Gathering 2010 - Monday 0930 - Carver County

Presenters:
Dan Koziolek, Manager,
Sherry Amelse, Assessment Social Worker
Cindy Finch, Child Protection Caseworker
Kelly Froehle, Child Protection Caseworker
Jenny Neubauer, Developmental Disabilities Caseworker
Kate Fitterer, Behavior Intervention Worker

Presentation Abstract:
Carver County’s presentation will center around a montage of appreciative inquiry interviews of every member of our system that is willing to accept the invitation to describe the impact the Signs of Safety Map is having on their work. There will be a few interviews of families we have learned from thrown in along the way. Agency staff and family members representing intake, child protection assessment and casework, children’s mental health, autism, behavioral health, and developmental disabilities will personally describe the impact of the Signs of Safety Map on their specific work assignments from their perspective.

Presentation Description:
Amazing things started to happen when we began to learn to Map. We realized we could get as good at finding strengths in a family as we had been at finding problems. We saw that we could talk right to family members about harms, dangers, and worries. We understood that our best services often didn’t make children safer. We realized that even the most isolated families could find relatives, friends, neighbors, and sometimes even complete strangers to support them and help them keep their children safe. We saw that families could almost always come up with their own good ideas to keep their children safe. We realized we had been wearing ourselves out doing things parents and support resources were better suited to do. We learned that a good question can have a greater impact than our best idea. We saw how much better things went when we chose words that parents and children would hear and understand. We watched our skills grow when we put our work in front of others. We began using our power carefully, like the Bud Light commercials; not too light, not too heavy. We learned to see the fantastic opportunity in every problem. Well almost! We developed the ability to craft clear statements about dangers and worries and to define a vision for what safety looks like for children. We saw how accepting challenges to our position can lead us to an even stronger position. We realized that changing the system children are in can be faster and easier than changing the people. We learned to use the map to get families thinking their way into and through improvements to their safety plans. We saw that the families we work with are far more able than we ever gave them credit for being. And we are beginning to see where the Map might help us take our work.

Carver County’s presentation will center around a montage of appreciative inquiry interviews of every member of our system that is willing to accept the invitation to describe the impact the Signs of Safety Map is having on their work. There will be a few interviews of families we have learned from thrown in along the way. Agency staff and family members representing intake, child protection assessment and casework, children’s mental health, autism, behavioral health, and developmental disabilities will personally describe the impact of the Signs of Safety Map on their specific work assignments from their perspective.