PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS | POSTER SESSION |
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25
NOTE: Some of our speakers have made their PowerPoint presentations available. In an effort to go green, we have uploaded those presentations (in PDF format) to this website. If there is a PowerPoint presentation available, there will be a "DOWNLOAD PPT" link below the session objectives. If there is no download link, then either the speaker(s) did not make it available, or the session does not have one.
Pre-Conference Workshop 1: Core DEC Training
Lori Moriarty and Eric Nation
The national strategy for responding to drug endangered children focuses on the formation of multi-disciplinary partnerships that take advantage of existing agency personnel, resources, and responsibilities and coordinate their mutual interests and duties to meet the specific needs of these children. The focus on these children’s needs lasts throughout the entire process until the child is in a permanent, safe, and positive functioning environment. This pre-conference workshop will highlight the risks to children living in dangerous drug environments, the long-term impacts these environments have on children, and overcoming the challenges in aligning systems responsible for preventing, intervening, and treating these issues to achieve common outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the risks and actual dangers that illegal drug activities present to children.
2. Describe the long-term needs of drug endangered children.
3. Outline the broad concepts of a collaborative response.
4. Explain the advantages presented by a collaborative response in sustaining DEC efforts and engendering broad social change.
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Pre-conference Workshop 2: Emerging Drug Trends
Scott Collier; Dr. Steve Freng; and Linda Kalin, RN
In this workshop, participants will learn about the latest drug abuse trends across the US, including prescription drugs, marijuana, and synthetic drugs. Presenters will discuss trends over time, review drug production data, and provide examples of pop culture messaging that influence the demand for drugs. Additionally, presenters will address the risks of marijuana use/abuse as well as the efforts of several states to "medicalize" or legalize the possession and use of marijuana and the attendant impacts of this legalization. Finally, presenters will discuss the growing public health and safety threat of synthetic drugs, including what they do, how they’re used, why they are so readily available, and the challenges they pose to law enforcement, educators, health care providers, and communities.
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognize the most commonly abused substances (including Rx drugs) and their effects.
2. Describe the role of pop culture in substance abuse.
3. Identify negative consequences of marijuana use, including the illicit commerce associated with the production, trafficking, and sales of marijuana.
4. Describe what emerging designer synthetic drugs are, how they are manufactured and sold, why they are so readily available, the dangers they pose, and who is at risk for abusing them.
DOWNLOAD PPT 1 / DOWNLOAD PPT 2 / DOWNLOAD PPT 3
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Pre-Conference Workshop 3: Strategies and Promising Practices for Reducing the Number of Substance Exposed Newborns
Kay Doughty; Diane Torrel, PHN; Carol Peterson, LADC; and Julie Jagim, PHN
In this pre-conference workshop, participants will hear an overview of the symptoms and impact of prenatal exposure to heroin, methadone, prescription drugs, cocaine, methamphetamine, and multiple drug combinations. They will learn about therapeutic management of the neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) newborn throughout the withdrawal period, and guidelines for appropriate placement for the infant when the withdrawal period is complete. Participants will also learn about two proactive approaches for reducing the number of substance exposed newborns: 1) a collaborative case management system between a public health nurse (PHN) and a licensed drug and alcohol counselor (LADC) who make home visits with pregnant women who are at risk of substance use or drinking during pregnancy, and 2) a community collaboration that engages professionals and agencies from multiple disciplines who work together to identify pregnant women using prescription medication and provide support, case management, and services to these women. The workshop will discuss how-to's of developing collaborative relationships and cross-system protocols as well as the evidence-based practices utilized.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify symptoms of withdrawal in drug-affected infants and describe therapeutic management of these babies.
2. Review a primary preventative strategy for preventing birth of substance-effected newborns (SENS) through intensive case management and collaboration between a nursing professional and treatment professional.
3. Identify key community participants needed to address increasing numbers of substance-exposed newborns and the evidence-based strategies utilized to intervene with the mothers of these infants.
DOWNLOAD PPT 1 / DOWNLOAD PPT 2 / DOWNLOAD PPT 3
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Plenaries & Breakout Sessions
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Opening Plenary
If It’s Going to Be It’s up To Me
Dr. Jim Verlengia
This is a wonderful time to live. Leading thinkers and economists of our day are predicting that we are entering into the “Golden Age” of mankind, and that each of us is perfectly positioned to benefit from it. There have never been more opportunities for you to achieve more of your personal and professional goals and dreams than there are today – except for tomorrow, and the next day, and the indefinite future. While change is our constant companion, both in our personal and professional lives, Dr. Jim Verlengia believes that -- at a bare minimum -- we must learn to live with change. Better yet, we should make friends with it -- exploiting it and using it to our advantage. His presentation will help us reflect on those things that are most important to us in both our personal and professional lives, and how to seize the new energy that change stirs up and use it to our advantage.
Learning Objectives:
1. Appreciate the difference between setting expectations and living into possibilities.
2. Understand the power of our stories and the impact it has on those around us.
3. Gain a deeper understanding of the power of attitude when facing professional and personal challenges.
Plenary
Whose Job Is It Anyway?
