I am very excited to report to you all about my first meeting as a member of the Child Abuse Prevention Program Advisory Committee, held via Zoom on August 31, 2023.
Preparing for the Meeting
Honestly, I feel like I had been preparing for this meeting for almost 4 years. Researching any and everything I could get my hands on related to child welfare, policy and procedure manuals, the department of human services, legislation aimed child abuse prevention, family support services, substance use, addiction treatment, drug court, court cases and legislation in other states….
I looked over the meeting agenda the night before and prepared a list of topics that I wanted to discuss. These are the bullet points from the agenda:
- Review the purpose of CAPPAC.
- Discuss topics of Interest: What would you like to cover in our meetings? What topics are important to you?
- Review of topics we regularly cover.
- What more do members need? What is the best way to keep you informed?
- Suggestions for strengthening the group
And these are the bullet points that I outlined:
- Topics of Interest:
- Education for staff regarding stigmas and conditions r/t poverty versus significant risk of harm
- Parent Development.
- The number one reason for noncompliance is lack of knowledge as to why the expected change/behavior/attitude is beneficial to them.
- Holistic Goal Planning and Risk Prevention
- Meaningful Communication
- Best Way to Communicate: TEXT
- Suggestions for Strengthening the Group
- Team Building Exercises
- Random Icebreaker Generator
- Blackout Truth or Dare
- 1 minute typing test
- Team Building Exercises
Introductions
I kept it short and sweet for my introduction, knowing that I would be sending the team a link to my website after the meeting if they were interested in learning more about my case. I shared with them that I worked as a registered nurse for 16 years and had experience with patients from the birthing suite to the death bed. I shared that I mostly worked in home health case management, and a lot of those years were in a pediatric nurse case manager role. I talked briefly about my children, and about my master’s degree in nursing education, and aspirations to work with young nurses before fate intervened. I revealed that my rights were terminated in December 2019 and that I have not had any contact with my sons since that time. I shared that for a long time I was very angry and depressed and suicidal, and that now my focus has shifted to making sure this doesn’t happen to other families.
The others were taken aback by my story. I know that it wasn’t what they were expecting. After a few moments of silence, they thanked me for being there and expressed condolences for what I had been through. Then they each introduced themselves. Present for the meeting were:
- Shelley Horak (meeting facilitator) Director of Early Intervention and Support in the Division of Family Wellbeing and Protection with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services
- Cass Murra (meeting facilitator) Child Abuse Prevention Program Manager with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Family Well-being and Protection
- Abby Patterson, Iowa Child Abuse Prevention Program (ICAPP) Manager at Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) Iowa
- Taniel Landsem- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Family Service Center (FSC) Project Director, Seasons Center for Behavioral Health
- Gloria Brown (retired) work experience included positions with a mental health agency, later involved with child abuse prevention activities
Not present for this meeting were Shawna Silvius (chairperson) and Lindsey Stevens
Discussion Topics
First, Shelley summed up the traditional focus for the group includes:
- performance of the Iowas CAP program
- assist in making decisions about funding
- needs of community
- helps think through where opportunities for programming based on needs
- where can our work on the administrative side be most helpful
Abby often sends out information from PCA Iowa about opportunities to listen in to meeting
and attend events, and that is one way to be engaged in between meetings.
We reviewed a previous conversation Taniel, Shelley, Cass and Abby had about sharing resources and working together for Child Abuse Prevention month.
They asked about topics that I wanted to cover.
- Parent development is a main focus for me
- #1 reason for noncompliance- dont understand why it benefits them
- parents in the system don’t care
- stigma and fear
- #1 reason for noncompliance- dont understand why it benefits them
- Education for staff members
- Meaningful communication
- I recently viewed a webinar about substance abuse training
- changing the way we talk about things
- words are very powerful
- Meaningful communication
- Poverty versus neglect
- cultural differences
- Holistic Goal planning
- not just people in the system
- people in general
Hope Science
Shelley shared with the group about Hope Science and the importance of asking people what their goals are versus teling them what they should be aiming for. She raised the point that how we interview people and how we connect with them matters.
