Task Three: Annotated Bibliography

Bowie, R. (2019, May 1). Music therapy at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters : A Music Therapy Program for the Pediatric Hospital in Norfolk, VA. SUNY Open Access Repository (SOAR). https://soar.suny.edu/handle/20.500.12648/783

This literature study addresses the benefits of music therapy in general, as well as the research.

techniques utilized by the author to determine what works best at the Children’s Hospital of Kings’ Daughters institution. This post is about my evaluation and assessment. Because my evaluation will be thoroughly recorded; I feel that all documentation should be detailed while still respecting the client’s privacy and rights. Keeping documentation up to date, I believe the

government will be able to provide additional funding to the agency. To ensure a consistent

review, surveys will be designed and delivered to caseworkers, families, lenders, the Director

and Assistant Director, the Benefits department, the Norfolk Department of Education, and

Norfolk Court System family affairs, Casas, City attorneys, judges, physicians, and daycare

providers are all included.

Children’s Legal Rights Journal – lawecommons.luc.edu. (n.d.-a). https://lawecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1197&context=clrj

Over 450,000 children were in foster care in the United States in 2017. The vast majority of

those children (about 195,000) were placed in non-related foster family homes, with

approximately 140,000 placed in relative foster family homes. Group homes accommodated.

nearly 25,000 people. Since 2012, the number of children in foster care has continuously

climbed, most likely because of the opioid epidemic. This is obvious in recent events and

understanding of the circumstances surrounding children’s removal from their homes. In

2017, many children were removed from their homes due to neglect (62%), as well as drug

misuse (36% of whom are parents). According to this literature study, an evaluation is required

To keep families intact as well as out of foster care. This piece also emphasizes advocating for

families by giving financing and developing preventative measures.

Conceptualizing the education and care workforce from the perspective … (n.d.-b). https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3946&context=ecuworks2022-2026

This literature study supports my major purpose and evaluation focus. Children, in my opinion,

should be active participants in CSA sessions as well as Family Partnership sessions. Seeking

children’s participation in research entailed reflecting on research intentions in light of how their

knowledge will be used to influence policy in ways that improve their lives, as well as promoting

the selection and development of research approaches and strategies to support children’s

involvement and detailed recounts by employing active listening and responding to them

promptly Children can be positioned as active participants who process and form meanings

and identities, rather than being passive consumers of knowledge.

Gohsman, M. K. (2021, December). Identification of Opportunity Barriers and Supports for Individuals Using Augmentative Augmentative and Alternative and Alternative Communication (AA e Communication (AAC) and Stakeholders. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=pt_etds

Working in a hostile workplace might make it difficult to sustain critical thinking. Working at

the Human Services Department can be challenging, and it is critical to understand policies,

processes, and guidelines. This research review provides information on recognizing barriers and

providing support. Policy obstacles reflect both mandatory and cultural regulations between

agencies, as well as interpersonal rules. Practice and support obstacles identify a case worker

who is discriminating regarding the demographics of the people they desire to support and aid.

You must understand your role. Each stakeholder must be able to work in a team and

understand the responsibilities of other team members. Successful teaming can result in

beneficial outcomes such as growth and encouragement among team members. enhancing ethical

decision-making, team members learning from one another, and support.

HP0989, LD 1406, item 1, an Act to improve the retirement benefit plan for Children’s Services Caseworkers. (n.d.). https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_123rd/billtexts/HP098901.asp

Social workers provide powerful, kind assistance to people and families dealing with a variety of

life’s difficulties. from aiding families to serving in the family support division. Social workers

interact with people going through changes and turbulence in their lives. However, social

workers may have burnout symptoms because of providing care for so many individuals in so

Many ways. It can be challenging to work in the human services field, and many case workers

become burnt out because they don’t manage their time well. causing despair, a lack of sympathy

for the families, and a sense of separation from your teammates. This book has a significant

impact because it’s essential for experienced workers to retire with a healthy pension or increase

their pay so that younger workers can support their families. Supervisors give the most cases to

the experts who have been in the field for more than ten to twenty years.

