Over the past year, Surry and Yadkin Counties' Departments of Social Services have partnered with Benchmarks' Standardized Assessment Protocol pilot to bring about positive outcomes for children, ages 4 and up, in their foster care program.
Both Surry and Yadkin joined the project before CoVID-19 changed every aspect of their jobs. What began as an in-person implementation project, quickly, and without warning turned into being completely virtual-- all while partnering with a coordinator with whom they had never met in person. Both counties, while faced with such critical challenges, were able to trailblaze and overcome while prioritizing the outcomes of their foster children in mind. Meetings were changed, trainings were rescheduled, and relationships were developed via webcams, phone calls, and emails.
Despite the unique challenges the counties were faced with, they recently saw to an enormous accomplishment—their first foster child completed each step in the protocol process and began to receive trauma-informed and centered care. While this is just the beginning of a culture and process shift, we are already looking forward to seeing more of the positive outcomes local foster children will have.
Along with prioritizing quality assessments and appropriate diagnoses for foster children, in partnering with Benchmarks, the two counties have prioritized the wellbeing of their staff. SAP encourages and promotes an important culture-shift, which includes training on the impacts of working in a trauma-exposed workplace and tips to build on employees’ resilience.
In discussing the partnership, Kristy Preston, Director of Surry County DSS, said, “We are excited about this project and hopeful that the results will help us make sure kids in our care get the services they need. Foster care is difficult for children, their parents, and DSS staff. Anything we can do to make a child’s experience with our system less traumatizing is worth all our efforts.”
We are thankful to Surry and Yadkin counties for not only prioritizing the health of their foster children, but their employees as well.
Comments (0)