Chris Corken, JD; Betsy Dunn; Dr. Nick Taylor; and Mitch Brown
Developing a collaborative response to drug endangered children and their families can feel challenging, but it is possible. Understanding each professional's role and gaining trust in a collaborative response is critical to successfully intervene in the child's and family's lives. This plenary will demonstrate the roles of all parties in this process, encourage a multi-disciplinary response, and present real roadblocks/successes in a collaborative decision-making process. The presentation will take attendees through the first responders' crisis intervention, which begins with a mock scenario of the "first meeting" between law enforcement, prosecution, child welfare, and treatment representatives. During the skit, each professional will discuss his or her respective role prior to understanding the need for a collaborative response to drug endangered children and then again after they have developed a collaborative response.
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognize that biases and assumptions create roadblocks that can hinder opportunities to provide services to child and families.
2. Explain how understanding the roles and responsibilities of each agency enhances collaboration.
3. Describe how collaboration and shared knowledge create a foundation for a more effective decision making process when determining services for a child and his or her family.
Plenary
Alignment for Drug Endangered Children
Lori Moriarty and David LaBahn
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe how the criminal investigation is a critical point for identifying and responding to the needs of drug endangered children.
2. Summarize the basic workings of the criminal justice system.
3. Describe how the criminal justice system can align with the child welfare system.
4. Explain how a good handoff between agencies, followed by lasting efforts by ALL professionals, is critical to track and reduce potential harm to children.
DOWNLOAD PPT 1 / DOWNLOAD PPT 2
Opening Plenary
Remarks from the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, US Department of Justice
Bernard Melekian, Director
Plenary
Stopping the Transgenerational Cycle of Addiction: Is It an Unbreakable Chain?
Dr. Nick Taylor
The primary hope of efforts to help drug endangered children is to make a difference in the lives of families and children negatively affected by drug abuse. Of course, the ultimate goal is to provide the services and support necessary for children of drug-using caregivers to break the cycle of addiction and live happy and healthy lives. However, the disease of addictive behavior is a very real phenomenon -- one that, in spite of substantial environmental influence, can cross generational boundaries. The information in this presentation is vital to drug endangered children efforts. An account will be taken of the transgenerational aspect of addiction. Both personal and data-driven accounts will be used to discuss how the biological family chain of addiction is broken.
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognize the inheritability of addictive behaviors.
2. Discuss the inheritability of addictive behaviors as it applies to drug endangered children.
3. Express realistic hope about how the transgenerational cycle of addiction is broken.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS - A
A1 - Rapid Ethnic Diversification and Micro-Populations: The New Demographics of the United States, and Implications for Professionals Working with Endangered Children
Dr. Mark Grey and Dr. Michele Devlin
The demographics of the United States are changing rapidly. The country now is seeing the most rapid growth in its history of immigrants, minorities, and other culturally and linguistically diverse populations. This rapid ethnic diversification presents immense opportunities for professionals working with endangered children, as well as practical challenges. This session will discuss these new demographic trends, and will present the implications of increased ethnic and linguistic diversity among youth for the professionals that serve them.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the major new demographic trends that are shaping the United States and the clientele involved in the substance abuse and child welfare fields.
2. Understand the implications of these new trends for agency policies and protocols.
3. Learn specific skills for professionals involved in substance abuse prevention and treatment to work more effectively with diverse and underserved populations.
DOWNLOAD PPT
A2 - Jasmine’s Surprise: The Menominee DEC response
Kevin Brennenstuhl and Detective Dave Wynos
What does your community do when innocent children grow up surrounded by drugs, alcohol, and gang activity? Drug endangered children (DEC) programs and drug task force responses exist to ensure that children in drug abusing environments receive the special attention, safety, and care they need. This session will highlight the formation of the Native American Drug and Gang Initiative (NADGI) in the state of Wisconsin. Presenters will encourage each person to identify resources for DEC cases, define the steps and agencies needed to develop a DEC response, and provide the building blocks to start programs in the attendees' own communities. By the conclusion of this session, attendees will experience Jasmine’s surprise and hear the successes and failures of Menominee’s first DEC response case. This session will leave attendees thinking about how localized partnerships can share information and resources, and what we can all do for drug endangered children in our communities. Note to attendees: This presentation will contain slides of drugs, drug abuse, and graphic language in order to represent the realism of drug use on the Menominee Reservation.
Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss jurisdictional issues in Indian country as they relate to the NADGI task force and DEC response.
2. Identify the successes and challenges experienced by the Menominee DEC team.
3. Discuss implementation plans and begin to classify action steps for getting resources and stakeholders involved with a DEC response.
A3 - National DEC Discipline Specific Training: Law Enforcement and Child Welfare Collaboration
Eric Nation, Lt. Ed Gould, Sara Wilhelm, and Stacee Read
Building on the foundation laid in the Core DEC training, this session will demonstrate how a collaborative response between law enforcement, child welfare , and the judicial system can help break the cycle of abuse and neglect, and how sharing knowledge between systems leads to better services for the children and their families.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the risks and actual dangers that illegal drug activities and incapacitated caregivers present to children.
2. Recognize that the relationship between systems is not just a referral from one agency to another, but a handoff of knowledge and evidence.
