In this free NRCPFC teleconference/webinar, Erika Tullberg, Administrative Director, ACS-NYU Children’s Trauma Institute, addressed the issue of trauma as it relates to the child welfare system. The presentation provided a definition of a trauma-informed child welfare system; discussed the impact of traumatic stress on children, parents, staff, and the system; provided information about resources available through the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and shared ways in which trauma-informed practice is currently being implemented. The teleconference/webinar closed with a question and answer/discussion period.
Listening Time: 87 minutes
Presenter
Erika Tullberg is the Administrative Director of the Children’s Trauma Institute, which is a collaboration between the New York City Administration for Children's Services, the city's public child welfare agency, and the New York University School of Medicine. The ACS-NYU Children's Trauma Institute is the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Child Welfare Category 2 Treatment and Service Adaptation Center and has developed interventions to address trauma and secondary trauma experienced by children, parents and staff in the child welfare system. Ms. Tullberg is also a co-chair of the Network’s Child Welfare Committee, and co-chair and faculty for the NCTSN’s child welfare-focused Breakthrough Series Collaborative.
Ms. Tullberg was previously the Assistant Commissioner for Clinical Policy for the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, where she led a multi-disciplinary department that planned, implemented, and oversaw program and policy development within New York City’s child welfare system in the areas of domestic violence, health, mental health and substance abuse.
Ms. Tullberg has a masters degree in public health from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and a masters degree in public administration from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. She is also a parent to a 21-year-old foster care alumna.
The Resilience Alliance: Promoting Resilience and Reducing Secondary Trauma Among Child Welfare Staff
The Resilience Alliance is a project undertaken by the Administration for Children’s Services-New York University Children’s Trauma Institute (ACS-NYU CTI) to mitigate the impact of secondary traumatic stress among child protective staff in New York City, and thereby increase staff resilience, optimism, self-care, social support and job satisfaction, and decrease stress reactivity, burnout and attrition. While this intervention was conducted with child protective staff, it is relevant to child welfare staff generally. This project is called the Resilience Alliance because its goal is to work together with child welfare staff to build their ability to protect themselves and their co-workers. This is not a one-directional training provided to staff, but rather an intervention that is done in partnership with child welfare staff at all levels, from the front line to the senior leadership of the agency. Download the Training Manual and Participant Handbook. (September 2011)
Safe Start Center Website
The Safe Start Initiative is funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The goal of the Safe Start Initiative is to broaden the knowledge of, and promote community investment in, evidence-based strategies for reducing the impact of children’s exposure to violence. The Safe Start Center website offers a variety of resources, including the following Trauma Informed Care Tip Sheets:
A Social Worker’s Tool Kit for Working with Immigrant Families – Healing the Damage: Trauma and Immigrant Families in the Child Welfare System
Written by the Migration and Child Welfare National Network, this tool kit provides public child welfare and community-based agencies working with immigrant families with guidelines for integrating child welfare practice – from engagement to case closure – with trauma-informed care and trauma-specific services. In addition, the tool kit describes strategies to build an organization’s capacity to better respond to the needs of immigrant families exposed to child maltreatment, domestic and community violence, and other traumatic stressors. It responds to frequently asked questions illustrated by case examples and provides website links and other resources. Download the Executive Summary and tool kit. (2010)
