FY 2022 - FAC Annual Report

Massachusetts Family Advisory Committee 2022 Annual Report

A Year In Review...

To Our Valued Consumers and Community Partners, We are so pleased to be sharing this annual report with all of you as we celebrate the many accomplishments of the Family Advisory Committee over the past fiscal year. Beginning in July 2021, and through the course of the year ending in June 2022, we have worked hard to assure that we are in the best position to fulfill our mission and obligation to those whom we serve.

Lori Sousa

Joseph Sandagato

The Family Advisory Committee (FAC) has deep roots within the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) starting when former Commissioner, Harry Spence, advocated for adding “family voice” to the work of DCF. Since that time, our work has been formalized in two separate initiatives to assure that the voice of the community members, being served by the MA child welfare system, has support in raising their needs. Equally important is bringing that feedback to the Department’s policy and procedure work; and in return, the FAC can help to bring back vital and necessary information about DCF function & practice back to the communities that they serve. In this way we function as conduit or “bridge” between the community and DCF. Over the past fiscal year, the leadership team at the FAC was tasked with providing more formalized operations to best meet the expectations of both 110CMR15 (the state legislation which created a statewide advisory board in 2009) and under CAPTA (the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act).

The FAC Leadership Team quickly responded by creating a solid infrastructure based upon sound strategic planning and the execution of layers of operating procedure, adding both a formalized Executive Team, and other elected positions. We also created a robust operating structure to create transparency and to provide clear paths for process, procedure, and organizational flow.

This massive undertaking was part of yearlong endeavor that we refer to internally as “FAC 2.0”. We look forward to continuing our advancement in all areas of community support, as well as honoring our timeless commitment to DCF to bring “family voice” to the work of the Department.

We know that there is always more work to do, and that there will always be more advocacy required to meet the changing needs of the community as they engage with new policies and procedures. We stand strong in our commitment to this work and we look forward to meeting these challenges head-on.

Lori Sousa & Joseph Sandagato FAC Executive Co-Chairs

1.

2.0 Executive Team Executive Co-Chairs Joseph Sandagato & Lori Sousa Treasurer Jennifer Rambridge (Webmeister) Secretary Rebecca Zwicker

Leadership Team Richard Benoit - Julia Brachanow - Oonagh Brault - Wilbur Brown Xavier Cardona - Cheryl Haddad - Eileen Sandberg - Meri Viano (Zoom Admin.)

2.

Meet Our M

FAC Leader

Richard Benoit

Julia Brachanow

Oonagh Brault

Foster/Adoptive/ Kinship Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Biological Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Foster Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Richard is a foster, kinship, adoptive, guardian parent with five children from foster care. He is staunch community activist with several connections to the child welfare community over the past three decades. His work includes serving on numerous boards, committees and as a former Family Resource Liaison for MSPCC Kid’s Net. He is passionate about improving outcomes for youth and families across the Commonwealth. His work also includes advocacy in the areas of mental health and trauma.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Julia is a person in long term recovery who works as a Maternal Recovery Specialist at Jewish Family & Children's Services. She is passionate about her own recovery and supporting families on their journey with substance use disorders, parenting, and recovery.

Julie is the very blessed mother of five and grandmother of three.

Oonagh grew up in Ireland, has 2 bio children, and is a guardian to an adult with developmental delays, who she fostered. She has parented children with significant mental health issues.

She has extensive experience with DMH and helps families advocating for services for children & adults. She is a Special Education Surrogate Parent, and serves on the Plymouth Area Suicide Prevention Steering Committee, DMH Area Board, DCF Plymouth Area Board, and QPR Trainer, and extensive support background with transgender youth and family support.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Jennifer Rambridge

Joseph Sandagato

Eileen Sandberg

Biological Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Foster/Adoptive/ Kinship Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Adoptive Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Jennifer is a proud parent and community activist who shares her skills as a valuable Family Advisory Committee team leader working in many areas. She serves on the Framingham Area Board and is a volunteer Foster Care Reviewer for the Department. Jennifer, formerly a computer analyst, is proud parent and who lives in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Jennifer serves as the Treasurer and Webmiester for the FAC.

Joseph is a foster, kinship and adoptive parent, with seven children adopted from foster care. He has worked for over two decades, locally and nationally, to advocate for strengthening child welfare systems to better serve and support youth & families. His work also includes over three decades of direct community service in the areas of LGBTQ+ and racial & cultural diversity. He has worked with MARE, and currently serves as a Regional Director for MSPCC Kid’s Net. Joseph currently holds the position of Exec. Co-Chair for the FAC.

3.