3. Explain how the judicial system and child welfare can together monitor accountability and create opportunities to provide better services to children.
DOWNLOAD PPT
A4 - The Role of Education in Identifying DEC
Justin Mazzeo (moderator), Dr. Sharon Guthrie, and Susan Langan
This presentation will focus on the role educators and the educational system plays in identifying and intervening on behalf of drug endangered children. As the number one reporting source for child maltreatment, educational personnel are vital but often underutilized stakeholders in multidisciplinary DEC efforts. Sharon Guthrie, PhD, ARNP, CPNP, NCSN and the Iowa School Nurse Organization Executive Director and Susan Langan, a Counselor at Cedar Falls High School, will discuss their own experiences working with drug endangered children and the opportunities that educators have to connect them to needed community resources. They will also offer insight into how to engage and include educators in local DEC efforts and the challenges therein. The panel will be moderated by Justin Mazzeo, coordinator for the Texas Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, who has worked to connect educators to multidisciplinary efforts for several years.
Learning Objectives:
1. List various ways educators come into contact with drug endangered children on a day-to-day basis
2. Discuss the unique opportunities for intervention the educational setting provides
3. Review the challenges to and most effective methods of including educational personnel in multidisciplinary collaboration
A5 - No Wrong Door to Recovery
Steve Hornberger, MSW
This presentation will review what we know and what we are learning about recovery from alcohol and drug (AOD) dependence. It will highlight emerging issues in AOD prevention and treatment; discuss how addiction is an individual, family, and community disease; review the new SAMHSA working definition of recovery, Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC); and explain why there is "no wrong door to recovery."
Learning Objectives:
1. Review the latest research on the impact of recovery on individuals, families and communities.
2. Describe the many pathways to recovery and list available resources.
3. Discuss new federal initiatives on recovery and efforts to integrate behavioral health with healthcare.
DOWNLOAD PPT (updated)
A6 - The Constitutional and Evidentiary Issues in DEC Prosecutions: An Examination of Appellate Challenges to State DEC Laws
Steve Nelson, JD, PhD
About 35 states have drug endangerment statutes. These statutes -- and prosecutions pursuant to these statutes -- are sometimes subject to challenge in state courts of appeal. Two of the most common types of challenges are those to the statute's constitutionality and those to the sufficiency of the evidence brought against a defendant. Appellate decisions on these cases are important to prosecutors, trial judges, law enforcement officials, and policymakers who enact and administer state DEC laws because the decisions (as precedent) can affect the validity and effect of the statutes. This presentation will identify the different types of statutes criminalizing drug endangerment, describe the common types of constitutional and evidentiary to these statutes, and discuss whether states have been successful in defending these statutes.
Learning Objectives:
1. Review the different types of state statutes criminalizing drug endangerment.
2. Describe the different kinds of constitutional and evidentiary challenges to which state statutes criminalizing drug endangerment are subjected in cases before state appellate courts.
3. Describe how successful states have been in defending their statutes (and prosecutions pursuant to these statutes) before state appellate courts.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS - B
B1 - Behavior and Executive Function Problems in School Age Children with Prenatal Methamphetamine Exposure
Dr. Linda LaGasse
Since 2003, methamphetamine (MA) has been the primary drug of abuse among pregnant women admitted to drug treatment in the US. Disabling outcomes in MA exposed infants have been reported but there is no way to isolate the role of MA in these cases. The Infant Development, Environment and Lifestyle study (IDEAL) is the only longitudinal study of prenatal MA exposure and child outcome. IDEAL recruited postpartum mothers prior to discharge. Exposure was determined by self-report or toxicology, and exposed and comparison groups were matched on race/ethnicity, public insurance, education, and gestational age. MA-exposed children are more likely to show executive function problems including poor regulation of emotion as young as 3 years, dysregulated behavior as early as 5 years, and poor inhibitory control by 5.5 years. Findings suggest that MA-exposed infants would benefit by early evaluation and intervention to prevent escalation into learning difficulties and psychopathology.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the costs and benefits of a rigorous longitudinal research design to study methamphetamine exposure and child outcome.
2. List the domains of executive function affected by methamphetamine.
3. Describe why early identification and intervention is important.
DOWNLOAD PPT
B2 - Community Policing: Partnering for Intervention, Prevention, and Apprehension by Integrating the DEC Strategy
Mitch Brown and Vanessa Price
A well thought-out DEC strategy that involves law enforcement and community partners can integrate existing resources (money, programs, and manpower) while increasing efficiency and effectiveness at detecting deviant behavior and taking appropriate action. When police officers and other first responders rescue children living in dangerous drug environments, they reduce future criminal behavior, thereby breaking the cycle of drug abuse and violence. This presentation will examine how one agency's multifaceted approach to DEC acts as a safety net to detect and prevent deviant behavior. We will examine how enforcement efforts in a community can lead to less criminal incarceration, and more intervention, prevention, and treatment, while strengthening the family and reducing crime.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify current resources within one's jurisdiction that can assist in providing a higher level of service to the community.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the role that drug courts play in reducing incarceration rates, increasing intervention and prevention, strengthening families, and treating substance abuse.
