In 2006, The Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP), a grassroots parents’ support and advocacy organization, piloted the use of life-experienced parent advocates as community representatives participating in family team conferences convened by New York City’s public child welfare agency Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in situations where protective removal of a child was being considered. Since 2007, CWOP and ACS have agreed (through a memorandum of understanding) that whenever ACS is considering the protective removal of an East Harlem child, ACS will first contact CWOP and invite a community representative to a family “Child Safety Conference.”
A June 2012 evaluation of the East Harlem Child Safety Conference project by the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections revealed a 36 percent or better difference in the foster care placement rate between East Harlem and the comparison site, Central Harlem (where CWOP is not present in Child Safety Conferences). The study also confirmed and revealed high levels of satisfaction with the Child Safety Conferences from parents, parent advocates, and ACS child protective personnel. As a result of the success, the initiative has received a recommendation for citywide implementation.
Child Welfare Organizing Project
