I recently led a two-day training for one of the most exciting projects I have seen in our field.
Child protection mediation has been taking place since 2005. Pioneered in the 1990s by Justice June Maresca, and enabled by changes to the Child and Family Services Act in 2005, the process brings families in crisis and their supports together with the Children’s Aid Society to negotiate workable agreements that protect children at risk of harm.
But this form of mediation takes place after the case has entered the child protection system and steps have been taken that could crystallize a negative relationship between the Society and the parent/s, family and/or supporters. The wait time to access child protection mediation can be significant, resulting in lost opportunities, in the right cases, to make progress that is based on building trust at the earliest possible stages.
In Durham, a creative early-intervention pilot project has taken shape that could change the face of dispute resolution in the child protection context.
Led by Service Supervisor, Cheryl Jeffery, and built around the most contemporary thinking in child protection, a team of crack facilitators is working to collaboratively build safety and support for at-risk children and their families from the very first point of contact, before any formal CAS intervention has occurred.
Such an approach is based on the “Signs of Safety” approach to child protection, which is designed to work in collaboration with families to determine next steps, with the goal of maintaining the family together if at all possible.
Cheryl’s team includes CAS professionals with wide-ranging experience including intake workers and family support program workers.
I was immediately struck by the enthusiasm this group had for the training. I train many groups and rarely feel that every single person is 110% engaged.
I was also struck with the skill the facilitators demonstrated, showing me that those working on the front lines of child protection in Durham have the attitudes and skills of good mediators.
We spent our two days experimenting with different concepts for enhanced facilitation of circles that can include up to 20 people and can be highly charged emotionally. This group is working with all of the toughest challenges mediators face: lack of trust, negative past relationships, high conflict, domestic violence, limited resources, mental health and substance abuse challenges, and the possibility that the parties would consider the facilitators to be biased given their status as CAS employees.
Incredibly, the facilitators reported that they have almost universally been able to overcome most of these challenges already. And so our training focused on strategies to fine tune their already strong foundations.
In particular, we focused on techniques for handling the complexities of a circle process; tips for calming upset people so that they can hear others and focus better on problem-solving; strategies for identifying potential unidentified risk of domestic violence; and high-level reframing and questioning skills. We focused also on techniques to help move the facilitation along when it appears to bog down in emotion and overcome impasses arising from lack of trust.
Child protection cases are without question among the hardest to resolve to the satisfaction of all involved. It is clear to me that the approach being taken by Durham CAS to early facilitated intervention in protection matters is cutting edge in the field. I wish them great success and thank Cheryl for the opportunity to witness this progress.
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T E S T I M O N I A L:
On Jan. 7th and 8th 2016, we had the pleasure of being trained in “Strategies and Skills for Successful Facilitation”, delivered to us by Hilary Linton of Riverdale Mediation. We are currently in the process of developing the capacity to deliver internal Family Network Meetings for the purposes of enhancing our collaborative work with families, youth and children, their extended families and our community partners. Although we have had training in both Signs of Safety and Family Finding, we identified a further need to refine our facilitation and mediation skills to ensure our ability to lead these Family Network meetings to the very best of our ability.
Hilary’s two day training was exceptional in this regard. She was well prepared, informative and provided us with relevant information that we will be sure to make good use of moving forward. Hilary’s well researched and proven strategies were both practical and relevant to us. We were able to practice our new skills under her guidance and supervision which then allowed us the opportunity to internalize our new learning in a supportive environment. Hilary was quick to make an assessment of our learning needs and she was flexible in adjusting her curriculum accordingly. Her teaching style of calm confidence and willingness to support us in the best way possible encouraged our engagement in her training opportunity. I would highly recommend Hilary Linton to anyone who is seeking advanced training in facilitation skills.
– Cheryl Jeffery, Service Supervisor
Durham Children’s Aid Society
