Today’s episode included the following speakers (in the order they appear):

Host: Luke Waldo

Experts:

• Kate Luster – Director of Human Services, Rock County Department of Human Services

:04-:44 – Kate Luster - “Co-design was very different in which the parents have truly influenced and driven what our priorities will be moving forward, how we will go about implementing. They have been a regular resource for us to really help share that power of making decisions about what should happen as we work to improve our system and to grow resources in the community.”

:55- - Luke Waldo – Opening, introduction to Kate Luster and Rock Families First, and welcome.

3:37-3:40 – Kate Luster – Thank you

3:41-4:01 – Luke Waldo – Why is Rock Families First needed today?

4:02-7:32 – Kate Luster – Rock Family First is a response to the disproportionality that Black families have experienced with the Child Protective Services in Rock County. It was also a response to the national shift within CPS to the Family First Prevention Services Act. Focusing on Black families in Beloit and how we can learn from them as to what works and what doesn’t allow us to scale up improved changes.

• Rock Families First
• Families First Prevention Services Act
• Alia

7:33-7:43 – Luke – Can you elaborate on the disparities in Rock County?

7:44-8:44 - Kate – Black families make up 22% of Child Protective Services involved families while they only make up 7% of the county’s population. 

8:45-9:08 – Luke – What did Rock Families First hope to change or accomplish? What were the key strategies that were employed to advance it?

9:09-16:23 – Kate – Promote child and family well-being through partnership. 

1. Increase satisfaction in engagement for Black families living in Beloit, 
2. Safely reduce the total number of out-of-home placements, and 
3. Eliminate racial disparities in CPS.  

A Community Cultivator is a partner from Beloit who has been a bridge to Black families in Beloit with lived experience with CPS. This has led to a co-design process with many families within our community. 

• The Idea Book
• The BeeHive

16:24-18:23 – Kate – This co-design process was very different as it was led by the community partners. They had influence and decision-making power from the beginning until now beyond the initial plan. 

• Human-Centered Design

18:24-18:59 - Luke – We have been talking a lot this season about authentic engagement with lived experience experts. Can you share more on how that relationship and process worked? 

19:00-31:31 - Kate – Co-design was central to this initiative, but we didn’t just jump into it. We first did a lot of preparation on our teams. We then worked to build trust with our community. We invested in the well-being of our staff and teams, and the trust in their leaders. We developed a two-year well-being process to ensure that leaders were responsive to staff needs. The culture changed, which led to a mindset shift that prepared us to be more responsive to our community’s needs and co-design. The system had not been designed to be family-centered. It was punitive, which put staff in a difficult position. Kate tells her story about her apology to families and the community. 

31:32-32:52 - Luke – It takes courage to do what you did. People come to do this work with good intentions as they want to help children and families. What did it take to implement Rock Families First?

32:53-43:47 – Kate – We have seen a significant drop in the number of families in out of home care in CPS. We have reallocated a lot of our funds to prevention and early intervention services. We have created a position that provides in-home safety supports. 

Parents and staff came together to co-design a new practice model. This has been translated into new standards and best practices for staff. Community engagement and communication have been developed through Parent Cafes. There was a strong balance between professionals with experience with developing communication plans and the lived experience understanding of what will connect with the community. 

Now we are in the phase of moving forward with accountability. We are partnering with prevention and early intervention organizations, so that they can work with families that may be overloaded but don’t need the intervention of CPS. 

• Family Support Program Services - Family Resource Navigator, Family Support and Preservation Specialist, In-Home Safety Supports
• Parent Cafes

43:48-4:03 - Luke – As a partner of ours with SFTCCC, it’s promising to hear the work that you are doing in the Workforce Innovation and Inclusion space. Can you expand on the workforce well-being work that you’ve done?

42:04-49:07– Kate – Culture change that empowers staff to say what they need. Caseload sizes were reduced. Provided education on the impacts of family separation, bias, systemic racism, and the opportunities to do and be better. They were given a safe space to process this and think differently.

Parents Supporting Parents program are part of the continuum of resources and supports.

Invest in our leadership development and strategy to support leaders to support staff.

• Parents Supporting Parents program

49:08-50:38 - Luke Waldo – This initiative has led to a significant and community-changing outcome that SFTCCC aspires to. What would you leave our audience with that you’ve learned from this movement?

50:39-54:58 - Kate – When we authentically engage with our community and believe in them, real change can happen. 

54:59-55:26 – Luke – Thank you.

55:27-55:28 – Kate – Thank you.

55:37-57:45 - 3 Key Takeaways 

1. “Build a trust and well-being culture with real intention.” As Kate shared, this culture took years to develop, and ultimately created a safe environment through supportive and responsive leaders and an empowered workforce who speaks up, asks for what they need, and has the capacity to share power and decision-making with the people they serve. 
2. “Center a new mindset of thinking about working with families differently, centering families.” This started, as Kate courageously shared, with acknowledging the harm that our systems have done to families. From there, we can move from being punitive to being partners who center families to build trust and begin healing through meaningful change, accountability and committed action. 
3. Write your Idea Book and Build your BeeHive. As Kate says, “[Co-design was very different in which the] Parents have truly influenced and driven what our priorities will be moving forward, how we will go about implementing. They have been a regular resource for us to really help share that power of making decisions about what should happen as we work to improve our system and to grow resources in the community.”

57:52- - Luke Waldo – Closing Credits

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