P&P April Issue 2018

Despite these significant numbers, 79 percent of respondents reported their intention to remain in their position in the next year and provided rich con- textual responses for ways in which employees could be better supported through reduced administrative func- tions and smaller caseloads, improved quality of supervision, and devel- opment of strategies for employee well-being inclusive of attending to secondary traumatic stress. More than 10 percent of the recom- mendations from the Governor’s Task Force on the Protection of Children were directly related to workforce training and development. The impli- cation of all other practice reform measures is that thoughtful and com- prehensive training must be developed to ensure uniform adaptation and fidelity to new practices. One of the first steps was a comprehensive review to make necessary modifications to a newly developed set of child welfare worker competency statements. Given the considerable training and profes- sional development focus from the task force, stakeholders from various public, tribal, and nonprofit agencies gathered to examine statewide training systems in other states, their structures, pedagogies, and curricula. Through this interagency partnership, the team completed numerous site visits with other child welfare training systems. Sites were selected for their similarity to the Minnesota child welfare system or their innovative and successful training practices. Building upon current strengths in local training and incorporating STATEWIDE TRAINING ACADEMY

the Statewide Training Academy is a highly anticipated entity. COLLABORATIVE SAFETY MODEL Historically, Minnesota’s approach to critical incident review in child welfare leaned more toward increased workforce stress and blame than it did to identifying systemic challenges and necessary practice improve- ments to avoid harmful outcomes for children and their families. To shift this culture to one of greater balance, considering both safety and account- ability, Minnesota sought expert help from Collaborative Safety, LLC co- founders Dr. Scott Modell and Noel Hengelbrok. They are described as pioneers in applying safety science to the field of child welfare by the Federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities. Their work in Minnesota has expanded well beyond critical incident review to incorpo- rate the principles of safety culture and accountability more broadly to practice, including, but not limited to, social work supervision, workforce wellness, and systems of continuous quality improvement. As statewide implementation of the Collaborative Safety critical incident review process and use of the tools began, we made extraordinary efforts to engage professionals at all levels of

information gathered from training system site visits as well as a research and practice literature review, a design for a new Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy was developed. The design incorporates four elements, including system structure, training, training enhancements, and evalua- tion/accountability (see Figure 1). The University of Minnesota’s Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare partnered with county representatives and other child welfare stakeholders to package the Statewide Training Academy design with an accompa- nying budget into a proposal for review and consideration by the Minnesota legislature. The proposal is supported by public and private entities with con- siderable support from the employees’ union and community advocates. As a foundational component to reform implementation and a cultivation and support of a strong workforce,

Minnesota’s realistic job preview and wisdom learned from the workforce study allow us to connect to those inquiring about working in Minnesota’s child welfare system and also to those who are attending daily to children and families touched by Minnesota’s system.

See Igniting the Potential on page 30

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April 2018   Policy&Practice