Benchmarks would like to draw attention to the phenomenal work being done by the Cabarrus County DSS Prevention Team. The Prevention Team was established in 2018 with two social workers on a mission: ensuring families were connected to needed community resources resulting in no further referrals for mandatory services (services mandated by the state to families when Child Protective Service reports meet the general statue definition of abuse, neglect, or dependency). By focusing on the well-being of the whole family, including risk and safety needs, and utilizing a family-led approach, the County DSS office Prevention Team has been able to help families with these goals. Today, the Prevention Team is made up of four social workers. The team assists families in advocating for themselves in all arenas, and in educating schools on barriers families are experiencing. Throughout the process of doing this work, the team promotes system collaboration for success of children and families. They also seek to guarantee that the families they work with are connected to services DSS has available. In August of 2022, the County DSS office was 1 of 10 North Carolina counties to receive an “Excellence in Innovation” award from the Local Government Federal Credit Union and North Carolina Association of County Commissioners due to the Prevention Team’s work!
Tara Allman, Cabarrus’ Prevention Services Supervisor, is very passionate about the Prevention Team’s work. She has been working in the field for 28 years and spearheaded the Prevention Team’s creation. Tara noted that not all DSSs have Prevention Teams, and for those who do, each are unique in their own way. When asked about the benefits of having a Prevention Team within the DSS, Tara had this to say, “Families who didn’t understand what they needed or how to get it are now being educated. Our Parenting Specialist does a wonderful job of assessing their needs and helping families get them met. She focuses on reunification and keeping families together, working with the parents one-on-one, face-to-face. Her trauma training has helped this. She has been able to advocate for parents who are working through their trauma to do the work to be able to be reunited with their children; including having hard conversations with parents about their past traumatic experiences and developing safety plans for children.” In 2021-2022, the Prevention Team diverted 155 families from repeated maltreatment reports.
Tara also mentioned that the Prevention Team has boosted local community partnerships. In 2022, the Prevention Program coordinated local churches feeding 91 families for Thanksgiving and providing 158 children gifts for Christmas. “The church community is coming into partnership through prevention outreach. Families are being taken care of!” Tara stated. Over the course of a year, the Prevention Team also helped 11 homeless families to find housing with assistance from the DSS Crisis Unit. Kudos to Cabarrus County’s Prevention Team for all their hard, trauma-informed work assisting children and families! We cannot wait to see what other great accomplishments are to come!
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