disruption and delays in investigations, offers fewer workers to be able to visit children. It also disrupts that relationship and trust that we talked about earlier. When a caseworker quits or transfers, it can be costly to the families whose cases may be reassigned or delayed. Also, many of us join this field because we care about helping others, we care about families, and the communities or we're driven by a personal experience with that is an underlying passion and need to do good work. This can be difficult when we are faced with policies or regulations that are in direct contradiction to our own beliefs or our sense of right or wrong, often causing an internal struggle. And that can be difficult as a worker to overcome, sometimes referred to as moral injury or vicarious trauma, but all of which contribute to a decline in mental health. And that can lead to burnout and in that turnover that negatively impacts our overloaded families. The second piece of workforce inclusion and innovation is that inclusion, piece and diversity. And the reality is that our current workforce does not look like or live like the families we serve. According to the 2015 American Community Survey 68.8% of our social work workforce is white. When we look specifically at prevention, 63% of our home visiting workforce are also white. You know, in my opinion diversifying the workforce is essential as it brings inclusive thinking and representation to the proverbial table. And when I think about the need for inclusive thinking around neglect, I often shift to the role of implicit bias in mental models. Oftentimes, when we as a workforce hear bias in any form, there's a tendency to shy away or feel uncomfortable. It's kind of that concepts that is whispered in corners as being important but never properly addressed. But learning about implicit bias and how we as a workforce can self-reflect while still doing good work is something that we need to confront head on without, without reservation, because the current evidence shows that communities are more connected when there's diversity and inclusion in our family preservation workforce.
Luke Waldo 29:53
Thank you, Megan. Thank you that was extremely helpful in framing up and understanding the complexity of the workforce inclusion and innovation critical pathway. And you, you spoke about, about this pathway and the workforce in in terms of a puzzle, and the many different pieces that are going to be important if we're going to advance our objectives on this critical pathway. So I'd like you to share a bit about who those puzzle pieces are, and what systems more specifically what systems, organizational and community partners have we already identified and engaged as critical to this past pathway? And then secondly, who do we still hope to identify and engage?
Megan Frederick-Usoh 30:40
Yes, yeah, I did speak about it as a puzzle, because I do think it is intricate. One of those essential pieces are community partners, which we have been actively engaging with. We've actively engaged with our lived experience partners, and we really leaned into our relationships with our parent leaders at DCF. And then our parent advocates here at Children's, we're also actively engaging in storytelling, interviewing childcare professionals, about the work that they're doing. Some of those professionals are in management and training and have the opportunity to impact future workers and the way they think about the work that we do. We've also been having a lot of conversations with mandated reporters across the state who are focused on training and, and shifting the conversation around becoming mandated supporters. And also here at Children's was constant, we've done a lot of work around our IDE initiative, analyzing our current workforce, we've been supplying information, or how we work as a workforce and how we can support marginalized communities. As well as people we hope to be able to engage, I have a lot of hope for that. I would love to see us engage more of our statewide partners, elevating our local initiatives and elevating those local workers, so that we can strengthen our services and our system coordination. I'd also like to see us do more with lived experience, I've already done what I think is a great job. But we can always do more. Our lived experience folks are great at informing the conversation. And they can also be used as that peer to peer support professional. Peer to Peer Professionals are representative of the families that we serve. They bring diversity, language skills, knowing what it's like and cultural understanding. And it's just, it would be an easy solution to some of the issues that we're dealing with in the workforce. I'd also like to see us continue to work with our partners and listening to their stories so that they can uplift and engage others.
Megan Frederick-Usoh 31:03
All of that is very exciting. I'm really pleased to see how much engagement we've already had with partners. There is a very clear interest and passion around supporting our workforce, diversifying, diversifying our workforce, and creating conditions around our workforce in a way that will set them up for success in serving our overloaded families more successfully. So thank you for sharing that. I'd like to finish our conversation today, Megan, around our vision for this work, and more specifically, the vision that you see us having for the workforce inclusion and innovation critical pathway. So if we are successful with this critical pathway, what would that look like?
Megan Frederick-Usoh 33:52
In season one, and in year one, we stood out to shine a brighter light on the realities of child neglect and the conditions that most adversely impact or overloaded families. It is my hope and my vision of success, that then the second stage of critical pathways that we continue to shine a brighter light, but that by addressing mental models, uplifting workers in their communities, struggling in strengthening those services, that we as a workforce can also walk more closely with the families that we serve, that mandated reporters will see themselves and be seen by the community, not as reporters to be feared, but as supporters to be actively sought out. And that that will create a more resilient and enlightened workforce that will ultimately better serve our families.
