Description

This presentation describes a statewide approach to implementing a skills-based coaching program for child welfare supervisors. In addition to building supervisors’ coaching skills, the program centered on several priority topics including anti-racist practices. The presentation identifies successes and challenges in the initial implementation stage of program rollout.

Background

Kansas Strong for Children and Families (KS Strong) is a 5-year cooperative agreement between KU School of Social Welfare and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families., Children’s Bureau.   KS Strong is a public-private-university collaborative that includes the Department for Children and Families (DCF), the state’s network of private providers of family preservation and foster care services (Cornerstones of Care, DCCCA, KLVC Kansas, Saint Francis Ministries and TFI),  Kansas Family Advisory Network (KFAN), Children’s Alliance and the Office of Judicial Administration.   KS Strong aims to improve child welfare practice utilizing a variety of strategies, KanCoach being one of six strategies.   Coaching has become an increasingly common practice to strengthen knowledge and skills for child welfare professionals.  This presentation will describe a statewide approach to implementing a skills-based coaching program for child welfare supervisors. In addition to building supervisors’ coaching skills, the program centered on several priority topics. The presentation will identify successes and challenges in the initial implementation stage of program rollout.

An implementation science framework was used to guide exploration of the initial implementation of a skills-based coaching program for supervisors in child welfare. Presenters will introduce Active Implementation Frameworks (Fixsen et al., 2019) and discuss how implementation stages, implementation teams, and improvement cycles are essential to engaging agency leaders, managers, and supervisors in initial implementation activities. The structure of the skills-based coaching program will be described. Finally, presenters will share lessons learned and actionable insights from the initial implementation stage of the coaching program.

Through this program implementation results show how three Active Implementation Frameworks were employed to support the coaching program. First, implementation teams were formed as a primary strategy, representing all implementing entities, and enabling accountability structures. Second, staging was initiated with carefully planned pilot tests, which allowed systematic tracking and adaptations to training. Third, improvement cycles were conducted throughout implementation in multiple ways, informing key changes to the coaching program. To facilitate ongoing monitoring, the project established six implementation metrics to track supervisors’ use and uptake of coaching. Additionally, guidance regarding priority topics was sought from parents with lived experience of child welfare. 

Three main implications will be discussed. First, the initial implementation stage is the most fragile stage of implementation (Fixsen et al., 2013) and understanding the strategies and tasks that support successful uptake of new practices at this stage is critical. Second, developing effective implementation teams and data-driven improvement cycles are key aspects of the initial implementation stage. This presentation will be describing strategies that successfully bolstered implementation teams and usable, practical improvement cycles. Finally, the coaching program incorporated priority topics focused on anti-racist, secondary traumatic stress, and family-centered practice. Describing the process of integrating these priority topics into the coaching program and highlighting lessons learned from initial implementation may provide important insight into developing coaching programs that support anti-racist, family-centered practice. Future research is needed to examine how adaptations made during the initial implementation stage affect program sustainability and outcomes.

Brief Bibliography/List of Resources

Fixsen, D., Blase, K., Metz, A., & Van Dyke, M. (2013). Statewide implementation of evidence-based programs. Exceptional Children, 79(3), 213–230. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440291307900206

Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K. A., & Van Dyke, M. K. (2019). Implementation Practice & Science. Chapel Hill, NC: Active Implementation Research Network.

UC Davis Extension, Center for Human Services, Editor Carol Malinowksi (2013). The Coaching Toolkit for Child Welfare Practice. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287201576_The_Coaching_Toolkit…;

Atlantic Coast Child Welfare Implementation Center (2013). Coaching in Child Welfare; Two-Day Training Curriculum. 

Suggested Citation

McArthur, V., Crain, E., Santiago-Mason, N., Atkins, T., Hanna, A., Hinkle, C., Eibes, M. (2021, November 19). KanCoach: Coaching for Child Welfare Practice. Kansas Governor's Annual Conference for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Topeka, KS. (Refereed).