This strategy supports improved outcomes for infants and toddlers and their families involved in the child welfare system in order to reduce or prevent future court involvement through training, shared planning, systems improvement, and regular consultation of those agencies working with a child and family through the implementation of the 12 components of the Zero to Three Safe Babies Court Teams (SBCT) model.
Regions funding this strategyFeatured Stories
Funding Plan Highlights
La Paz/Mohave
Due to the number of children who are in foster care in the region, the La Paz/Mohave Regional Partnership Council supports the child welfare system through the Mohave County Superior Court and the Mohave County Court Team. The Mohave County Court Team is composed of juvenile dependency judges, attorneys, Department of Child Safety managers, Foster Care Review Board, Court Appointed Special Advocates, First Things First, foster agency representatives, early intervention specialists and other community stakeholders. The team mission is: “Providing a collaborative system to prepare and promote a healthy environment for children birth to age 3 and their families.”
Through this strategy, professionals and families working with children in foster care receive training and other professional development opportunities that they would not be able to access since infant and toddler mental health trainings are not available in the region.
The Mohave County Court Team Steering Committee meets every other month to streamline processes and strengthen relationships within the court system. In State Fiscal Year 2019 (SFY19), the Court Team provided training to 633 individuals on various topics including trauma-informed care, infant and toddler development, parental substance abuse, prevention measures and infant and toddler mental health. The Court Team has established connections and provided trainings specific to the communities of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, Colorado City and the La Paz County Court.
Maricopa Regions
Maricopa County Juvenile Court, the Court Team grantee, continues to see improved outcomes for children birth to age 3 and their families involved in the court system. Four Court Team judges received specialized training on the 12 components of the Court Team model and the implementation in Maricopa County and are now mentoring other judicial officers on the Court Teams approach. Two navigators refer families to services and assure coordination of communication among service providers by engaging with families through their involvement in the Family Treatment Court and DCS systems, thereby improving the number served and timeliness of referrals for families. Thirty-eight therapists/supervisors from eight behavioral health agencies received training and are now providing child-parent psychotherapy. Professionals who serve families involved in the court system meet to receive training, increase their understanding of services and systems and address barriers to services for families.
Find more details about strategies related to Family Support in the FTF Strategy Toolkit.