Program Snapshot

Learn the fundamentals of the California Core Practice Model and why it’s important. Understand how the CPM is implemented in your new county and develop a basic plan for next steps. This module closes with a self assessment and drafting of a professional development plan that will be used during the course of the program.

Delve deeper into the organizational culture and climate of your agency and gain an understanding of organizational assessments and how one might or might not benefit your work. Review your agency’s outcome data and the framework for making decisions for quality improvement.

Understand different leadership types and assess what type is most needed in your organization and if possible in what circumstances. Special focus is on Adaptive Leadership capacity development due to the critical role it plays in public child welfare. Review and refinement of professional development plan from Module One is a key activity.

Understand the landscape of both statewide and regional meetings, their relevance to the CW Director role and how they relate to each other. Identify and begin outreach to those entities to ensure appropriate participation.

Understand the importance of key Partnerships between public and private systems-local, regional, statewide, national.

Understand all the applicable codes that are the regulatory framework for public child welfare in California. Key learning activity is developing internal strategies to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal policies that guide the implementation of child welfare.

Understanding of federal, state and local funding streams are key to the delivery services to children and families. This module provides useful resources for the new director to use to better understand all funding streams in child welfare and strategies and fiscal tools for leveraging, budgeting and developing funding to the benefit of children and families.

There is growing evidence that the improvement of any service or intervention is directly tied to how it is implemented. This module will provide useful resources and coaching in how to apply implementation principles to the inevitable policy, fiscal, program and practice changes in the future. Various implementation tools are reviewed and provided.

Understanding the key drivers of good selection, onboarding, practice development and retention strategies is necessary to build a competent workforce in public child welfare. Develop and understand the landscape of training and education partnerships.