Luke Waldo 34:52
Thank you, Megan. I appreciate you taking the time to share your vision for this critical pathway and our teams work that support all of us, including the many individuals that you've mentioned today.
Megan Frederick-Usoh 35:05
Thank you, Luke, for having me. This particular pathway is something that is it's very near and dear to my heart. So it was great to have an opportunity to be able to speak about it.
Luke Waldo 35:25
Now, I'd like to introduce and welcome Leah Cerwin from our Institute team, who is going to introduce our community collaboration, critical pathway. So welcome, Leah. It's nice to see you. Can you please tell our audience what our community collaboration critical pathway is, and why it is so critical in achieving our objective?
Leah Cerwin 35:49
Yeah, thanks, Luke. It's good to be here. So when we're talking about authentic community collaboration, one of our four critical pathways, what we're really talking about is bringing together a diverse group of changemakers, to co-design solutions for social change, to share the power and the perspectives that they have, and the learning that they have that directly impacts their respective communities. And so we've really realized that we needed to reach across many systems to build that trust, to encourage these different individuals to power share with each other, and with the families that we serve, so that we can amplify our impact. And so that can look like a lot of different things. But we are talking about advocating for policy changes, sharing best practice, creating a network of support that fosters the well being of those families, particularly the families of color, who we know have been disproportionately affected by family separations. And so community collaboration is really critical, because we see in, in our neighborhoods and within our families, that there are gaps, and there are disconnects, that we feel really passionate about closing those gaps, connecting those individuals and building that network. So that we can really see change, we can really reach that goal of decreasing those family separations for reasons of neglect.
Luke Waldo 37:06
Thank you, Leah, can you share a bit about the partnerships that we've already formed during this past six months or so as we've launched the critical pathways, and what partners that we are hoping to still engage in this process?
Leah Cerwin 37:24
So when we're talking about engaging the individuals who will make this community collaboration work, we're talking about the lived experience of families, communities, service providers, mandated reporters and organizational and systems leaders. And the way that I've kind of began to look at this is there's a timeline in the decision making before a family or a child is separated from their family. And so we start with that report that comes in that mandated reporter and who does that look like? Those are some folks, we need to engage in mandated reporters, the number one demographic that makes up the mandated reporters, are those law enforcement, school personnel, medical staff, and social workers. And so at the beginning of this process, when that call first comes in, who are those individuals? And what support do they need in order to make a decision that is unbiased, and that is well informed on the impact that this is going to have on that family. Then we move down towards the newest demographic that we've been engaging, which is those judicial parties, the judges and the lawyers who are involved in actually making that decision when that petition comes to court. And so we've noticed some gaps between all of these individuals along that continuum, and support that they feel like they don't have in order to make the best decision when deciding to either make that call, or support that family, or eventually, when it comes to court actually separating that family. So we have a lot of players at the table. And we have really focused on making sure that those folks are telling us what they need. And they're connecting with each other as well. And I would say for who we still hope to identify and engage. The hospital staff is a piece to this puzzle that has been highlighted by some of the individuals that we've spoken to. We have a lot of doctors and other medical personnel who are making those calls, and who are calling in to CPS for concern of neglect. And so we want to know how can we support them in making that decision in a way that they understand the implications, they understand their own personal implicit bias and that they can make those decisions in a way that the outcome is going to best support that family rather than just leading to those high levels of family separation that we sometimes see.
Luke Waldo 39:43
Excellent. Thank you. My last question for you today, Leah is if we are successful with this critical pathway, what would that look like?
Leah Cerwin 39:54
So for me, if I felt like we were successful in this critical pathway, we know right now that neglect is staying stubbornly at about 70% as the reason for children being separated from families, so that's a huge number. And so decreasing that number in an equitable way, I think is going to be one of the most important parts for us to evaluate whether we've done what we set out to do. We know that families of color make up about 13% of our population, and yet they make up 38% of all family separations, so that historical inequity, and to truly combat that these historical issues are further exacerbated by family separation. And so we need to advocate for systems change to address the root causes of these issues with these overloaded families. And so in order to achieve that equity, and really address it in a way that's going to make a difference, we need to see a greater investment in our communities, supporting these families, supporting these community partners, and make a greater investment in preventing families being separated. At the same time, right now, we have nearly 40,000 nonprofits statewide that are designed to support our children, families and communities. And yet families frequently don't know how to access those services, they're hard to access. And so we have the challenge before us and how we can coordinate those services. And so I really think that seeing that investment in the services that work and making sure families know that they exist and how to access them, will really hit our end goal of achieving that equity and addressing that inequity for these families.
Luke Waldo 41:37
Thank you, Leah, for sharing more about our community collaboration critical pathway, and I look forward to the coming year and this work.
