An Update on Education Services
By Bernadette Gallagher

Education Services Update

The following are some of the many projects that are keeping the department busy. Each undertaking is driven by the goal of transforming knowledge into skills to provide the necessary competencies for child welfare professionals, managers and resource families to make critical decisions about child safety and simultaneously working alongside families towards better outcomes for children.

Research and Development

Curricula Pilots

OACAS has developed a new approach to writing, testing and engaging the field in course development, which is designed to maximize learning potential and relevancy. Two examples of this are the adoption and children‘s service worker courses. Both of these courses have been offered to the field and very specific feedback was sought in terms of content, flow and relevancy to the field. Through the valuable evaluations of the participants, we are now enhancing the original structure. OACAS would like to thank those who were involved in the projects and anticipate the passion for this specialized work is transparent. OACAS anticipates offering these courses in coming months.

New Staff

It is with great pleasure that I am announcing Marlon Merraro as the new Manager of Agency Based Training Support in Education Services. In Marlon‘s previous position, he was the Director of Education and Community Development at Learning Matters Consulting Group, an organization that works with non-profit and private sector organizations. Marlon has over 20 years experience working with diverse communities and organizations across Toronto in regards to training, strategic planning processes, advocacy, program development/evaluation, best practices, staff and organizational training, establishing effective partnerships and policy development. He has worked within the child welfare, education and justice systems spearheading a number of innovative programs that enable youth, families and communities to play a meaningful role in the health and development of their neighborhoods or organizations. Marlon is a well-recognized facilitator and city builder with a clear focus on poverty reduction based on the board social determinants of health. Marlon was also previously employed as the Regional Manger at Toronto Community Housing and as a Community House Manager of Youth Services at St. Stephen‘s Community House. He has a long history of working with various community volunteer boards of directors that focus on families, youth and community development. Currently, Marlon is a board member of the Toronto Trade Board, Boundless Adventures, and a member of the City of Toronto Local Health Committee. Marlon has a Bachelor of Social Work Degree from Ryerson University, a Community Worker Diploma from George Brown College and a Schulich School of Business Emerging Leaders Certificate from York University. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Marlon to OACAS and I know Marlon will bring energy and vision to his new job duties.

PRIDE-Family Development Plan

"The Parenting Resources for Information, Development and Education (PRIDE) program is designed to strengthen the quality of family foster care and adoption services. This is accomplished by providing a standardized, consistent, structured framework for the competency-based recruitment, preparation and selection of foster parents and adoptive parents, and for foster parent in-service training and ongoing professional development" (CWLC).

Eighteen agencies participated in a research study to evaluate the value and appropriateness of the Family Development Plan as the annual evaluation of resource families. Both resource workers and families were asked to evaluate the utility of the Family Development Plan. There was a high rate of satisfaction among the participants about the tool as an indicator of competencies in

• Protecting and nurturing children
• Meeting children's developmental needs, and addressing developmental delays
• Supporting relationships between children and their families
• Connecting children to safe, nurturing relationships intended to last a lifetime
• Working as a member of a professional team.

There were, however, areas for improvement such as length of time to complete the tool. The original pilot agencies have agreed to pilot the tool again and have provided input into ways in which the document can be simplified.

Innovative Education Opportunities Woman Abuse Project

'Critical Connections - Where Woman Abuse and Child Safety Intersect‘

OACAS is proud to be leading a steering committee and working with a multi ministry, cross sector team to address the serious issue of woman abuse within the context of child welfare. The tasks of the committee are to:

1) Design a child welfare course concerning Woman abuse;
2) Write a practice guide; and
3) Host a symposium.

All three objectives have the following three-pronged response to the issue of women abuse including: child protection, woman safety and engagement of male partners. OACAS recognizes that woman abuse cannot be ameliorated solely through child protection services; this is but a small portion of the community work to be completed.

The Critical Connections Symposium March 9-10, 2010 aims to promote increased awareness of the impact of woman abuse as it relates to the safety and well-being of children and families; build and showcase collaborative programs and identify trends, new programs and research.

This event will feature internationally recognized keynote speakers, highlight collaborative programs in Ontario and launch an "ideas and practice guide" for service providers.

In Touch

Fire Safety Practice Notes

Education Services staff have a philosophy that education is not a one time event but rather a life- long learning process. To this end OACAS has continued its approach of sending supplementary resources to agency trainers and participants. Recently OACAS electronically distributed practice notes about fire safety given the highlighted dangers of child deaths as reported in this year‘s Report of the Paediatric Death Review Committee and Deaths Under Five Committee. The practice notes are written to decrease the number of preventable child deaths through education.

Participant Contact

Education Services receives evaluation forms after each class and would like to thank everyone who completes the forms. All of this information assists with continuous improvement to the program. OACAS will be extending this contact one step further and initiating customer service calls to individuals who take training after January 2010. The purpose of the calls is to open two way dialogue about the strengths and areas of improvement for the child welfare training program.

Previous article: Practice Notes - Fire Safety