Ensuring a safe and healthy home
developed the behavioral health curriculum
neglect to drug use, there are and administered the training to nearly
many reasons why child protective 400 employees, including investigators and
services may intervene to ensure supervisors. The purpose was to better equip
children’s safety at home. Often, assessing employees with the ability to assess mental and
current and future threats and determining emotional well-being and choices and actions
the appropriate intervention isn’t so that affect both child and family wellness.
straightforward.
“It’s very interactive training made up of
Patricia Babcock, researcher in the
two six-hour days. It covers all the key mental
Department of Behavioral health diagnoses and all the
Sciences and Social Medicine, key substance and alcohol
worked to help the Florida abuse issues,” she said. “It’s
Department of Children and really us showing them how
Families’ child protective you can integrate the two. So if
services investigators prevent a parent has depression, how
and identify such threats might that look in terms of
through behavioral health child safety? And so on.”
training in the spring.
“My background is child
With the success of the
Patricia Babcock
welfare, and the push right
now is to integrate behavioral health into
training, DCF hopes to
continue offering the program.
“Our staff has shared overwhelmingly
child welfare,” she said. “A lot of times, positive feedback pertaining to the trainers,”
parents may be using drugs or alcohol and/ said Alger Studstill, family safety program
or have a significant mental health issue that’s manager at DCF. “We’ve seen a positive impact
contributing. It may not be a root cause, but it in our leadership team and how they have
definitely contributes to abuse and neglect. So implemented these tools with their teams and
the state is starting to shift focus and integrate the families we serve. So we’re exploring ways
both lenses.” we can carry this training relationship forward
With a grant from DCF, Babcock
for the upcoming fiscal year.”
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F
rom allegations of abuse and
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