Benchmarks is excited to welcome Cabarrus County DSS as the newest member of our Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) project! The SAP project is a process created to ensure prompt trauma screening for children over the age of four entering foster care to quickly identify a child’s need for further assessment, which increases their likelihood to receive the treatment necessary to reach their full potential. This treatment goes beyond just mental and behavioral health; treatment recommendations are decided with respects to the child’s social, emotional, and environmental needs in mind. This process includes partnership between local DSS offices, the local LME-MCO, and local mental health providers. Partners Behavioral Health Management (BHM) continues to be invested in this work by ensuring that children and families have access to trauma-informed care, specifically, Trauma-Intensive Comprehensive Clinical Assessments (TiCCAs).
Cabarrus DSS jumped on board to the SAP project in July 2022. Karen Calhoun, Director of the county’s Department of Human Services, states: “We joined the SAP Project because we, at Cabarrus County Department of Human Services, believe that proactive prevention is the key to addressing and reducing unnecessary trauma in children and their families. Trauma informed care permeates much of our work and is often an approach we use to reduce the level of trauma brought on by child welfare involvement. We think this is important to our children and families not only to address and treat undiagnosed trauma, but we believe trauma informed care starts with a trauma informed assessment. Through our participation in this project, we believe our staff will be more proactive in advocating for treatment services early with strategic decision-making tools and informed intention that is fully centered in the child’s best interest. We are excited to participate with Benchmarks in the SAP project and are looking forward to the positive outcomes we can achieve together in this effort.”
By taking part in SAP, the social work staff will be trained in trauma informed care via National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s (NCTSN) “Trauma Training for the Child Welfare Professional.” This entails onboarding facilitators within the DSS, who will then manage ongoing training of their staff teams. Staff will also be trained to administer the Project Broadcast Screening Tool as children enter foster care, to determine whether the child has experienced trauma events or symptoms and to determine the need for a TiCCA referral. This fall’s implementation activities include Partners BHM releasing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the selection of mental health providers. A cross system review team including Partners BHM, Benchmarks and DSS leadership will meet to decide which agencies will provide TiCCA services locally. Those providers will be trained to administer the TiCCAs and to deliver holistic recommendations for the foster care population in Cabarrus County.
We expect that Cabarrus foster children will begin receiving trauma screens and TiCCA referrals in February 2023. Over the next four months, SAP staff will be training the Administration and the Permanency Planning teams. Later in spring of 2023, we will onboard the In-Home Family Services team as well. This means that TiCCAs will be available for children before they come into foster care. This will be the first time that a DSS has onboarded both their Permanency Planning and In-Home Family Services teams to the SAP project in the same year. Throughout the life of the project, Benchmarks’ goal is to establish sustainability processes for the Partners Team so that this work will continue successfully once Benchmarks’ exits in 2024.
In addition to onboarding Cabarrus DSS, we are welcoming the county’s new Implementation Coordinator for the project, Olandra Hudson! Olandra started her Benchmarks journey in September 2022 and has begun building relationships with the local DSS staff. Cabarrus County DSS, Partners Behavioral Health Management, and the Benchmarks teams are thrilled to be working together and look forward to the long-lasting positive impact of this work!
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