Community Partnership Benefits Abused and Neglected Children
in
Alachua, Levy and Gilchrist Counties

Project Description:

The District 3 Department of Children and Families (DCF) and key community partners sought and received one of ten federal grants awarded nationwide to increase collaboration between child welfare agencies and court systems to facilitate timely adoptions. The Community Partnerships for Timely Adoptions (CPTA) Project is a collaborative effort involving the Eighth Judicial Circuit Family Law Division, the Eight Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office responsible for Child Welfare Legal Services, the Eighth Judicial Circuit Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, Mid-Florida Division of Children's Home Society, the Neighbor to Family Program and DCF. The $200,000 grant is matched by $41,400 from DCF and provides an array of new and improved services to facilitate more timely permanency for children through reunification or adoption.

Target Population:

The CPTA Project serves three groups of children and families, including children currently waiting for an adoptive homes, children who have a pending petition for termination of parental rights, and a child or sibling group entering care that includes at least one child age five or younger. Priority is given to cases that involve concerns related to substance abuse, domestic violence or mental illness. Further screening criteria includes a history of prior services or out of home care placement, a parent who is dependent or age 16 or younger, a parent who is intellectually impaired or a parent with significant self-care deficits with no support system. The project's overall goal is to ensure timely permanency through the provision of intensive services to these high risk cases.

Service Delivery System:

Delays in achieving permanency for children served through the child welfare system were attributed to the following: a backlog of dependency petitions in Alachua, Levy and Gilchrist counties; inadequate docket time available for scheduling termination of parental rights trials; delays in assessing needs and referring for services; and an inadequate number of foster and adoptive homes to serve children in the DCF's care and custody.

The project requires the social service provider to establish an Intensive Service Team (IST) to develop and implement a concurrent case plan to address the services needed to reduce risk and achieve permanency. The team members include the project director, case manager, child welfare legal services attorney, resource family home finder, and the resource family providing care to the child. Funding was also provided for dependency hearing officer (General Master) to hear routine judicial matters that were contributing to a backlog in the circuit courts, and preventing timely processing of termination of parental rights cases. Additionally, a resource home finder position is devoted to recruiting resource foster parents trained to work with the department and biological parents on the court ordered case plan, as well as adoptive families for permanently committed children. The Neighbor to Family Program, a Florida based program based on the Hull House Program in Chicago, is also funded to provide specialized intensive team training and mentoring to the project and DCF staff.

Project Goals:

The CPTA Project is designed to facilitate the following:


Current Status:

All of the contracts with the participants have been executed. The CPTA Advisory Council, comprised of representatives of each of the agencies participating in the project meet monthly to facilitate communication and program development. A General Master was hired and began hearing uncontested dependency matters in December of 2000. A total of 84 children were awaiting termination of parental rights hearings at the time the project began, and to date hearings have been held for 42 of the children, seven of the 42 children have been freed for adoption, and four of these seven children's adoptions have been finalized. The Intensive Service Team members have been hired and are completing the required child welfare certification training provided through the Professional Development Centre. Alternative Dispute Resolution services are provided to families referred to the project as appropriate. Three resource families have been recruited and are in the process of being licensed. At the present time a total of 10 children are being served through the project.

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