Eileen is the coordinator for the Pathways for Parents program at the Federation for Children with Special Needs and brings her vast experience to the FAC. She is active in her communities, serving on the Newton Commission on Disabilities, the Newton Schools Foundation, and the advisory board of the Eliot Clubhouse for mentally ill adults. Eileen is the parent of five young adults.

Members...

rship Team

Wilbur Brown

Xavier Cardona

Cheryl Haddad

Community Resource Advisor

Biological Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Foster/Adoptive/ Kinship Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Wilbur is father to four daughters (20 to 28). He is the Director of Transitional Remedies Solutions (TRS) in Boston for people leaving institutions. He is also a Recovery Coach, and serves on a Boston Trauma team. He runs small and large fathers / men’s groups, runs a Hope Line, and is also a trainer. He does transitional work with seniors and works with his community to provide food to non-mobile people.

Xavier is a father of five children. Early engagement with the DCF system taught him first-hand about the challenges of the youth and families who he supports today. With a strong voice in the area of fatherhood engagement, as well as in racial and cultural equity, he contributes his time to helping others in the community who can benefit from his decades of direct experience. His goal is to make sure that everyone gets treated fairly and equally in their engagement with the child welfare system.

Cheryl has been involved in supporting DCF involved families for thirty years. Her experience spreads locally as well as nationally.

She has cared for 171 children in various roles as a biological, step, foster, kin, adopted, guardian and grandparent. She also adds unique personal experience growing up in the DCF system as an alumni foster youth. This knowledge allows her to promote better outcomes for all parties involved in the fostering system whenever possible.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Lori Sousa

Meri Viano

Rebecca Zwicker

Biological/Kinship Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Foster/Adoptive Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Biological Parent & Community Resource Advisor

Lori has been involved with supporting youth & families for many years as a longstanding member of the FAC. She has served in many roles and has contributed to various works supporting the child welfare community, including her current lead role with suicide prevention training (QPR). As a mother of five, and with seven grandchildren, she is very dedicated to her family.

Professionally, Lori was a registered nurse, working within the psychiatric treatment area. Lori currently holds the position of Exec. Co-Chair for the FAC.

Meri is an adoptive single parent/ mom who has adopted 3 children including a sibling group and a child with significant medical needs and down syndrome. Meri is in the process of adopting her young grandson.

Meri has been working with family organizations for over 20 yrs. Meri hold the position of Associate Director for PPAL and is a consultant nationally with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Justice for Families. Her passions include making sure that racial equality happens across many systems.

4.

Rebecca is a mom and a woman in long term recovery. Along with her training, and lived experience in Substance Use recovery, she is also a Certified Substance Use Recovery Coach (CARC) and a Recovery Coach Supervisor, which is her passion.

Professionally she is the founder, Program Director, and Recovery Coach Supervisor for her nonprofit, called Community Program for Addiction Recovery. Rebecca currently holds the position of Secretary for the FAC.

Meet Our Members...

Boston Region

FAC General Members

Wilbur Brown Jessica Castro Brenda Henry Shareef Smith Niamh Jacobsen Michael Griswold Dorchester

Dorchester

Boston

Everett

Boston

Alma Downie Edward Downie Julie Maida Ashley Scott-Sandagato Brockton

Holbrook

Yarmouth Port

Central Region

Brockton

Latisha Broomfield Chip LaRiviere

Western Region

Southern Region

Boston

Dr. Wondlyn August Kevin Green Martha Sager-Cutt Melissa Tarjick Mary Beth Landy

Worcester

Northern Region

Springfield

Rose Davis Malden

Worcester

Springfield

Easthampton

Danielle Drayton Jake Murtaugh Westwood

Salem

5.

Cheshire

Greenfield

Paul Alves Springfield

Nicole Desnoyers Indian Orchard

Committees The MA Family Advisory Committee is home to a broad range of work to support the varied and expansive needs of the community members served by the organization.

This work takes many forms, and is overseen by the Leadership Team in formalized committee, workgroup, and project settings. We are pleased to present this work on the pages to follow, and to further share examples of the impact we have made supporting youth & families across the Commonwealth.

Executive Committees Leadership Committee

Strategic Planning Committee

Budget Committee

General Committees Area Board Advisement Committee

Diversity Committee

Education Committee

Fatherhood Engagement Committee

Kinship/Foster Care Committee

Legislative & Juvenile Justice Committee

Marketing Committee

Mental Health/Trauma Committee

Substance Use Committee

6.

LEADERSHIP

Committee

Committee Members

Joseph Sandagato Areas Of Responsibility Oversight: At the direction of the Co-Chairs, this body provides

direction for the FAC membership, at-large, committees, related works, and overall output. This committee serves as the primary contact for all internal and external relationships.