Legislative history: An act to fund increased insurance costs, children’s programs, rural outreach programs, and minimal standard requirements in the 9 member agencies of the Maine Coalition for Family Crisis Services (HP234)(LD 302). Digital Maine. (n.d.-a). https://digitalmaine.com/legishist113/302/

This Legislature review provides an outline of how a failing evaluation can have a negative

impact on an agency and lead to failure. The nine-member agencies of the Maine Coalition for

Family Crisis Services, this legislative act supports funding increased insurance costs, children’s

programs, rural outreach programs, and minimal standard requirements. Agencies oversee

spending the funding properly and offering the services to the families with it. For a variety of

tasks, the government grants funding to nonprofit groups and social services. The Department of

Human Services’ future research and assessments may be impacted if the funding is not allocated

properly.

Legislative history: An act to improve the proximity of health and safety services to state-subsidized homes for Children (HP254)(LD 358). Digital Maine. (n.d.-b). https://digitalmaine.com/legishist119/358/

An overview of the benefits of the Improve the Proximity of Health and Safety Services to State-

Subsidized Homes for Children Act is provided in this legislative assessment. The storms and

water influenced Norfolk. Due to the lack of dependable transportation to get to work, it is

difficult for families to support their children. By providing families with emergency

transportation that enables them to travel to work or even have transportation to the CSA and

Family Partnership sessions can support meetings. Supporting an adaptive strategy for coastal

management allows you to keep your choices open for adapting to changing circumstances. This

includes setting in place adaptive strategies that also benefit ecosystems, human systems, and the

built environment. As conditions change, an adaptable approach needs to be monitored and

improved as more recent data become available, measures.

McLoughlin, C., Connolly, D., McCarthy, S., Weir, L., O’Rourke, N., & Flynn, R. (n.d.). What underpins good child-centred practices in children’s Social Services? ARROW@TU Dublin. https://arrow.tudublin.ie/jsoc/vol3/iss1/5/

Children’s safety is given top priority in child-centered practice, which also actively supports

families in a way that meets both their emotional and physical needs. This study of the literature

provides an overview of some of the people in society who are most vulnerable to abuse and

injury. Findings indicate that to keep kids safe and foster their welfare, every child’s

unique needs should be evaluated, and every kid needs a strategy suited to their unique abilities

and requirements. For kids to understand how their opinions might affect their care and support,

relationships with staff and meaningful social connections are important. The results also show

that social services for accountable children have effective leadership to ensure that

approaches are carried out effectively across children’s social services, at both the federal and

local levels.

Old Dominion University ODU digital commons. (n.d.-c). https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=chs_pubs

The data portion of my evaluation is the main emphasis of the literature study. This study found

that participants in the sample saw the development of their professional identities in a way that

was significantly impacted by their personal strengths, professional strengths, and internalized

ideas about the role of human services professionals. focuses on helping students create their

professional identities during the crucial formative stage of identity development, which is the

case for new employees in the human services industry. The qualitative method is necessitated.

ongoing reflection on both the methodology and results. I’ll be employing a questionnaire survey.

as part of the data gathering to determine my data using the local census. Asking about strengths

and weaknesses will help me locate the answer.

The Role of Information Sharing to Improve Case Management in Child Welfare. (n.d.). https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1816&context=ajacourtreview

It’s crucial to maintain confidentiality before conducting an evaluation. Always obtain the participant’s consent. This literature review serves as the foundation upon which my evaluation is based. Since you are working with private documents, confidentiality will be a keyword during the evaluation process. When you work in the human services field, you can assist families by having access to their data. When a child is taken into CPS custody, CPS acts as the child’s local parent. CPS can access a child’s medical records and give them to a caseworker who has been given the child.