3. Explain the primary reasons for the DEC movement and how it fosters community policing.
B3 - Breaking Through Barriers: The “Real World” Application of Multidisciplinary Collaboration for DEC
Lt. Ed Gould; Sara Wilhelm; Wayne Kowal; Chris Corken, JD; Lt. Dave Haupert; and Tammi Herbst
Perceived and real barriers have historically impeded communication between law enforcement, child welfare, and prosecution, despite the fact that they see the same children and families. During this session, presenters will describe efforts to remove those barriers and work collaboratively to create systemic changes in policy and practice at the local (county) and state levels to improve safety and permanency outcomes for children. Members of the Dubuque County (IA) DEC Alliance and the Connecticut DEC Alliance will share successes and challenges they’ve experienced; talk about engaging different systems and maintaining momentum as the effort grows; and address issues of confidentiality, training, communication, and funding.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe how to identify, engage, and train key stakeholder entities in one's community.
2. Recognize what it takes to effect change in individuals and across systems.
3. Outline tips for moving from a small team sustained by champions to a system that recognizes responding to DEC as function of professionals across multiple disciplines.
B4 - Providing Effective Family-Based Substance Abuse Intervention and Prevention Services
Kiley Waltz
Providing effective intervention and prevention services to families is a complex process, one which increases in complexity with the involvement of substance abuse and trauma. This interactive workshop will focus on the intricate process of working with families dealing with substance abuse. Specifically, participants will focus on the philosophy, principles, and strategies behind the relationship-based model of providing effective prevention and intervention to strengthen families. Participants will explore the relationship-based model, mutually competent interactions, and reflective practice. Participants will leave with valuable strategies and techniques to help strengthen the parent-child relationship and help families navigate parenting while in substance abuse treatment and recovery. Relationships are the heart of the matter.
Learning Objectives:
1. Explain the philosophy, principles, and strategies behind the relationship-based model used to strengthen the parent-child relationship and promote positive outcomes.
2. Describe what a mutually competent interaction between parent and child is and explain how to identify and build off of these interactions.
3. Recognize the importance of reflective practice.
4. Describe how to successfully implement reflective practice while providing intervention and prevention services to children and their families working through substance abuse and trauma.
DOWNLOAD PPT / DOWNLOAD HANDOUT 1
B5 - Restoring Hope in the African-American Male
Katrina Wilson, Agaytha Corbin, and Jody J. Williams
Restoring Hope is a collaboration addressing the issues of DEC primarily targeting young African American males, ages 11-17 in Middletown, Ohio, and the adults and peers who can support them. Key stakeholders in Middletown see Restoring Hope as an effective way to identify and address the needs of the target population. This project builds on the work we have done with drug endangered children who use and sell drugs as a direct result of their home environments. The Restoring Hope Collaborative continues to build on the vital relationships with key stakeholders, and seeks to identify culturally relevant, research-based approaches that will work with this population. In the long run, the community is committed to working together to implement these approaches. This workshop will provide both insights on the work of local stakeholders to help this challenging population and evaluation tools for this cutting edge work.
Learning Objectives:
1. Discover how to restore hope to DEC, specifically African-American males ages 11 to 17.
2. Describe the importance of addressing drug trafficking in prevention efforts for DEC.
3. List tools and resources that may assist parents, youth, and the community to work together to address the needs of DEC.
B6 - Emergency Child Care: Maximizing Resources & Reassuring Children
Nikki Hartwig, Detective Sadie Weekly, and Ben Stansberry
Utilizing an emergency child care program for children involved in DEC cases can provide dedicated staff to tend to the needs of the children, while allowing law enforcement and social services to focus on their investigation/assessment. Emergency child care staff can pick children up at the scene, transport them for medical treatment, and arrange safe and stable child care for up to 24 hours. This enables social service agencies to focus on identifying appropriate relatives without making an unnecessary foster care placement, and allows law enforcement to process the scene without concern for the children's continued presence in the home, or needing to designate a law enforcement official to supervise the children. The children benefit by having one person who can accompany them to the doctor, help them understand what to expect, and provide nurturing and reassurance during this very difficult time.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe how emergency child care can be utilized upon removal from the parental home.
2. Identify the benefits of an emergency child care program for law enforcement, social services, the legal system, and the child(ren).
3. Summarize the necessary components for the successful operation of an emergency-based child care program.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS - C
C1 - A Framework for High Performance Prosecutorial Services
David LaBahn
The High Performance Framework serves as an umbrella to capture the forward-looking practices being tested by leading prosecutors throughout the nation today. Key components of this strategic evolution include the following:
- Embracing Community Prosecution: A high performance office embraces community prosecution and uses its strategies to prevent crime and respond quickly to ever-changing conditions.
- Harnessing Science and Technology: A high performance office harnesses the latest advancements in science and technology.
- Implementing Information Sharing: A high performance office implements new technologies to improve data collection and ensures that decision-making is driven by data.
- Employing Outcome Evaluation: A high performance office recognizes the value of outcome evaluation and employs it to gauge and improve the effectiveness of crime prevention and reduction efforts.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the principles behind community prosecution.
