The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Parents as Partners program has been reviewed by the CEBC in the area of: Parent Partner Programs for Families Involved in the Child Welfare System, but lacks the necessary research evidence to be given a Scientific Rating.

• Types of Maltreatment: Does not target any specific kind of maltreatment
• Target Population: Parents involved with the Child Welfare System through a protective investigation.

New York City Children’s Services developed the Parents as Partners program to improve their ability to engage parents. By employing parents who have experience with the system as Family Specialists, Children’s Services capitalizes on the opportunity to sensitize child welfare staff to the client perspective. In addition, parents coming into the system can connect with Family Specialists who share a mutual understanding of their experience and can actively relate to their situation.  Family Specialists provide crucial advice and guidance regarding expectations of parents and services available to them. The Family Specialists also provide essential feedback that can be utilized to improve the effectiveness of the system.

Family Specialists work closely with and in support of birth parents with children in foster care and families receiving preventive services. This program improves the agency’s ability to:

• Engage parents
• Inform policy and program decision-making
• Enhance training and staff development by providing insight to professionals from the perspective of parents.

Essential components of Parents as Partners include:

• The family specialists/advocates are former clients of the system. This is integral to the purpose of the program. They can relate to the experiences of the clients and this way they are able to engage clients.
• Support for the specialists as equal members of the staff.
• Guidance regarding case issues and how to advocate effectively for the clients.
• Direct interaction via presence at meetings/visits/etc to support the client and get clarity on the issues in the case.
• Training and development for the specialists/advocates.

Parents as Partners was not designed with a child component.

Parents as Partners was designed with a parent/caregiver component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

• Challenges navigating the child welfare system; need for support regarding interaction with the case planning agency; assistance toward discharge goals and accessing services; and lack of understanding of responsibility in the case planning process.

Parents as Partners was not designed to be conducted in a group setting, and has not been tested for use in a group setting.

Recommended Intensity:

The contacts vary based on the specific case issues. Usually they are in contact 1-2 times per week for 1 hour or more.

Recommended Duration:

This is based on the case specific needs. Sometimes it is a few weeks and in some circumstances they stay involved for several months.

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Community Agency
• Departments of Social Service

This program does not include a homework component.

Parents as Partners does not have materials available in a language other than English.

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

• Supervisory staff
• Desks/computers/phone
• Training/professional development

Supervisors should have Master's level degree in social work or other related field and child welfare experience. Specialists should have their own personal experience with the system, have achieved discharge goals, preferably professional experience, and some work as advocate (but not necessary).

There is not a manual that describes how to implement this program; but there is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Dana Guyet
  dana.guyet@dfa.state.ny.us
  phone: (917) 551-7967

Training is obtained:

Informal consultation is available.

Number of days/hours:

On an as-needed, consultation basis.

This program has been reviewed and it was determined that this program lacks the type of published, peer-reviewed research that meets the CEBC criteria for a scientific rating of 1 – 5. Therefore, the program has been given the classification of "NR - Not able to be Rated." It was reviewed because it was identified by the topic expert as a program being used in the field, or it is being marketed and/or used in California with children receiving services from child welfare or related systems and their parents/caregivers. Some programs that are not rated may have published, peer-reviewed research that does not meet the above stated criteria or may have eligible studies that have not yet been published in the peer-reviewed literature. For more information on the "NR - Not able to be Rated" classification, please see the Scientific Rating Scale.

Child Welfare Outcomes: Not Specified

Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for Parents as Partners.