Task Four: MindMap

Task Five: Research Plan

Ms. Juanica Walker is the evaluation specialist for the Norfolk Department of Human Services Family Services Division. I’ve selected the Norfolk Department of Human Services to be the organization I review. I have been assisting the agency for about four months, and I am doing so because Virginia has asked me to. Because we deal with all facets of family crises, our organization corresponds to my career choice. I’m employed at Child Protective Services right now. I appreciate that I can contribute to finding ways for families to stay connected and strong. After I finish, I hope to work as a Family Services Specialist III so I can expand my career and assist more people. Because individuals who don’t know enough about the organization may understand that we are here to aid those in need, I think my evaluation is beneficial to the organization. While working with the agencies, I encountered a variety of clients who occasionally believed that the agency was there to kidnap their children. I am grateful that the

company provides me with an I am in this position because I have fresh eyes that can assist the more “seasoned” employees with their situations. When interacting with clients, I try to understand them, gain their trust, and establish a connection. This drives me every day to improve as an advocate for those who require services but do not know where to obtain them. If necessary, I may refer them to another case worker who may have more expertise than I do to prevent families from returning home without the help they need. I have been employed at the Norfolk Department of Social Services during these days. The client and their support network, such as family members, are considered stakeholders. This group also includes those close to the client, healthcare professionals who are familiar with them, Liam the guardian, and the Social Services department. This group meets once a month to plan how to best use various resources to help the client succeed. The agency held the meaning for the participants at the agency is named Children Services ACT, better known as CSA Meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to determine whether the family qualifies for state funding of services. Everybody’s roles complement one another. The participants and stakeholders are consistently introduced at the first meeting, along with their responsibilities and connections to the kid or family. This aids in setting objectives including reaching consensus and agency goals, enhancing positives, meeting rules, and asking questions before the meeting. Following the introduction, it’s critical to describe the context, including any client-related concerns that the stakeholders may have. This explains why everyone is at the meeting. Concerns might range from those related to safety requirements, risk management issues, strengths and weaknesses, history, client stresses, and caseworker recommendations. This aids in the development of ideas during meetings to address issues and offer safety and protection. Planning may or may not benefit the client, but it frequently requires more than a month to develop a workable plan for the client. What successes did the CSA achieve over time? What duties fall under the jurisdiction of the management and policy teams for the community? I think it’s important for everybody working in case management to get evaluated. Because evaluations must successfully achieve outcomes and goals. NDHS can better grasp the evidence by conducting an evaluation. Various models for evaluation exist. A theory-based model and program assessment are the tools I find most appropriate for the organization I am evaluating. These models are used because they highlight evidence, which occasionally changes as this subject develops, and they also guide what to anticipate in terms of results. In addition, I think that the best way to aid an agency is to ask the right questions about its internal problems, gather relevant data, and then come up with a workable solution. working with a company that handles funds from the State government. Due to the time, money, and resources involved, a formal evaluation will need to be done. My evaluation is intended to benefit others, including my classmates and coworkers. evaluation By learning how the organization functions, especially in the Family Services Department, I hope to be able to assist others. The Family Services department’s mission is to offer the most comprehensive, affordable services to the Norfolk, Virginia, area’s children, and families. By learning how the organization functions, especially in the Family Services Department, I hope to be able to assist others. The Department of Family Services exists to offer the most comprehensive, affordable family support services to the children and families of Norfolk. I’ll pick two topics to put to the agent: Why was the Children’s Services Act created? The most crucial component is explaining why they are seeking custody of their kids back, and how well the initiatives worked to benefit the kids in Child Protective Services It is possible to perform an official evaluation using a variety of techniques.