2. Describe the district attorney's role in information sharing.
3. Recognize the value of outcome evolution in improving the effectiveness of crime prevention strategies.
DOWNLOAD PPT
C2 - Colorado’s Automated Approach to Identifying Drug Endangered Children (DECSYS)
Karan Goldsberry
Currently, law enforcement’s involvement in identifying children endangered by drug-related activity is dependent on the children being present at the scene of a drug-related arrest. This approach results in a significant gap in identifying and tracking children who are endangered by drug activity, but who may not be present at the time of a drug-related arrest. DECSYS, an automated web-based tracking tool, helps identify significantly more drug endangered children by improving communication between law enforcement and child welfare. In this session, attendees will hear about specific DECSYS impact scenarios, get an introduction to the DECSYS system interface, and review specific outcome data.
Learning Objectives:
1. Explore an innovative approach to identifying drug endangered children and ensuring they are referred for appropriate services.
2. Learn about the role of technology in supporting this approach.
DOWNLOAD PPT (updated)
C3 - Slow the Flow: A Community Program Aimed at Addressing Prescription Drug Abuse and Overutilization of the Emergency Department
Rebecca Grohs, RN
A grant awarded by the CDC is being used to determine the effectiveness of a city-wide emergency department (ED) care coordination model to reduce ER visits and opioid prescriptions for frequent ED users with complaints of pain. This program is being implemented across three cities, three hospitals and three separate medical record systems. The research efforts are designed to determine whether this model of ED care coordination can be successfully implemented in a new metropolitan area and whether the model is significantly more effective than treatment as usual. The program being implemented is a concerted effort to replicate a program in Spokane, Washington, that resulted in a 50% decrease in ED visits.
Learning Objectives:
1. Explain the need for Emergency Department (ED) care coordination to address ED over-utilization and prescription drug misuse and improve access to coordinated health care.
2. Identify ways to implement an ED care coordination project in one's area.
3. Discuss the role Medicaid policy has in driving better coordinated emergency department care in Washington State.
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C4 - Skin Findings in Child Physical Abuse
Dr. Ken McCann
This workshop provides an overview of the common patterns seen with skin injury in child abuse. Bruises, bites, and burns will be discussed as well as common (and not-so-common) mimics of child physical abuse. This workshop also provides a framework for gathering information when presented with an injured child.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the common characteristics of inflicted skin injury.
2. Identify common mimics of skin injury attributed to child abuse.
3. Discuss the role and basic techniques of photo-documentation of child abuse.
DOWNLOAD PPT
C5 - Parole and Drug Endangered Children Project
Melissa Gallardo
Parole officers can play a significant role in recognizing and caring for drug endangered children since they are often the first and only responders to the homes of drug offenders. Since 2009, the Colorado Division of Adult Parole and Community Corrections has identified more than 1,400 offenders who report that they have children living in their home, resulting in more than 3,000 children identified. Now that parole officers know there are children in these homes, they are more aware of the increased risks to these children. They continue to work on next steps that include collaboration with DHS and offering new and innovative ideas on offender services in this regard. This session will provide an overview of the lessons learned during the project and share a vision for future work in this area.
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognize the importance of collaborative efforts between several state agencies.
2. Relate to one's own agency the possibility and benefits of identifying children.
3. Summarize data related to these efforts and discuss possibilities for the future.
DOWNLOAD PPT
C6 - Strategies for Broader Engagement for Your DEC Efforts
Cristi Cain and Loretta Severin
This session will provide hands-on tools, resources and strategies that participants can easily implement in their communities. It will include a presentation, group brainstorming activities, and a demonstration of tools that will be helpful for creating DEC engagement and awareness. Awareness strategies will include information for hosting DEC Awareness Day activities and tools for creating year-round DEC awareness, such as Facebook campaigns and websites. Additionally, the session will provide insight on techniques for engaging professionals, including conferences, targeted training, legislative advocacy, and formation of non-traditional partnerships.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe strategies that will increase awareness about the DEC issue for the general public.
2. Describe strategies that can engage professionals from a variety of disciplines to educate them about their responsibility in addressing DEC.
3. Employ tools and strategies that will lead to replication of successful DEC strategies in their communities and states.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS D
D1 - First Response as a Doorway to Long Term Interventions: What You Need to Know about Drug-Endangered Children and their Families
Cathleen Otero and Melissa Lujan
The first response is an investigation, followed by an arrest, which should be the trigger for a systemic response. A systemic response is more than just a simple referral for services, but involves a coordinated handoff between agencies, followed by lasting efforts to track engagement in services and progress toward treatment completion, and reduce potential harm to children. Law enforcement and the judicial system should be the front door to services and active participants in collaboration across agencies. This session will review what a first responder needs to know about drug endangered children and their families in order to maximize the services offered to these families. The presenters will detail the ways that children are affected by drug endangered environments as well as parental drug and alcohol misuse. The session will emphasize the importance of reducing the children’s traumatic experience, providing effective substance abuse treatment services, promoting effective collaboration strategies, and supporting families through the continuum of care, including policy and practice implications.
