CfE resource families will understand they are expected to actively work to establish and maintain positive and supportive relationships with birth parents and extended family members and to help build birth parent capacities to care for their children in safe and healthy ways. Resource parents will have a clear understanding that they are expected to invite birth parents into their home on a regular basis and stay in regular communication with the birth parent to ensure he/she/they remain aware of the daily health, well-being and emotional status of their child; and, commit to co-parenting with the birth parents. DHS/SSA expects that the level of care provided to children and their birth parents will help stabilize placements, mitigating the need for congregate care placement and its associated trauma and isolation, and will encourage and support timely reunification.

Sites selected to participate in the CfE will be expected to utilize existing resource parents to build their CfE pool of resource parents. CfE resource parents must be committed to the values and expectations of the CfE, including the prioritization of reunification, shared parenting, and a commitment to the safety, permanency, and well-being of the children. Resource parents will work closely with birth parents and must be able and willing to engage authentically and respectfully with birth families, recognizing them as experts on themselves and their children. Resource parents will be trauma-responsive and practice cultural humility.

As the CfE work expands, sites may need to use targeted recruitment practices to engage additional resource parents. Recruitment activities will include a statewide marketing campaign; data-informed recruitment strategies utilizing the new Child Welfare Information Systems, CJAMS; and, a centralized virtual recruitment, application, and communication hub for current and prospective resource families. The strategies employed by the CfE will reflect current best practices regarding recruitment, preparation, and support for resource families to promote retention and quality practice. In addition to engaging families to serve as CfE resource families, by the end of the cooperative agreement, DHS will engage in recruitment efforts in the areas of the state where the highest number of removals occur. By utilizing geographic data to strengthen local recruitment strategies, children and youth who are removed from their homes are more likely able to remain in their communities of origin, encouraging school stability and other forms of normalcy when they enter out of home placement.

LDSS were invited to apply to the CfE through a standardized application that assessed readiness and capacity for implementing the model, which was then rated on a set rubric. Follow-up phone interviews were held with local departments to gain further insight into their understanding of the CfE and what support they might need to be successful. Other considerations for the site selection included a review of the jurisdictions’ foster care entry rates; resource parent recruitment and retention plans and outcomes; existing programs and initiatives aimed at family preservation, reunification, and engagement; partnerships and collaborations with systems of care supports that could expedite timely access of community services; and diversity (geographic, ethnic, socio-economic) of the jurisdiction. DHS is committed to ensuring that the local sites selected have high percentages of children in congregate care settings; will engage and develop resource families in the neighborhoods and communities that the children come from; and, have the capacity to integrate this program with their existing policies, programs, and initiatives related to recruitment, retention, development, and support of resource families at the local and system levels. The local sites were required to commit to providing sufficient staff and resources to effectively implement the interventions and participate in the QIC.

DHS/SSA, The Institute, and other key partners will provide ongoing support, guidance and technical assistance (TA) to sites. The CfE will utilize a Quality Improvement Collaborative (QIC) with local sites to facilitate decision-making and learning, and ensure that proposed activities are achieved within the specified timeframes. The sites selected to participate in the CfE will be part of a QIC. QICs are a commonly used model in the field of health care to improve provider practices, disseminate evidence-based practices, and improve patient outcomes (Nadeem, Olin, Hill, Hogwood, & Horwitz, 2013). Although specific practices vary, the core concepts often include in-person learning sessions, plan-do-study-act cycles, multidisciplinary quality improvement (QI) teams, and data collection for QI (Ibid, 2013). The CfE QIC will be informed by the work and strategies of the CB-funded National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability, and Permanency for LGBTQ2S Children and Youth in Foster Care, led by DHS’ implementation partner, The Institute.

The QIC will utilize the online learning management system (LMS) managed by UMB, known as Ideas@TheInstitute, to communicate across sites and with DHS and the Steering Committee. The LMS enables users to share information and resources, attend webinars, post blogs, and connect with each other for support, guidance, and TA. The LMS provides a virtual mechanism for sites to collaborate with each other as well as with other programs and projects that support the work of the CfE. The Advisory Committee and local sites will identify other partners to be invited to utilize the LMS.

The Institute will support the local sites and DHS to collect data on individual and cross site outcomes, ensuring that local sites collect appropriate qualitative and quantitative process and outcome data to meet all evaluation expectations. Data will be shared at least quarterly and at the QIC convenings, which will occur at least twice annually. DHS will continue to track data focusing on the youth in congregate care to ensure that percentages of youth, specifically in the local sites selected for the model, are decreasing. DHS also will continue to track placement stability, resource family approval rates, and resource family retention rates. See evaluation section for more detail. The QIC will support the sites to address disproportionality and disparities by providing resources and technical assistance, encouraging peer-to-peer exchanges of ideas and best practices, and utilizing data to make informed decisions.

DHS/SSA is responsible for ensuring that local sites have completed installation and begun implementation within 90 days of beginning Phase II and for monitoring sites, including ensuring project accountability. DHS will be supported in this work through the ongoing data collection and CQI activities of the QIC and evaluation team as well as the monthly calls between DHS and the local sites.

Strong partnerships are critical for effective and efficient model development, program implementation and evaluation activities. The CfE’s Advisory Committee was established soon after DHS/SSA received the award and has met periodically over the first year to provide input and feedback on the model. The CfE Advisory Committee includes the Maryland Coalition of Families (representing birth families in the state), Maryland Resource Parent Association (representing resource families in the state), the Resource Parent Ombuds, the Capacity Building Center on States (to ensure alignment with other related activities) and technical assistance partners. These partners will remain engaged while additional partners are identified at the local level to support local implementation activities. Additional partners also may be engaged at the state level.

The CfE activities are aligned with the work of the Quality Services Reform Initiative (QSRI), which is working to revise payment structures for residential interventions and right-size Maryland’s system so that children are placed in congregate care settings only when it is in the clinical best interest of the child. Maryland’s multi-faceted efforts to implement the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) also aligns with the CfE activities, including through a focus on developing more home- and community-based services, expanding Chafee eligibility, and adhering to new Child Care Institution standards. DHS/SSA is also implementing new policy development, review, and training standards; as part of this process, numerous policies are being updated and will be aligned with the values and desired outcomes of the CfE, as well as with the Program Improvement Plan and FFPSA.