County of Santa Cruz Family and Children’s Services, Human Services Department

Santa Cruz, CA

Children Growing by Leaps and Bounds: A Project to Enhance Services to Children Ages 0-5 Whose Parents are in Recovery from Methamphetamine Use and are Participating in the Family Preservation Court in Santa Cruz County

Leaps and Bounds will fill a critical gap in available services to very young children (ages 0 – 5) of parents in recovery from methamphetamine use who are working within the local Family Treatment Drug Court. In Santa Cruz County, the Family Treatment Drug Court model has been well-developed and has a strong culture of collaboration among its partners (locally termed Family Preservation Court or FPC). Since 2008 the focus of FPC has been on family reunification and family preservation by providing evidence- based services to parents including Matrix model alcohol or drug treatment, parenting skills, and life skills. However, after an extensive community-based assessment of the Child Welfare System (CWS) it became clear that services directed to the developmental and socio-emotional needs of children were lacking. This resulted in a System Improvement Plan (SIP) that highlighted increased services for children as a priority. Leaps and Bounds will provide cohesion in service delivery for children by providing a full-time dedicated Children's Service Coordinator to work with the children as soon as their parents enter FPC. Along with better coordination, the service array for children will be greatly enhanced. Dominican Hospital Pediatrics, in partnership with First 5 Santa Cruz County, Stanford University, and with County Children's Mental Health, has established a Child Development Clinic to provide neuro-developmental assessment to very young children. Leaps and Bounds is designed to collaborate with the Dominican Child Development Clinic to ensure that the needs of very young children with parents in FPC are assessed and met through a variety of service interventions. One primary service enhancement will be the establishment of a Parent-Child Interaction/ Attunement Therapy (PCIT/PCAT) capability to give children and their parents intensive, guided therapy to improve attachment and parent direction. In order to appropriately coordinate services, the Children's Service Coordinator will conduct a developmental screening upon enrollment in the program, and will collect and organize all screening, assessment, treatment plan and other related data to facilitate ongoing program review and program evaluation. The Service Coordinator will also conduct a series of family visits to augment the dependency court-ordered visitation schedule for FPC families. These visits will be structured educational opportunities to reinforce the PCIT/PCAT methods, collect assessment data, and coordinate services as needed. An annual program review will evaluate the quantitative outcomes related to reunification and repeated maltreatment, and will systematically review the treatment and service recommendations for children in comparison to the services delivered. This review will allow annual realignment of the program if necessary to improve the linkage between children's assessed needs, the services they are provided, and outcomes.