Recruitment: Promotes FAC and attract new members Mentorship: Enculturates and directly support new members On-Boarding/FAC Training: Provides resources and education

Past Year Accomplishments

In an unprecedented year of accomplishments, this committee took the task of restructuring, strategically aligning and supporting the change necessary to ensure the future of the organization as a viable and productive resource for the community members served by the FAC. In intersection with our partners from DCF, state agencies, other community resource providers, and key stakeholders this committee engaged in a comprehensive review of existing guidance, policy, practice, and other operating procedures to identify gaps, look for improvement opportunities and to build the needed infrastructure to support the organization for the future.

Key deliverables included: realigning recruitment and

mentorship work, assuring that training and engagement supported the organizational change, unifying process and procedure, and creating a transparent oversight process intentionally designed to assure that all leadership members have access to, and an ability to, review any and all process and procedure changes, as well as the ability to review and contribute to all approved work proposals.

7.

Lori Sousa Areas Of Responsibility Oversees Strategy and FAC Governance: Establishes

practices and protocols for FAC

STRATEGIC PLANNING

e Co-Chairs

Nomination and Voting Oversight: Forms a short-term nominating committee during election periods.

Committee Oversight: Assist Co-Chair #2 in their oversight

of committees. Establish practices and protocols for committee function.

External Communication Oversight: Members function

as the liaisons for external communications with the Dept. and other outside agencies and vendors.

Past Year Accomplishments This committee was responsible for initiating and proposing change throughout the past year. As a governance workgroup designed to propose and ideate about the change, and impact of change, this team led the restructuring efforts which were then sent to the Leadership Committee for final review and approval. Creating a second level of transparency for the organization was key to assuring that all leadership members had ample opportunity to suggest, reflect upon, and finally to initiate change. This committee also provides oversight of all active and new policy, practice and operational guidance.

This committee also houses all functional leadership tasks related to nominations, voting, committee oversight and serves as the lead for the organization regarding all matters of external communication and engagement.

8.

Committee Members

BUDGET

Committee Chair

Jennifer Rambridge

Areas Of Responsibility Committee Members

Oversight: Assist with providing required reporting and

financial updates, and works cooperatively with FAC executive team to inform, execute, and oversee the FAC annual budget.

Reporting: This team also oversees the tracking of stipend payments, produces ad hoc and annual reports, as well as maintains a perspective of ongoing utilization.

Past Year Accomplishments This past year was a year of great growth and change for the Family Advisory Committee. The impact of increased meeting schedules, new projects and programs, as well as the large volume of work to support the internal strategic planning actives all added to the demand of the budget committee. In response the committee evolved to better tracking coding, administration, and general oversight. This increased the need to build new tracking systems and member education to ensure that the changes were clearly communicated and supported.

In preparing for FY23 there has been a great deal of information gathering, new processes built for collecting and reporting data, as well as a very active interplay in communicating the fiscal needs to funders. This team looks forward to continuing to contribute to the change and growth of the organization.

9.

FY 2022 Work Performed

Spending By Category

Work Performed By Function

Supporting Youth & Families Across Massachusetts

AREA ADVISORY BOARD

Committee Chair

Committee Members

Jennifer Rambridge Areas Of Responsibility Oversight: Assess and design programming to support the

varied needs of the DCF Area Advisory Boards across the Commonwealth.

Past Year Accomplishments

COVID provided many challenges to this committee. The last inperson conference was held in 2019 (with 2020 and 2021 put on hold for safety).

There was an effort planned to provide a statewide, virtual conference to support the DCF Area Directors, Area Advisory Board Leadership, and others in an effort to once again provide some opportunity to learn, share best practices, and network in the spring of 2022. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control the Department asked us to postpone this event until the fall of 2022.

PROGRAMMATIC WORK DIVERSITY

Connect online

Statewide Community Listening Sessions Racial Equity and Cultural Conversation Community Reflections and Advocacy

Our work over the past year included community advocacy and “Raising Family Voice” to inform practices and policy within the child welfare system. Our Diversity Committee was pleased to sponsor these important statewide events to allow community voice to help guide important equity, dignity, and inclusion work currently underway. We also strived to respect and honor the intersectionality between race, culture, sexual identity, and gender identity, as well as applying the principles of equity and justice, as we moved toward an integrated approach in our overarching work of treating all persons with equal respect.

Joseph Sandagato

Meri Viano

Areas Of Responsibility

LGBTQ+ Focus: Liaise with DCF Statewide Liaison Committee and provide support

to LGBTQ+ identified families and children Racial and Cultural Diversity Focus: Support the varied needs of the community and engage with DCF practice team to deliver both internal and external support regarding critical delivery of education and setting standards of engagement.