Learning Objectives:
1. Summarize the ways that children are affected by drug endangered environments and parental drug and alcohol use.
2. Recognize the importance of a coordinated handoff between agencies after a first response
3. List key components of effective and family-centered treatment services
4. Identify training resources that provide additional knowledge and skill development opportunities.
DOWNLOAD PPT
D2 - Parental Substance Abuse Recovery: Tools for Supporting Recovery and Measuring Progress
Lisa D’Aunno, JD
Participants will be introduced to two tools to help their practice and decision-making with substance affected parents and their family support networks. The first tool, a matrix of nine indicators for measuring substance abuse recovery over time, helps workers and treatment providers understand and describe the parent's progress along a continuum of integrated child welfare and substance abuse treatment outcomes. Participants will apply the tool to a case example and view a video depicting court testimony using the tool. The second tool provides useful practice tips for caseworkers who want to support clients' recovery from substance abuse disorders, describing the stages of recovery, changes in the parent's thinking and behavior, and what the worker can do to support progress, including interventions with the extended family. Participants will apply this tool to several scenarios.
Learning Objectives:
1. Explain how to develop collaborative child welfare and substance abuse treatment goals for parents with substance abuse disorders.
2. Describe how to use a tool to measure parents' substance abuse recovery along nine indicators of progress.
3. Name two interventions that can support each stage of substance abuse recovery (denial, transition, early recovery, ongoing recovery).
DOWNLOAD PPT / DOWNLOAD HANDOUT
D3 - National DEC Discipline Specific Training: Evidence Collection
Eric Nation, Lt. Ed Gould, Sara Wilhelm, and Stacee Read
Most states in the US formalize the process of assessing risk by using some type of structured decision-making process or tool. These risk assessment tools typically include broad categories related to abuse and neglect, as well as behavioral descriptions, procedures to determine levels of risk, and standardized forms for recording this information. Before child welfare agencies intervene with families, they are generally required to identify maltreatment or the risk of maltreatment. Therefore, the assessment of risk is a critical part of child welfare agency work. What evidence would you say demonstrates the actual risk factors to children? This presentation highlights a portion of the National DEC Discipline Specific Training and focuses specifically on evidence collection and the "Evidence of Risk" tool developed for law enforcement to help assess the risk and safety of a child. This simple tool helps law enforcement to know what to look for at a DEC scene as related to risk of physical abuse, neglect, exposure to illegal activity, and more. The presenters will review the tool through a presentation that includes vignettes and photographs geared to assist LE in gaining the skills to assess DEC scenes for child welfare issues.
Learning Objectives:
1. List examples of evidence that can be collected to show risk of neglect and physical or emotional abuse to children.
2. Explain how documenting and sharing the evidence collected helps demonstrate risk and safety over the life of the child, not just at a snapshot in time.
3. Describe how exchanging this information and sharing resources enhances the capacity of each agency to provide more effective services to the child and family.
DOWNLOAD PPT
D4 - DEC in Indian Country: Engaging Our Tribal Communities and Partners
Cindy Giese
DEC in Indian Country is vital to law enforcement, Indian Child Welfare, and the court system working together for the benefit of the drug endangered child. Focusing on our similar objectives works to improve our assistance to drug endangered children. In this session, participants will learn how DEC in Indian Country is attainable and how to begin that process. They will hear about examples of how working together has increased communication and added resources to assist drug endangered children in Indian Country.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe to how to engage tribal partners and implement DEC in Indian Country.
2. Explain how a strong sense of culture and tradition make DEC in Indian Country easy to embrace.
3. Describe how Indian child welfare, tribal police, and tribal, state, county and federal courts can work together.
D5 - Utilization of the Urine Drug Screen: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Dr. Jennifer Lowry
Often times, the urine drug screen is relied upon inappropriately to determine exposure (or even toxicity) of drugs, illicit or otherwise. In regard to the drug endangered child, this test is commonly used to determine the extent of exposure and disposition of the parents and child. Unfortunately, those who rely on this test and those that order it fail to realize the limitations of this test and what it does and does not tell you. This workshop will provide an overview on this test as well as case presentations that describe the accurate information that this test provides.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the utility of the urine drug screen in clinical practice.
2. Describe the utility of the urine drug screen in the evaluation of the drug endangered child.
3. Discuss the limitations of the urine drug screen and what it cannot provide.
DOWNLOAD PPT
D6 - How Addiction Impacts Children & What Professionals Can Do To Help Them
Rosemary Tisch
Parental substance abuse commonly involves alcohol, other drugs (prescribed and illegal), mental health problems, poverty, and violence. It runs in families on one or both sides for generations. Children in these families are at extremely high risk environmentally and genetically. Left unserved, parents continue their addiction; children continue to be abused/neglected becoming addicts and addicted teenage parents themselves; families continue to suffer; and addiction continues to spread. However, they are not predestined to repeat the cycles of addiction and violence. Law enforcement, child welfare, and the courts are critical players in helping children develop the skills that protect and repair their brains and their lives. This workshop will interactively review the UN Office on Drugs & Crime family factors that may help protect children from substance abuse and discuss ways YOU can make the difference.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the impact of parental addiction on each stage of a child’s development: prenatal, childhood, teen.
