Feb. 16– Strengthen Families Locally Weekly

Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families sent this bulletin at 02/16/2024 01:00 PM PST

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strengthen families locally

In This Issue:

Updates From the Strengthen Families Locally (SFL) Team

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“The Builders (Family)” by Jacob Lawrence, courtesy of the Harn Museum of Art.

Dear Strengthen Families Locally community,

Happy Valentine’s Day! Sending lots of LOVE to the wonderful family support agencies and professionals around the state who share the LOVE with the families they work with.

This week for Black History Month, I pursued the work of Jacob Lawrence. Lawrence began his career during the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance, and his beautiful paintings and prints capture vibrant life, work, and community in Harlem at that time. He went on to chronicle important moments in American history including the Civil Rights Movement. He also created a mural for Kingdome Stadium in Seattle.  I feel like an art teacher when I talk about his work because it’s full of vibrant color, expressive lines, movement and form that convey so much emotion, context, and history. Check out his biography and works at the Museum of Modern Art. Here’s a video about his life. 

“I do not look upon the story of the Blacks in America as a separate experience to the American culture but as a part of the American heritage and experience as a whole.” – Jacob Lawrence, 1943

All the best,

Joy

SFL Resources

SFL Website

SFL Partner Onboarding Packet

Share a Story to Strengthen Families

Share Your Story Here

Community Planning Meetings

Email for meeting links.

Stevens and Ferry Counties
First Wednesday of each month
2-4 p.m.

Bremerton
Third Thursday of each month 
1-2:30 p.m.

Spokane
Third Monday of each month
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Port Angeles and Sequim
Fourth Thursday of each month
12:30-2:30 p.m.

Contact

Joy Lile, PhD
Strengthening Families Locally Coordinator
360-688-4956
joy.lile@dcyf.wa.gov

Strengthening Families WA
Family Support Programs Division

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SFL Project News

What are you doing to celebrate Child Abuse Prevention Month? Here’s an idea – host a Coloring Contest! Check out our What Makes a Hero? coloring book, which you can download and print!

Gear up for a 2024 Spring Retreat! We are tentatively planning on meeting near SeaTac on April 29th and 30th to celebrate Child Abuse Prevention Month, to come together and learn from one-another and the stories of families across our state. Look for registration in late February.

Share a Story to Strengthen Families Locally!

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Katrina Peters has G.R.I.T. | Unsung Hero

Katrina Peters, Spokane

“Katrina is an amazing example of what having good support, drive, and determination can look like. Since knowing Katrina as an nurse family practitioner client, she has navigated the effects of current and previous mental health, IPV, and family trauma. She has persevered through a DCYF dependency with her oldest children with reunification and stabilization present for the last 3 years. Katrina exemplifies G.R.I.T.- Guts, Resiliency, Intensity, and Tenacity. She has learned how to traverse the world as someone with confidence, but her lived experience brings honesty and humility. Her goal of working in the helping profession will be a gift to our local community and the people she supports.

Most importantly, her children are her world. She recognizes the struggle of being a single mom and supporting three children but also the importance of changing historical patterns to support her children to thrive. She seeks out ways to enrich their lives and involves them in extracurricular activities around their needs and interests. She’s an amazing mom and person!” - Alicia Kreutzer, BSN, RN| Read about more Unsung Heros on Seattle’s Child

Like this story? Share your own!

We hope to continue to build the story collection and make sense of the experience across Washington during the next year of Strengthen Families Locally. Please share a story today to center the lived experiences of families in Washington State:

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http://ourtomorro.ws/WADCYF

Flyer   |   FAQ for collecting stories

Highlights From Around DCYF

DCYF Service Recipients: Receive a $50 Gift Card to provide your thoughts

DCYF is looking to speak with parents, guardians, foster parents, and young adults 18 years of age or older who are receiving or have received contracted services from DCYF in the last two years. We have less than 30 spots left, and this opportunity ends on Feb. 23, so be sure to take the eligibility survey as soon as possible.

The primary aim is to understand how to improve DCYF contracted services to priority populations, such as:

  • American Indian/Alaska Native
  • Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI)
  • Black and African American
  • Hispanic and Latino
  • Immigrants and refugees, as well as
  • non-English primary language/American Sign Language (ASL)/Sign language/limited English proficiency (LEP)/families using interpretive services.
  • LGBTQ+

How to participate:

  • Take this brief eligibility survey
  • Once eligibility is confirmed, you will receive an email with a link to two options:
    • Option A: Complete a 10-minute survey via zoom or phone.
    • Option B: Speak with us for 30 minutes over the phone or via Zoom to answer direct questions about the services you have received.
  • You’ll receive a $25 gift card (or $50 if you do both) to thank you for your time and energy.

DCYF has contracted Kauffman and Associates to conduct the survey and interviews. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Leigh Hayden, Kauffman and Associates, 774-762-7137 or leigh.hayden@kauffmaninc.com

 

Local Corner

Check here for news and opportunities specific to our Strengthen Families Locally communities. Send opportunities to strengtheningfamilies@dcyf.wa.gov

Bremerton: KCPC Meeting: Planning for the Future with Partners4Housing. Feb. 22 at 6 - 7:30 p.m. FREE. Learn about the free Benefits and Housing Review offered by the Dan Thompson grant. We will hear answers to these important questions: What does my family member need to live outside our family home? Who will my family members live with? How will we afford it? Join us on Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/2063834209?pwd=SW1DdW4zNGZyV1k0QnByWVFKL0hkUT09. | Download Flyer

Bremerton: Share your voice and enter to win $100. Bremerton Transportation Survey: If you live, work, or travel in Bremerton, the city wants to hear from you! I just spoke with Bremerton’s civil engineer and she wants to make sure families and self advocates with disabilities are heard. This confidential survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. Fill out here.