According to page 161, an evidence-based methodology is used by the evaluator to produce a comprehensive report when assessing a community development program. Physical traces, like official documents, give an evaluation additional context. Additionally, I believe it is essential to do a qualitative evaluation utilizing a variety of methods to understand a program. Using declarations from families, directors, case workers, office staff members, sponsors, and vendors. A systematic oral survey is required to ask a variety of open-ended questions to obtain comprehensive information on the program in addition to employing the qualitative evaluation. Open-ended questions are used in interviews so that the subject can express themselves freely and isn’t constrained by the interviewer’s values and thought patterns. Before asking open-ended questions, there are two things to keep in consideration. First, you must inform the interviewee understand advance in advance so they can be prepared for a question. Second, the person evaluating must confirm. Second, the interviewee must be assured that the aim of the interview is clear and that a consent form, rather than a verbal request, was provided for them to sign. Neglecting to obtain consent can lead to conflict and undermine the validity of the evaluation. It’s important to ask the right questions of the workers because they interact together with the families, as they are the examiners are investigators. This will help me as the evaluator understand the significance of the Children’s Services Act as well as the conditions for families of children who face being taken from their homes to be eligible for program approval. I have seen families fill out the Census every three months while working in assisted living homes and being in the medical industry generally. Local Census data is the access to population, economic, and demographic information that you as a consumer can check at http://www.census.gov and enter into your agency or organization by zip code, city, and state. You can use this helpful website to learn more about the agency’s or organization’s income levels, nationalities, ages, and other social features. Program documentation will also be a great source I use. Examine the program documentation very carefully to ensure accuracy while searching for any indications of error. Enrollment records are another excellent resource. This will demonstrate to you, the evaluator, how many families are utilizing the services offered to them and how well the programs are doing for them. The major objective is to determine which of the goals were achieved. The organization’s responsibility is to ensure that the families, including the children who are at risk of being removed, return to a structured, safe environment and establish safety in their home back with family and the parents are provided with the necessary resources to deal with their current situation, or even kinship families that are willing to temporarily grant the parents joint custody of their home while they complete the services they have sought. The qualitative research approach is what I would use for my evaluation. The fact that it is so extensive with one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and the recording of observational field notes that are documented under the Oasis system that the agency utilizes for services is the reason I believe this will be appropriate for my review. An in-depth comprehension of social ethics is what the qualitative method is.

Task Six: Protocol

What observations have led to this study?

During my evaluation and observation, I discovered that Norfolk-area children have been removed from their homes and placed in the care of the City Department of Human Services. More families are dissolving due to domestic violence, substance misuse, and mental illness due to the pandemic families’ difficulty adjusting to the new norm. Due to the housing issue, locating a place to live is getting harder.   Due to poor communication between the lenders and the agency, the government must hold ongoing CSA meetings with the families, lenders, and agencies.

What is your question?  The questions I will ask the stakeholders are:

1. Why are the services provided to the parents to keep the children home?
2. How often does the agency advertise and bring up different services?
3. Should a thorough assessment be done on parents before/after placing the children back home?
4. What will be the ideal caseload flow for each Caseworker?

What are your questions? The questions I will ask the parents are:

1. How do you feel about the services given to you?
2. How frequently does your caseworker contact you?
3. Do you believe that the judgments made by the Agency have been fair?
4. Have you received an explanation of the caseworker’s services? 

What is your hypothesis?

More families would be able to regain custody of their child(ren) and be able to complete services positively if there were more caseworkers, fewer remote days for the caseworkers, and community resources available to the families who are losing custody of their children to the system.

What are the predictions of your hypothesis?

If the hypothesis is true, then I expect the Agency to provide more resources and services to the parents promptly and the case workers to work more in the office and not at home and offer more job opportunities to potential caseworkers to help the parents.

Task Seven: Timeline

• What is your question?  The questions I will ask the stakeholders are:

1. Why are the services provided to the parents to keep the children home?
   1. How often does the agency advertise and bring up different services?
   1. Should a thorough assessment be done on parents before/after placing the children back home?
   1. What will be the ideal caseload flow for each Caseworker?

What are your questions? The questions I will ask the parents are:

• How do you feel about the services given to you?
  • How frequently does your caseworker contact you?
  • Do you believe that the judgments made by the Agency have been fair?
  • Have you received an explanation of the caseworker’s services? 

What is your hypothesis?

More families would be able to regain custody of their child(ren) and be able to complete services positively if there were more caseworkers, fewer remote days for the caseworkers, and community resources available to the families who are losing custody of their children to the system.