Chan Hellman: The Science and Power of Hope | TED Talk
Building a Hope Centered Organization: A Blueprint for HOPE (oklahoma.gov)
Holistic Goals
We talked more about my holistic goals course, and how it is a system for starts with activities aimed at developing personal goals, and then group activities to develop group goals. Gloria raised the point that family team meeting facilitators do ask about family goals and sometimes that was the first time they had ever been asked.
I shared with the team that the Family Team Meetings were the most hopeful moments in my case, but that things that were discussed in the meetings were not always followed through on. Cass responded that the follow up is what really matters.
Mandatory Supporters
Abby mentioned her concern about community support services for calls where it is not abuse or a case isn’t opened. She raised the question “How can I do something for families that doesn’t involve calling CPS?”
Mandatory Supporters versus Mandatory Reporters. Getting communities to be more proactive with supporting struggling families.
I shared my concerns as a health care provider that I knew of instances where people would have to make a call because they were more worried about the implications for their license if they did not report was a driving factor.
Anonymous Calls
Iowa currently accepts anonymous reports. My concern is over a trend I know in my own community where adult issues led to unnecessary calls trying to get people involved in the system.
Motivational Interviewing
An approach developed by a clinical psychologist. Involves framing interview questions in a way that motivates people to come up with their own goals.
Model Legislation
I mentioned model legislation in other states , making changes to
- timeframe
- reasonable efforts
- clarify definitions
- conditions of poverty
- signs of neglect
- cognitive bias
- addressing it in teams
- child interviews
- audio-video recording
- not just based on one person’s word
- inaccuracies related to entering notes a week later
Listening Sessions
Cass discussed that she would like to interview communities and families, seeking a group of individuals with “lived experiences” to feel the pulse of what families need. I mentioned that I know two people whose experiences would be a valuable asset to her in this regard
Survey
Abby mentioned a needs assessment survey they are currently feedback from community stakeholders and parents. Two different surveys asking about what is available in the community, what needs families that are struggling or at risk for getting involved with CPS have.
Youth
I asked about a venue for children to be able to provide feedback. We talked about the legalities surrounding this- difficulty with parent consents, unable to go through schools, whether the department of human rights may have a program for getting feedback from youth.
Taniel discussed a program she attended seeking feedback for providers on how to support LGBTQ+ youth in Iowa. She reported that hearing about where they were in their journey at that point in time (versus hearing someone describe it from an older standpoint) was very impactful.
“Your biases are one thing, and then actually hearing from the source is something completely different.”
- Parent Cafe- Be Strong Families
- Evidence-Based Practice modality
- many different rules put in place
- use of “I” statements
- resilience factors
- community strengths
- supports
- 12 different pieces of support
- takes about two hours
- kind of like “support group” meets “family team meetings”
Everything is Figure-out-able
I shared with them that for the past couple of years, my boyfriend and I travel around and help people. I help counsel and clean and organize, and Jim fixes things around the house. Most of the people we have helped either don’t have time or they struggle with depression, a lack of motivation, or a lack of know-how. I mentioned there are so many unemployed people, that there has to be a way to utilize this population.
I discussed that I had reached a plateau in my own healing journey because there is nothing I can do to change the situation currently, and I realized that I could still help other people and that has helped me to continue healing.
The number one reason for relapse is helplessness and hopelessness. Recidivism rates, probation and parole, it’s all connected. It’s all figure-out-able- we just gotta get the right people in the room.
Shelley said, ““people with high hope are often people that also represent hope for other people.”
Great Meeting
Shelley reported that she was very pleased with the quality and amount of information we discussed this meeting. She loves that we are a varied group and the thing that connects us is the passion for better.
It was right about this point that I was overcome with emotion. I cannot describe how amazing it felt to feel:
- Like I was finally being heard.
- That I was making a difference for other families.
- Validated for my experiences.
- Like my career and education were properly acknowledged.
- Treated with respect again.
- Hope for the future for Iowa’s families.
They will work on setting up a way for the team to share information and materials.
We will plan to meet again in November to look at the next year and the February meeting will look at strategic planning.
Support my work by sharing this blog post! Thank you in advance for your help spreading the word about this important information!
Iridescent Alchemyst 
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