Bringing Protective Factors to Life
in the Child Welfare System
New Hampshire
Big Idea 1: Protective and
Promotive Factors
Risk
Factors
Protective and
Promotive
Factors
Protective Factors: conditions or attributes of individuals,
families, communities, or the larger society that mitigate or
eliminate risk
Promotive Factors: conditions or attributes of individuals,
families, communities, or the larger society that actively
enhance well-being
the protective factors framework
Parental Resilience
Social Connections
Knowledge of Parenting and Child
Development
Concrete Support in Times of Need
Social and Emotional Development
Implementation in Child Welfare
Implementation in Child Welfare
Training for
child welfare
workers
Training for
foster
parents
Child welfare
practice
model
Assessment tools
Differential
response
New
partnerships
with ECE
programs
14
10
12
9
6
16
What does the research indicate?
• PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT, STRONG
FAMILIES AND OPTIMAL CHILD DEVELOPMENT ARE ALL TIED
TOGETHER.
• RISK IS NOT THE SOLE PREDICTOR OF CHILD MALTREATMENT
SINCE PROTECTIVE FACTORS AND CAPACITIES WHEN
ENHANCED, CAN MITIGATE THE OCCURRENCE OF CHILD
ABUSE/NEGLECT.
• FIVE SPECIFIC PROTECTIVE FACTORS ARE LINKED TO
PREVENTING CA/N, STRONG FAMILIES AND OPTIMAL CHILD
DEVELOPMENT
• THESE PROTECTIVE FACTORS CAN BE BUILT INTO MANY
DIFFERENT SETTINGS.
What we know about the developmental needs
of children in Child Welfare
• Childhood trauma can have a cascading impact on
ongoing development
• Protective factors are important and can buffer
and mitigate the impacts of trauma
• For optimal development these children need
parents and caregivers (birth, foster and adoptive)
who exhibit the factors and have the capacity to
support the development of protective factors in
their children’s lives
Therefore…..
• Children in families involved with child welfare
need particular focus on their developmental
needs
• Developmental supports for these children
must be informed by an understanding of the
impact of trauma on development
• There must also be intentionality about how to
support the capacity of families and caregivers
to keep children safe and support their early
development
A Strengthening Families Paradigm for Child
Welfare
• Fundamental shift in worker family relationship
• Protective factors at the heart of a familycentered, strength-based practice approach
• Applying the new brain science to create a
developmentally informed model
• Moving from risk mitigation to well-being
promotion
A five point agenda
1. Ensure that children in CW are connected to quality
developmental supports
2. Support those who work with and support children to
understand how to recognize and address trauma
3. Support child welfare staff to recognize and respond to
the developmental needs of children and youth
4. Build partnerships focused around the protective
factors
5. Support parents-birth, foster, and adoptive in their role
as protective factor builders for themselves and their
children
Applying a Protective Factors Framework
Across the Child Welfare Continuum
Prevention/diversion
Case Planning
In-home care
Out-of-home care
Permanency, Exit and After Care
Systems Infrastructure
Intake/Investigation
Prevention
Promoting Well-being through the
Community
• Use the protective factors as a framework for
new partnerships
• Expand definition of CAN prevention to include
building protective factors
• Use PF as a frame for the prevention activities
funded by the CW system
AND…
• Engage partners with specific expertise in child
development in prevention work
Intake and Investigation
Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice
• Assess not just around risk, but around
protective factors
• Use the protective factors to inform planning
around differential response or other diversion
activities
AND…
• Ensure that developmental progress is
assessed as part of early assessments
Case Planning
Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice
• Include specific objectives around protective
factors within case plans
• Develop case planning tools that include an
orientation around building protective factors
• Engage partners that can support the building
of protective factors in family team meetings
and other case planning processes
AND…
• Ensure that developmental supports are
included as part of the case plan
In-Home Care
Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice
• Use the protective factors as a frame for child
welfare practice to build capacity of families
• Infuse a focus on building protective factors into
contracts for those working with families (family
preservation, in-home services)
• Use the protective factors as a lens to help
determine readiness for case closing
AND…
• Help families understand how and why to access
quality developmental supports
• Ensure that providers working with these children
understand how trauma impacts development
Out-of-home Care
Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice
• Use the protective factors as a frame for child
welfare practice to build capacity of birth families
and foster families and support their capacity to
work together
• Use the protective factors as a lens for
determining readiness for return home
• Use the protective factors as lens for developing a
course of action for supporting pregnant and
parenting teens while in care and transitioning to
independent living
AND…
• Ensure that all children in care are connected to
quality developmental supports
• Ensure that providers working with these children
understand how trauma impacts development
Permanency, Exit and After Care
Protective & Promotive Factors in Practice
• Use the protective factors as a frame to
connect families to after care services
• Integrate protective factors into contracts for
youth aging out of care
• Use protective factors as a frame to construct
ongoing support for adoptive families
AND…
• Ensure that adoptive and reunifying families
understand the importance of quality
developmental supports, how to access
developmental services, and the impact of
trauma on development
Systems Infrastructure
Quality Improvement Processes
•
•
•
•
Quality case reviews
New initiatives
Program improvement Plans
Data collection, analysis and reporting
Systems Infrastructure
Professional Development system
• Ensure workers have understanding of
development stages and needs of children
• Realign training to include protective and
promotive factors as a part of family centered,
trauma informed practice.
• Create opportunities for cross training of child
welfare staff with ece, family support and staffs
from other disciplines.
• Support training of contract and service agency
partners
Systems Infrastructure
Connecting Results to Financing
• Purchase of service and contracting
• Use factors to inform results expectations
• Construct performance monitoring elements
based on the factors
Making small but significant shifts in Practice
Practice
Engaging
Intervening
Skills,
Tools,
Processes,
Resources
Planning
Assessing
Decision
making
Traumatic Stress