The Fog will not be Mist

The days here fly by in a whirl of meetings which somehow manage to run on time through the day- (public transport in the UK could learn a lot). Luckily, the relentless rounds of meetings have meant that in a short time, I’ve met a lot of people, and been party to discussions on many key issues around legislation, policy development, programme implementation, and of course funding.

Yesterday began with a Senior Leadership Team Briefing, followed by a meeting of the co investment partnership, hosted by the California Association of Welfare Directors. The partnership brings together large philanthropic organisatons, with partners in the state and counties to discuss key issues and through collaboration deliver improved outcomes. Last week, ended with attendance at a pre hearing committee on CalWorks, the state administered welfare programme, and today I sat in on an interview between the Deputy Director and a journalist wanting to know about the states response to Child sexual exploitation. It’s brilliantly relentless.

The initial fog and shock of being in California, is now thankfully subsiding. Turning up to work on the other side of the Atlantic, shadowing senior policymakers in one of the largest state departments in the world is incredibly exciting, but also very daunting on your own. But now, faces are familiar, issues are becoming familiar, I’m a bona fide member of the floor coffee club, and I am slowly putting into context the things I am learning, listening to, and even occasionally contributing to.

It is very clear, that the Californian system, has inherent similarities with our own, which means that in how they seek to tackle the issues that I am researching, it’s easy to understand structures, decisions and follow funding flows. The premise, as you would expect here in the staunchest Democratic state, is that the state has a role in developing new solutions and safeguards to support vulnerable children and their families, and it is no mistake that the concept ‘Child welfare’ is the one that defines state and county departments here.

There is a much stronger focus on reunification, and ‘kinship’ care here, and there are significant pieces of work underway within the umbrella of ‘Continuum of Care Reform’ to reframe the current statutory and policy landscape to ensure children are diverted from ‘group homes’ to more appropriate foster placements, where they can receive the relevant services in a home setting to ‘ensure services and supports provided to the child or youth and his or her family are tailored towards the ultimate goal of maintaining a stable permanent family’.

Of course none of the language is the same, so my brain is replacing the familiar concepts of the RSG, Elected members, Councils, Inspection and Regulation with the American counterparts of realignment, Prop 30, counties and licensing. In addition there is a whole raft of legislation, policy and programmes that operates within a world of acronyms, so I’ve learnt about the CCR, the TANF, CFSR, IHSS etc. There is now usually a kindly person who will look at my confused face and spell out what it means. Unfortunately I think the total brain fog was to blame when I insisted on speaking Spanish, to an Italian man, in an Irish bar last night- or at least that’s my excuse and that’s another story.

But now, with the fog clearing, it means that I am very quickly building a new knowledge base, and already have a number of ‘asks’ from welsh leaders, to ‘fact find on some key areas. Equally I have shared information on some of our key programmers that integrate services, such as Integrated Family Support Teams and Multi Agency Safeguarding Hubs.

For my Fellowship, I have now established two very clear aspects of research that will underpin my final report. The first is an understanding of how their legislative and policy system works, partly because it satisfies the inner policy wonk in me, but primarily because it is these mechanics that drive system responses to providing support to children and their families. The second, is to really to dig deep into the ‘Continuum of Care Reforms’ to see how they are realigning services, re writing statute and working with partners to drive forward one of the largest reforms to child welfare in California, and which ‘represents a significant shift in child welfare practice’.

I am feeling more like I have at least one foot on the ground, and an emerging sense of how they do things, why they are doing them, and what this looks like from both a policy and practice point of view. In fact, I am feeling brave enough to begin to consider the structure of my report, and the growing list of people for whom I shall be buying coffee in return for their time and knowledge. That initial heavy, and scary fog, has now dissipated and I am enjoying being here and learning, the fog, shall not be missed!!