What are the predictions of your hypothesis?

If the hypothesis is true, then I expect the Agency to provide more resources and services to the parents promptly and the case workers to work more in the office and not at home and offer more job opportunities to potential caseworkers to help the parents.

Task Eight: Findings

Results

The second result is the agency supports children who have emotional or behavioral problems and helps them with services and resources that support their well-being. Third I have learned that the children that are in the foster care system receive funding from the state to help them enter residential care, and children with special needs often get approved for private school programs. Last but least children who reach the age of 18 years old and are still in foster care can be in the Foster and Futures programs. This program helps young adults become successful by supporting them with finding a job, paying for driving school, and helping them enter college. For them to stay in the program they will have to maintain having a job and stay in school. The department also gives young adults funding monthly.

 Identify what you obtained from your interviews, observations, and/or surveys.

 I have conducted and found useful for my findings were using open-ended questions first, it is important to inform the interviewee about the interview in advance so they can be prepared to ask the question.

The questions I will ask the stakeholders are:

1. Why are the services provided to the parents to gain custody of the child/children ineffective?
2. How often does the agency do advertisements to gain more Foster Parents?
3. Should there be a thorough assessment done on Foster parents before placing child/children in their homes?
4. Are there enough caseworkers to handle the caseloads provided?

The questions I will ask the parents are:

1. Do you like the services provided to you?
2. How often do you get contact from your case worker?
3. Do you think the Guardian liem has been fair with the decisions?
4. Have the services provided by the case worker been explained to you?
5. Identify the conclusions drawn from your evaluation results.
6. Discuss the implications of your findings on the program and/or services.

Another source that I found helpful was reviewing program documents that were stored in the secured storage and held on the Human Services applications such as Oasis, Fusion, and Safe Measures program. These sources help me thoroughly examine the program documents to make sure it is consistent and does not see any red flags. Enrollment records were also a great tool that I used. This showed me how many families are using the resources that are provided for them and how successful the programs are working for them.

Impact the services

How my findings will impact the agency program? By showing the agency how suitable my findings will provide detailed one-on-one interviews that the helpers can support the families, focus groups can help the stakeholders come up with better solutions to support the agency positively and also help the foster parents and the parents, and the recording of the observations field notes that are documented under the Oasis system that the agency uses for services will be updated, by each case because the workers change periodically and also the changes in the children live change as well. The qualitative method was very helpful because it supported the agency by helping them gain more knowledge in depth and society.

Positive Influence

The positive influence I believe can help the agency move forward in helping families regain custody of their children and helping families find the right sources to help financially, and also help with parenting. The goal is to assist the families with a safety plan.

Recommendations

The recommendations that I believe will be suitable for my findings are that it will help the agency build sustainably, helpers will be able to advocate and know more knowledge about the resources that are given, and support families with supporting them with raising healthy children.

Goal

The main goal is to see if they accomplished any of the goals. A foster care unit has to make sure the families such as the children in our care are back in a safe, structured environment either if they are going home with family and the parents are given the right tools to handle a crisis or even the foster families who are willing to make their home a forever home, being Adopted.

Steps were taken to reach the goals

Step 1: Identify the Evaluation goal and objective.

Problem:

High rates of children being placed in foster care over 2 years and funding has been placed to help families regain custody of children, but resources have not been used effectively and state and federal funding are being flagged during State and Federal auditing, that the agency has to pay back thousands of dollars.

Solution:

Effectively helping families regain custody of their children and finding a better solution for the caseworkers to find better resources to create better service plans to present at FAPT meetings held for stakeholders, families, and caseworkers.

Lower rates of children coming into foster care, State and Federal funding can assist more families beneficially.

Step 2: Indicators

4 Training will be held based on resources, FAPT, Documentation, and Engage with families each training will be two hours long.

4 Outreach activities will be held for families, and each training will be one hour long.

Surveys will also be conducted within the Family Services Unit, Families, and Foster Parents.