2. Summarize the critical family protective factors developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
3. Name six ways professionals can make a difference.
DOWNLOAD PPT / DOWNLOAD HANDOUT 1 / DOWNLOAD HANDOUT 2 / DOWNLOAD HANDOUT 3 / DOWNLOAD HANDOUT 4
Plenary
Health Risks Associated with Indoor Marijuana Grow Operations
Sergeant Jim Gerhardt and Commander Jerry Peters
Learning Objectives:
1. List exposures to children, first responders, and professionals completing work in an indoor marijuana grow operation (MGO).
2. Describe the potential adverse health effects associated with the exposures to indoor MGOs.
3. Name the appropriate personal protective equipment to utilize in an indoor MGO.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS E
E1 - Clandestine Lab Hazards: Meth Labs and Marijuana Grows
Dr. Jennifer Lowry and Kate Serrano, MPH
The first part of this workshop will focus on the hazards and the health effects related to many of the chemicals used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, including the potential hazards to the occupants and the first responders caused by the chemicals needed to produce the illicit drug. In addition, as the "clandestine" lab moves out of the home and into other environments, the impact on the surrounding environment and ecosystems will be discussed. The second part of the workshop will focus on a research study conducted by National Jewish Health investigating the potential health hazards in indoor marijuana grow operations. The study focused on exposure concerns for law enforcement and children living in these environments, along with their potential health effects. Topics covered are mold, combustion pollutants, pesticides, irritant chemicals, solvents, THC, and electrical hazards. Results of the study will be discussed in addition to suggestions for recognition and protection of the hazards while working in these environments.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the chemical and environmental hazards surrounding clandestine lab operations and exposures.
2. Summarize the potential health effects of clandestine lab chemical hazards.
3. Recognize the new "clandestine lab" and the impact on the environment.
4. Identify possible exposure concerns at indoor marijuana grow operations.
5. Summarize potential health effects from exposures at indoor marijuana grow operations.
DOWNLOAD PPT 1 / DOWNLOAD PPT 2
E2 - The Impacts of the Medicinal Marijuana Trend on Child Welfare
Stacee Read and Sabrina Byrnes
The legalization of marijuana use in a medicinal sense is sweeping the country, leaving child welfare professionals questioning how exactly to handle such cases. The purpose of this presentation will be to bring professionals back to the basics of assessing safety and risk with families, regardless of the presence of a license/certificate to use marijuana. Further exploration will be given to educate the community and child welfare organizations about the inherent dangers that come with the cultivation of marijuana in homes where children reside. Through this presentation, participants will become aware of these inherent dangers in the physical environment where cultivation is occurring. The session will further address the assessment of the user and how to appropriately determine if the caregiver’s use of medicinal marijuana is affecting their ability to appropriately provide care for their children.
Learning Objectives:
1. List tangible ways to assess child safety with licensed/certified users and cultivators of medicinal marijuana.
2. Describe the direct and visible threats to children, both in their physical environment and their physical health, that may accompany medicinal marijuana use and cultivation as it pertains to child welfare.
3. Discuss effective methods of collaborative work between child welfare and local law enforcement officials.
E3 - Family Treatment Drug Courts: Ethics and Efficacy [Judges Panel]
Meghan Wheeler (moderator), Judge William Owens, Judge Mary Timko, and Judge Jeri Cohen
This workshop will be a panel discussion with three family drug court judges, moderated by Meghan Wheeler. The focus of the discussion will be on issues that affect the attorney/client relationship. It is particularly significant if criminal charges have/or will be filed. Are the attorneys advocates for the parents, similar to the role of a guardian ad litem? Are they advocates for the parents as traditional defense counsel? What is the relationship between the parent’s family court counsel and criminal court counsel? Can there be conflicting advice for different forums? Confidentiality issues will be addressed and the ethics of these relationships will be explored. There will also be discussion of whether family drug courts work. Are they worth the money spent? Are the outcomes more successful? What do successful outcomes look like? What would make them better? This should be a lively and dynamic discussion for anyone interested in or currently practicing in family drug courts.
Learning Objectives:
1. Summarize how family drug courts work, including the roles of all parties and the relationship between those parties, as well as potential conflicts with other related legal forums.
2. Discuss the ethical considerations to be addressed in a drug court setting for attorneys and treatment professionals.
3. Explain how to advocate for a family drug court in one's jurisdiction (if appropriate) or to incorporate some of the principles of the drug court model without an institutionalized drug court.
4. Discuss how to deal with issues of confidentiality.
E4 - Developmental, Psychological and Medical Effects on DEC
Jennifer Sleiter, ARNP, and Dr. Beth Schmitz
This class is for caretakers of children who have been exposed to illegal drugs or the abuse of prescription drugs. Children may have been exposed during pregnancy or they may have been affected by their parents' drug use -- either from direct exposure to the drug use or from the effects that the drug use can have on a parent's ability to care for their children. This class will review the possible effects that drug exposure can have on children's health, development, and behaviors.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the possible effects on a baby who is prenatally exposed to drugs.