The Diversity Committee is committed to working in partnership with our leadership and DCF to assure that our members, and our work, reflect the expressed values required to effectively engage with the community.

Past Year Accomplishments During the past year, the team added “youth voice” which is an important aspect of the work. They have helped to diversify the overall FAC membership and amplify the voice of all community members; to be inclusive of the composition of all families, varied racial and cultural voices, and to be reflective of the broader community. Statistically, they are proud to share that the overall composition of the FAC reflects our commitment to assuring that we have broad representation from the community. The team looks forward to working in intersection with the Dept. to help amplify family voice and to continue to bring our expertise to the process.

There are two forward-facing projects conjoined to the special projects workgroup: FRC Web Update to include LGBTQ+ information, and the launch of the Statewide LGBTQ+ Partners program. This statewide program supports LGBTQ+ youth and families through providing direct support, resource navigation and community support group opportunities.

On the topics of racial and cultural diversity and competency, they hosted three Community Listening Sessions which concluded in June.

They will be providing a comprehensive report to the Dept. in early FY23 with the results and feedback highlighted.

DIVERSITY

Committee Co-Chairs

Committee Members

EDUCATION

Committee Co-Chairs

Committee Members

Cheryl Haddad

Eileen Sandberg

Areas Of Responsibility

General Education: Assess needs and provide training for any engaged families and DCF staff. Liaise with DCF to contribute to education policy.

Past Year Accomplishments

Over the past year the team have helped to promote the work of the Federation of Children with Special needs. They also provided input and recommendations for the DCF Education Policy. They have been working on establishing a connection to the DCF Director of Education and presented at an Education Liaison staff meeting.

Xavier Cardona Areas Of Responsibility Work To Support Fathers: Work to provide support through social workers and direct support to fathers.

Provide Informed Programming: Inter-agency Fatherhood Workgroup and Massachusetts Fatherhood Initiative.

Past Year Accomplishments

The past year has brought about many challenges to the committee with COVID continuing to impact conferences and other direct engagement work. In spite of these challenges there was much work accomplished in supporting fathers in their pursuit of maintaining connections with their children.

The committee saw change in engagement as well as in leadership. In the past year Xavier Cardona has assumed the role of Committee Chair and is working hard to ensure that the overarching goals of the committee, and the direct support work, is impactful to the population served.

In an effort to increase the reach and scope of the work, the team also created and implemented a plan to connect to the Fatherhood Engagement Leadership Teams (FELT) at DCF Offices across the Commonwealth. The work includes investigating, cataloging and engaging with the FELTs to help broaden the reach of the committee in an effort to engage more fathers in this critical work, and to help assure that DCF staff are focused upon the need to identify and include fathers in the case review, parenting time, and ongoing connection to their children.

FATHERHOOD

Committee Chair

Committee Members

KINSHIP/ FOSTER CARE

Committee Co-Chairs

Committee Members

Richard Benoit

Cheryl Haddad

Areas Of Responsibility

Community Outreach: Work with various community partners to enhance learning and provide support for foster/kinship parents.

Past Year Accomplishments

The committee has ideated and made several program suggestions to better help meet the needs of the population served. They met with the YMCA & DCF management in Worcester to coordinate an after school program for foster children.

In a separate effort they proposed working with Jennifer Kitchenham to support the Kinship Navigator program. A comprehensive proposal was approved by FAC Leadership, pending financial support, which was then discussed with DCF. At this time funding is pending, however the team was able to help distribute marketing materials to DCF Offices and the community.

They are able to refer families for support.

Furthermore, the committee worked and met with Grandparents Raising Grandparents (GRG) group led by Colleen Pritoni.

Distributed their training and support information, as well as materials, to the public. They assisted in dispensing annual museum passes to support group participants. They are also facilitating a GRG support group.

Lori Sousa Areas Of Responsibility

Provide Education: Meet with legislators and others in the

community to help provide information and resources to help support Child Welfare needs.

Provide Education: Work with attorneys and other safety/ service providers to provide information and education to the community.

Past Year Accomplishments

This is a new committee for the FAC. During the comprehensive review undertaken by the Leadership in FY22 there was a decided need to support our work through this area of engagement. The committee was approved and added, and will begin the work in FY 23.

LEGISLATIVE & JUVENILE JUSTICE

Committee Chair

Committee Members

PROGRAMMATIC WORK MENTAL HEALTH/TRAUMA

Oonagh Brault Eileen Sandberg

Lori Sousa

Areas Of Responsibility

Assess Needs: Review needs of families and children affiliated

with DCF to assess and educate them about available resources.