Bremerton: $5 Movie Night for Black History at the Admiral Theater. Selma – Feb. 21, 7 p.m. Lee Daniels’ The Butler – Feb. 28, 7 p.m.

Bremerton: The Washington State African-American Achievement Awards at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington. Tickets are $95 per person, and can be purchased online from Brown Paper Tickets. This event is sponsored by the Surviving Change organization in Bremerton. Saturday April 27 at 5 p.m. Registration

Port Angeles and Sequim: Program Spotlight: Sequim Navigator Program. The Sequim Navigator Program expands needed, in-the-field crisis response and services to the Sequim area. Learn about this program, spotlighted in our Connecting Community Members to Care report.

Spokane: Free Supervised Visitation Workshop. What do I bring? What can I do when I’m with my child? What is the next step? Parents with monitored/supervised child visitation have a lot of questions. Come join our FREE workshop, led by an experienced visitation supervisor, to learn: Visitation expectations, answers to frequently asked questions, best practices to make your visits a positive experience for everyone. Light refreshments provided. Saturday, Feb. 24 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. 711 3rd Ave. Register here – Email reception@spofi.org – call 509-293-9090

Spokane: Free parenting plan workshop hosted by the Spokane Family Law Self-Help Center. No lawyer? Come learn how to establish a parenting plan at our hands-on workshop. Saturday, Feb. 17, 9 a.m. - noon. Register here – call 509-293-9090 – email reception@spofi.org

Check out these local resources on Facebook!

Other Community Resources

Connect (Events and Opportunities)

Virtual Support Group For Dads:  Perinatal Support of Washington invites you to join other self-identifying dads and fathers-to-be in this online support group, hosted by a fellow dad of three young kids. Wherever you are in the parenting journey, from trying to get pregnant, to caring for a newborn, up through parenting a 2-year-old, this group is for you. 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of every month | Time: 8-9:30 p.m. Register here.

Working with Families in Crisis: Insights from Family Stress Theory from National Council on Family Relations. Tuesday, Feb. 20 / 11 a.m. – Noon CT. $94. Register here.

Special Rebroadcast and New Series Kick-off: Holding the Baby in Mind – IECMH Guiding Principles in Practice. February 21, 2024 | 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST. Register here.

Washington Alliance for Quality Recovery Residences (WAQRR) presents Navigating the world of Community Behavioral Health Agencies (CBHAs). Feb 29, 2024, 10 – 11:30 a.m. Register here.

Virtual Workshop: Understanding Infant Cues, Regulation, Behavior, and States. This course will be a mixture of video observation of infants, PowerPoint, and discussion to help participants define, observe, and reflect on ways to understand and support the infants who are growing and developing in their care. The course will be held on Zoom. March 11 | 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. | $150 | Register here.

What did the IECMH Statewide Tour uncover in its report? In the summer and fall of 2023, HCA’s Infant-early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH)team had 10 listening sessions with 96 behavioral health providers across the state to better understand challenges and solutions for improving access to IECMH services. Read the executive summary or the full report | learn more at a webinar: March 20, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

 

Learn

The Plan of Safe Care Expert Video Series promotes safety and well-being for pregnant people, infants, and their families affected by prenatal substance exposure. Four short videos address understanding requirements, determining who needs a plan of safe care, collaborative approaches to implementing the plan, and developing the plan with families—including on the ground examples and questions for collaborative teams. View here.

Washington State County Health Rankings: Health Outcomes tell us how long people live on average within a community, and how much physical and mental health people experience in a community while they are alive. Check out the dashboard here.

 

Innovate (News and New Insights)

DDA Overnight Planned Respite

Have you heard of DDA's Overnight Planned Respite Service? Overnight Planned Respite is a community-based, short-term respite for adults with developmental disabilities who live at home with their family or primary caregiver. It offers a break to family or a primary caregiver. A primary caregiver can be paid or unpaid, related or not, be an individual provider, or a companion home provider. From Informing Families. Click Here To Learn More.

CICC Lived Expert Consultant Application: The newly formed federal Children's Interagency Coordinating Council (CICC) is charged with fostering greater coordination and transparency on child policy across federal agencies and examining a broad array of cross-cutting issues affecting child poverty and child well-being.  On behalf of the CICC, the American Institutes for Research is recruiting a diverse group of 20 individuals with lived experience* (Lived Experience Consultants) to inform and support the work of the council. In addition to supporting the work of the CICC, Lived Expert Consultants will have the opportunity to inform other work within the Office of Human Service Policy (HSP) through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Apply here [https://airtable.com/appZ9F7uLLuJiocq9/pagj5CrZ8Lol0SbLx/form].

 

Grow (Funding and Resources)

ZERO TO THREE Fellowship Program: Cultivating leaders in early childhood for three decades and counting. The ZERO TO THREE Fellowship program is an intensive professional development program that brings together early childhood professionals from around the globe. Apply here.

DCYF Early Childhood Equity Grant: The Fair Start for Kids Act, passed by the Washington State Legislature in 2021, directs DCYF to distribute funds to support inclusive and culturally and linguistically specific early learning and early childhood and parent support programs across the state. The funds are distributed through the Early Childhood Equity Grant program.  The Early Childhood Equity Grant helps support culturally responsive programming so that children have access to diverse care that meets their needs. Learn more and apply here.

Apply now for behavioral health closure prevention funds: $7.5 million is available to prevent existing behavioral health facilities from closing their doors. The Behavioral Health Facilities (BHF) Closure Prevention Program is now accepting applications for capital projects, to preserve behavioral health facilities through critical repairs or upgrades necessary to keep the facility in use. This funding will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted. Apply on the BHF web page.

If you have suggestions for what to include in this newsletter, email Joy Lile.