Step 3: Data Collections

Implementation process and program, Services statistics, and population level will be information collected for evaluation. What will help with the evaluation is by using program-specific Monitoring and Evaluation tools, referral cards, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and case studies.

Step 5: Analysis Plan and Reporting Plan

The evaluator will create a template in Excel for all the indicators being conducted. The tables should outline the indicators being conducted, the data, and period of each report, and how effectively the program has been successfully implemented.

Task Nine: Reflection Letter

November 25, 2023

Dr. S. Silverberg

Group A

Human Service Department

Old Dominion University

To Dr. Silverberg and all my classmates in Group A:

I want to start by expressing my gratitude to Dr. Silverberg for bearing with me and the other group members. You people are incredible. I experienced a lot of stress this semester, but with your assistance, this course was a huge retreat for my personal life. I found this semester to be a challenging one. I’ve always been a good student, but this semester’s horrific experiences altered the way I perceived the outside world. I had to build up my strength before starting this course to try to reach my objectives. Working in my group, in this course has made me realize that I wanted to discover ways to use my education to reach the prospective clients I occasionally collaborate with in the Child Protective Services division of the Norfolk Department of Human Services. I know how to collaborate and work with my classmates, use discussion boards for evaluations, and use the help of my peers to help me prepare my evaluation reports and create a resource guide. The fact that everyone worked as a team to learn how to conduct a program development guide was something I found enjoyable. Knowing the roles of stakeholders and what each person represents at the first meeting, understanding how dysfunctional attitudes affected the beginning of the evaluation, and learning how to prepare and carry out the formal evaluation report are the three discussion board topics that I can take away from and these courses convinced me that the course would be effective as I would be able to carry out my official evaluation at the agency and instruct others on how to do the same. Since this is outside the scope of my work description, it will help me advance in my career at the agency by increasing my value there. Making my evaluation and letting my group evaluate my results critically and help me formulate my evaluation questions was something else I enjoyed doing. Trying to come up with the right question to ask to validate my findings was first confusing. I decided to focus my queries primarily on the clients after finishing my final draft because they will make use of the resources funded by state money provided by the stakeholders. My group suggested that I ask the stakeholders more open-ended questions so that I could start to discern the structure of my review. I was able to develop personally with my group through this exercise because we all had different agencies that we were interested in and diverse perspectives on how to carry out an evaluation. That assessment proved to be beneficial. If I could have selected various organizations, I would have gone with the following one, even if some of my group members had excellent organizations they were working on: Women Overcoming Whatever provides a forum for women of all races to showcase their life abilities and

The world is relatively small. That is an organization that I participate in. Being a part of that organization reminded me of the beautiful red talk discussion that Dr. Warren exposed me to when I was attending Tidewater Community College. I loved what that organization stood for. The suggestions from my other members were dead on, and I also took notes to utilize for my purposes at work. I introduced these groups to parents and teenagers who are struggling with mental health issues, financial difficulties, substance misuse, and losing their children to the legal system. They also struggle to deal with the daily changes in their lives.  My group helped me grasp how to do this professionally by demonstrating several facets of giving an evaluation. write down my thoughts and solicit feedback from my colleagues. That made progress toward my evaluation’s main goals easier for me. Using a mind map to design what you are targeting in the agency, Dr. Silverberg assisted us in creating and effectively completing a formal evaluation. The mind map link was a terrific tool that I had never utilized in this field. Acquiring the skill of asking open-ended questions and conducting a formal interview. It was fascinating to learn about the roles that my coworkers performed in the Family Partnership Meetings and CSAs, which are events hosted for families to support the children in having a safe environment. It would be a pleasure to learn about the various aspects of the agency that require attention. I’ve discovered by looking through their database that there is a need for fresh perspectives to help get the kids the support they require.

For my next course, I hope to be more involved in submitting my work on time, participating more in the discussion forums, and paying more attention to my documentation. gaining the ability to pay attention to criticism from my lecturer and peers. For me, this is the most significant aspect that comes with growing in the Norfolk Department of Human Services and School.