The implementation of concurrent planning is a journey at times involving strategic policy and procedure changes, new training curriculum, and ongoing professional development opportunities. We wanted to include the stories of state's that reflect their journey toward concurrent planning implementation. We hope they provide insights and lessons learned as other agencies re-examine this practice.
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Georgia’s effort to implement an effective concurrent planning practice involved several steps and activities. A concurrent planning workgroup was formed to guide model development and implementation. The workgroup included representatives from field and state office, training, policy, court improvement project, CASA, foster parent association, and private service providers. One of the early lessons learned was that this was bigger than simply developing and delivering training. It was a major organizational change initiative.
We facilitated several focus groups, administered a stakeholder survey, and facilitated a feedback session with key stakeholders. These activities helped to identify barriers to implementation and begin the education process with staff and stakeholders. We gained a sense of where the agency was in terms of an understanding of concurrent planning, identified related areas of practice and policy that needed to be changed to support the practice, and gathered ideas about how to best integrate concurrent planning into the current case process system, which includes the state’s SACWIS system. The outcome of these activities and the workgroup was the development of concurrent planning policy drafts, a Concurrent Planning Practice Handbook, and implementation plans developed by each of the pilot counties.
In developing the training curriculum to support this practice change, we analyzed data and feedback from the workgroup activities, conducted training needs assessments with each of the pilot counties, and reviewed best practice research from various sources, including the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC). Key decisions regarding curriculum design and training delivery included: provide training to all levels of agency staff, target the training at all child welfare program areas, not just Foster Care staff, and include key stakeholders in the classes. We also developed pre and post training support to promote transfer of learning, including a plan for ongoing technical assistance visits. Content for the curriculum was gathered from several sources including the NRCPFC curriculum - Concurrent Planning for Timely Permanence. The development process included several opportunities for review and feedback from key groups prior to training implementation. The outcome was a 2-day curriculum (12 instructional hours) that includes the following content areas: The nuts and bolts of concurrent planning (definition, goals, components, benchmarks for practice activities); conducting a prognostic assessment for concurrent planning; practicing full disclosure, developing a concurrent case plan, working with resource parents, and ongoing family centered practice with concurrent plan cases. The training was delivered to staff in each of the pilot counties and will be used in the statewide rollout effort.
Submitted by:
Deidre Carmichael, MSW
Georgia State University
School of Social Work
DFCS Professional Excellence Program
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