2. Summarize the possible medical effects of environmental drug exposure and neglect.
3. Describe the possible psychological effects from drug exposure.
DOWNLOAD PPT
E5 - Pre-Removal Conferences
Mike McInroy and Cory McClure, JD
Presenters will discuss the concept of pre-removal conferences used in Polk County, Iowa. The process began in 2006 and was a simple idea that had huge impact for families. At time of removal, DHS invites a family in to discuss removal. The idea is to reduce trauma to the child so a plan is developed around placement, parental contact, and how the removal itself is going to happen. What started as a small pilot in the fall of 2006 became fully implemented in less than three months -- the result of staff and families embracing the practice. In this session, presenters will discuss the partnership and trust that is required between professionals in order to bring about system change as well as the importance of engaging families during times of crisis and trusting they can make good decisions for their children.
Learning Objectives:
1. Reducing trauma for children during time of removal.
2. Partnership and trust.
3. Importance of family and engaging them early.
DOWNLOAD PPT
E6 - Staff Training Makes a Difference: Improvements in Neonatal Illicit Drug Testing and Intervention
Dr. Resmiye Oral
A structured protocol for documenting risk factors and an in-service training on the proper use of the screening protocol was established at UIHC in 2007. Various impacts of this intervention were explored between the pre (2006) and post-training (2009) time periods. Significant increase in the number of mother-infant dyads screened and tested for illicit substances (p<0.001) was observed. Maternal referral rates and child protective service involvement also increased significantly. This presentation will show how this intervention allowed medical staff to capture a much higher number of infants who were perinatally illicit drug exposed to enable them to receive the necessary child protective service interventions.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe what a structured perinatal illicit drug screening protocol should look like.
2. Explain how such a protocol impacts staff behavior in screening.
3. Discuss the impact of case finding in perinatal illicit drug use/exposure.
Closing Plenary
Moving Kids from Risk to Resiliency: “Nothing About Us, Without Us"
Dr. Kiti Freier Randall and Terri Bailey, with youth from AMP
After a drug endangered child has been identified, what happens next? How do we move drug endangered children from risk to resiliency? Recently, there has been much focus on the essential need for treatment and intervention of the parents and caregivers, but there has been less focus on the child’s own critical need for intervention. This session will explore the risk factors of the drug endangered child and what we can do to foster resiliency. Participants will learn about the importance of understanding the drug endangered child’s ecology, neuro/psychosocial development, and trauma history in order to ameliorate long-term outcomes. This session offers a unique opportunity to appreciate these factors from multiple perspectives: a pediatric neurodevelopmental psychologist, a youth treatment director, and three drug endangered children (DEC). These DEC are alumni of AMP’d, a youth-driven program that promotes resiliency in children and seeks to unleash the full potential for personal growth among foster/adoptive and kinship children in Iowa. The AMP’d motto: “Nothing about us, without us.”
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognize the variability in the neuropsychological and psychosocial profiles of drug endangered children.
3. Describe long-term risks for the drug endangered child relative to adverse childhood events and health risk.
3. Explain how intervention and treatment can promote resiliency.
4. Describe how AMP'd program empowers youth to be self-advocates.
Death and the Family Disenfranchised: Addressing Relapse Triggers in Loss and Bereavement counseling of patients with Substance-Related Disorders & their Families
Author: Robbin Clarke, MDiv, CASAC, IC&RC, FT; chaplain, Calvary Hospital; addictions counselor, Opioid Treatment Program, St. Vincent Westchester, St. Joseph Medical Center; bereavement counselor, Emerald Counseling & Consulting Services
Methamphetamine-Exposed Children in Utah Foster Care: Health, Mental Health and Developmental Concerns
Authors: Julie S. Steele, DNP, assistant professor, University of Utah Division of General Pediatrics and College of Nursing and Karen F. Buchi, MD, professor, University of Utah, Division of General Pediatrics
Comparison of Neurodevelopmental Performance in Children with Confirmed and Suspected Prenatal Drug Exposure
Authors: Velisa M. Johnson, MA, doctoral student, Fielding Graduate University and psychology extern, Desert/Mountain Children’s Center; Kiti Freier Randall, PhD, neurodevelopmental psychologist, Desert/Mountain Children’s Center and professor, Loma Linda University; Peter Gleason, PhD, assistant professor, Loma Linda University; Ronald Powell, PhD, Administrator, Desert/Mountain SELPA; and Jenae Holtz, LMFT, Desert/Mountain Children’s Center
Clandestine Drug Lab Preliminary Assessment Tier Selection Criteria Form
Developed in collaboration with Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection, Kentucky State Police, and Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
Presenter: Kim Greenidge, Program Coordinator of the Meth Cleanup Program
Neonatal Withdrawal Syndrome
Author: Richard Massatti, MSW, research administrator, Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services
¡CELEBRANDO FAMILIAS! An Innovative Approach for Spanish Speaking Families at High Risk for Substance Abuse Disorders
Authors: Shirley Sparks, MS, CCC-SLP, advisor to Prevention Partnership International (PPI); Rosemary Tisch, MA, MM, Director, PPI; Mary E. Gardner, MA , Program Director, PPI; John Sparks, PhD, Data Analysis, contractor to PPI, no affiliation.