Past Year Accomplishments

The past year brought much change to this committee as they worked to build connections, programs, and to find ways to best support those whom they serve.

In early FY 22 they met with Lauren Almeida, DCF Mental Health Director, to make introductions to the team, their work and focus.

Additionally the team offered support to the Department in support of the families served.

Based upon the feedback from the meeting with Lauren, it was identified that there was a concern about increasing rates of suicide attempts and death by suicide among young people (an intersectional area of catchment served by DCF and the FAC). As a result the team proposed training FAC members to deliver the Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training. The committee wrote and got approval from FAC Leadership to deliver the training to DCF staff and community members. They scheduled 2 trainings per month, staring in March. They plan to conclude the first run and then to add more trainers to support an increased training effort in FY 23.

MENTAL HEALTH/ TRAUMA

Committee Co-Chairs

Committee Members

SUBSTANCE USE

Committee Co-Chairs

Committee Members

Julia Brachanow

Rebecca Zwicker

Areas Of Responsibility

Training and Support: Provide support to social workers and community members.

Past Year Accomplishments

The committee members worked over the past year to both identify needs, as well as to propose solutions.

In an initial effort they identified a need to help support DCF staff in their understanding of engaged parents with substance use issues. They created program that was approved by FAC Leadership to meet this need. They launched the program in intersection with the Child Welfare Institute (CWI) and provided training to DCF staff.

They also provided “What Is Recovery” training to DCF Metro North social workers for a Brown Bag Lunch Series.

The team also attended the MOAR Boston Policy Forum where they received education from MA State Representatives about current policies and bills addressing substance use. They further received updates on recovery centers and community recovery programs, and brought all of the information back to the committee to support education and advancement of the work.

PROGRAMMATIC WORK SUBSTANCE USE

Substance Use Committee Setting-Up For Success - Parents with SUD & DCF

TRAINING OVERVIEW • • • • • • •

What is Recovery Pathways to / for Recovery Stigma & Language Setup for Success --> Better Outcomes Individualized & Personalized Action Plans (Parent Centered) SUD Resources Q&A

This is a 1 hour interactive PowerPoint (zoom) training. Our goal is to do this 2-3 times a month and be able to bring this to all DCF Area Offices across the state by June 6/23.

All ToT's (Trainers) will have 2 trainers and 1 of them will always be paired with someone in Recovery, so they can bring their lived experience of active addiction/DCF to the training and share personal stories into the training.

We will also have an online evaluation to be completed by all participants at the end of each training session to help us improve and revise the training, as needed.

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MARKETING

Committee Chair

Committee Members

Joseph Sandagato Areas Of Responsibility

This committee over-arches all other committees for the purposes of creating materials (digital/print collaterals such as postcards, cards, one sheets, guides, logos, websites, databases, etc.). The Marketing Committee would hold the responsibility for assuring that any internal and external communications are in-line with the core FAC messaging (boiler plate language, “organizational voice”, etc.-both existing and new), and will be the single point of creation for all messaging pertaining to the FAC.

Past Year Accomplishments

This committee was activated in late FY22 for the purposes of assuring a cohesive messaging and branding for the organization.

In the initial phase of operations the committee was tasked with reviewing all existing collaterals, active marketing (web, print, digital, etc,). That phase was completed by the May 2022.

In intersectional work, the committee also oversees both the print and digital aspects of the work.

Digital: The FAC exists in the digital space for regular and routine work and has a cloud-based operating system used for storing, accessing and sharing information. The standard to which we work (in intersection with our overall diversity goals) is to assure that all materials are ADA complaint and accessible . This means that all files are converted to PDF file formats in their final presentation.

This allows for universal reader accessibility, format adaptation, etc.

We also have a project under Diversity (Statewide LGBTQ+ Partners) hosting a website requiring ongoing updating and maintenance. This is also an area where we will house extended diversity information, based upon the extensive work completed by the committee.

Print: There are many areas of work which requires writing and editing materials. This lives in this area, and will progress in FY 23.

2.0 Executive Team Executive Co-Chairs Joseph Sandagato & Lori Sousa Treasurer Jennifer Rambridge (Webmeister) Secretary Rebecca Zwicker

Leadership Team Richard Benoit - Julia Brachanow - Oonagh Brault - Wilbur Brown Xavier Cardona - Cheryl Haddad - Eileen Sandberg - Meri Viano (Zoom Admin.)

For More Information Contact: Joseph Sandagato joseph_sandagato@msn.com Lori Sousa lorisousa70@gmail.com