Leah Cerwin 41:46
Thank you, Luke.
Luke Waldo 41:56
I would like to thank Gabe, Meghan Christian, Megan Frederick-Usoh, and Leah Cerwin for introducing the critical pathways and our vision for them. Now, we would like to close with a couple of final questions for Gabe regarding what we have learned and what we hope to accomplish moving forward. So first, right, the nature of this sort of work, like you said, relationship building, network building, a statewide initiative, right, so learning a lot about what's happening across the state that we weren't aware of, even a year ago, right, leads to a lot of learning. So I'd like to hear from you as to what sort of challenges you feel like we faced in this first year and a half or so, what we learned from that, and then, and then we'll get into what we do with that moving forward.
Gabe McGaughey 42:48
I think one of the biggest challenges when we're talking about economic stability around the state is the mindsets around this issue. That there's a fatalism mindset, like that's there, there's nothing you can do about it. That's one challenge. There is the pull yourself up by your bootstraps kind of mindset, meaning that people just, you know, have to figure it out on their own. And so I think, as we talk around with partners around the state around issues that touch every single aspect of SFTCCC, one of the biggest challenges is, how do we start to change people's minds? How do we help tell stories, reframe the conversation and tell stories that get people to look at these families who are overloaded by stress differently, to look not only necessarily compassionately, but understandingly, and in a way, in a light that enables action, because those mindsets that I mentioned, just as examples are things that are barriers to actions, those are quickly, those are things that dismiss opportunity for change. And I think we as a field we need to help families tell their stories more effectively. And more to reflect the nuance and challenges that they're facing, too. I think if people looked at all the challenges that families were overloaded by stress face, when it comes to the overlap of economic issues, housing, which is unique in its own right, because it can push people into poverty, it's not just a reflection of it. On top of substance use disorder, or untreated mental health or untreated trauma, or community violence, when we start stacking up all these things and expecting the families to be the sole problem solver for all of these challenges. It really begs the question, what are the families neglecting these kids? Or are the communities and the systems neglecting these kids? And how might we respond differently? No, understanding what we know today versus what we knew 10, 20 years ago.
Luke Waldo 45:05
So let's end with working off of that. What's our call to action to our listeners, to their, their networks, and to our broader community? What's our call to action? What do we hope that we see from our community?
Gabe McGaughey 45:21
I think our call to action is really about building relationships with people you don't normally build relationships with. It's about reaching out to landlords, who you don't know, it's about creating partnerships with employers, with workforce development boards, who support people experiencing the economic shock, shock of, let's say, a plant closure or mass layoffs. It's about working with for profit companies, nonprofits, a lot of different actors to really listen to them and be curious, or while you're building these relationships, not to enter a relationship and say, hey, what can you do for these families? But really saying how might, you know? How do we, what's the overlap? What's the opportunity to work together, and the relationship building takes time. And building trust takes time, especially both with on both sides, with the community as well as with these new stakeholders. And so I think that real call to action is find Housing Authority Board Meeting public meeting to attend out, you know, find out what groups are working on some of these issues in your community, and figure out how you help them. We'll then hopefully bring, make, help foster connection with efforts to prevent family separations for reasons of neglect.
Luke Waldo 46:51
Well, I personally, Gabe, I’m very excited about that call to action to get back to building relationships, meeting new people, and ideally learning from their experience as to how we can partner in a meaningful way to drive this initiative forward. So thank you for that. I appreciate you catching us up and setting us up for this new season of Overloaded: Understanding Neglect. Thanks again for joining us today, and we'll talk to you soon.
Luke Waldo 47:27
Thank you for joining us for today's conversation. We hope that you will come back and listen next week as we continue to explore the critical pathways that lead to Child and Family Well Being and reduce family separations for reasons of neglect. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share with friends, family and colleagues. Also, if you rate us on whatever podcast platform you listen to us on, it makes it easier for others to find us. To learn more about the experts that you heard today, visit the show notes, which is where you will also find links to sources or information that were mentioned in today's episode.
Luke Waldo 48:00
This podcast would not have been possible without the support and talents of Carrie Wade, who is responsible for our technical production and original music composition. I can't express my gratitude enough to Carrie for all she has given to this project. I'm also grateful to my team at the Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing at Children's Wisconsin, who drive the Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities initiative, and contributed to the ideas behind this podcast. Finally, I would like to thank all of our speakers that you have heard today and throughout the podcast for their partnership, their willingness to share their stories and expertise with me and all of you, and their commitment to improving the lives of children and families. I'm Luke Waldo, your host and executive editor. Thanks again for listening and see you next time.