This month, we're highlighting an essential part of our advocacy for children known as Collaborative Family Engagement (CFE). Lifelong meaningful connections are crucial for positive child outcomes, forming a community of support throughout their lives. Many children in foster care have lost these connections, so CASA uses CFE to create a team between CASA volunteers and Child Protective Services. This team works to identify, locate, engage, and collaborate with family members and other committed adults, involving them in the child’s care, planning, and decision-making, with the goal of achieving permanency sooner.
Matthew Lopez, Collaborative Family Engagement Coordinator, explains, “When a child is in placement, CASA of Tarrant County volunteers engage with them to understand their unique needs and circumstances. We often find a lack of family involvement before removal. By using Collaborative Family Engagement (CFE) skills and tools, we can better identify caring and loving adults, including family and fictive kin, who can play a crucial role in the child's life, creating a lifetime network of care and stability.”
Child Advocacy Specialist Mercedes shares a success story of CFE by advocate Amy: “Amy is amazing! She completed a Case File Review in March and found family names from the child’s paternal side. Now, the child’s paternal grandmother and bio father are involved! The grandmother transports the father from Louisiana to see his child in Texas, and OCOK is arranging visitation in Louisiana next month. Amy recently attended a meeting with the bio dad and grandmother, updating the child’s Ad Litem afterward. She goes above and beyond to find support for her CASA kids.”
CASA volunteers use various CFE tools to find permanency for the children in their care. Child Advocacy Specialist Tabi shares two instances: “CASA volunteer Kimberly used conversation cards and the CFE wizard tool with a child, engaging him with questions to discover what matters to him. We also completed a case file review and a Seneca search for this child, making 89 phone calls to potential connections.”
“Advocate Staci used the Three Houses tool during a video chat with one of the children on her case. The child opened up about her feelings, sharing her love for art and her dream of becoming an artist.”