I’m up for talking – in human services, it’s what we do. What will be strange is talking in this format.
But I can do this, because I’ve been a part of the committee and it’s been great work. From a private agency viewpoint, this partnership gives us the opportunity to become part of an incredible journey that will create a new culture in child welfare. Public and private agencies have been working together for many years, but building a formal partnership that commits stakeholders to something that will benefit everyone in the end – that’s just good practice.
I’ll be talking about the work we’ve done and the work we’ll keep doing. And I can’t wait to see what turns we take along the way!
-Chris
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
From the public agency perspective...
The first thing I thought when I was asked to co-author this blog was, “Why? Who wants to read it?”
I have been assured that I have something to offer, and as I think about it, I guess I do talk about what we’re doing every day – I just don’t put a label on it.
At DHS, we’re used to talking a lot about compliance. The people I work with are genuinely concerned about the welfare of kids and families, and we need guidelines – formal and informal, that provide the best results for kids and families.
Since the creation of CWPC, there’s more conversation about how those guidelines help or hinder the shared goals of public and private agencies. There’s more conversation about how an agency could best work within overall expectations and how many options we can look at to meet everyone’s needs. There’s just more conversation. Conversations with more people. We have more ideas, more evaluation, more questions asked. More information to make better decisions.
I’ll be talking about those conversations, and about the experiences I have that lead me through this journey.
-Wendy
I have been assured that I have something to offer, and as I think about it, I guess I do talk about what we’re doing every day – I just don’t put a label on it.
At DHS, we’re used to talking a lot about compliance. The people I work with are genuinely concerned about the welfare of kids and families, and we need guidelines – formal and informal, that provide the best results for kids and families.
Since the creation of CWPC, there’s more conversation about how those guidelines help or hinder the shared goals of public and private agencies. There’s more conversation about how an agency could best work within overall expectations and how many options we can look at to meet everyone’s needs. There’s just more conversation. Conversations with more people. We have more ideas, more evaluation, more questions asked. More information to make better decisions.
I’ll be talking about those conversations, and about the experiences I have that lead me through this journey.
-Wendy
Monday, November 16, 2009
Introducing a blog about…a journey.
A journey can take you many places you never dreamed you’d go. You can start at Point A, expecting to end at Point B, but you eventually discover Points C, D, J, and L were the most important legs of your journey.
In Iowa, we’ve embarked on a journey of partnership. We left behind our historical culture of separate entities working independently and are finding our way down a path of collaboration. With a shared destination guiding us, we are discovering how we can help each other find the best way. We are evolving beyond our roles and focusing instead on our shared outcomes.
Simply put, the journey is collaboration, communication and problem solving. It’s partnering with people around you. But it’s not always so easy to put into practice.
That’s why the Child Welfare Partners Committee (CWPC) was created. We all know we need to collaborate, but the day-to-day realities of our jobs can make collaboration a luxury.
In Iowa, families and children are a priority, so the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) and private human services agencies committed to create a unified approach to delivering child welfare services – the CWPC.
Two representatives from this committee – one from DHS and one from a private agency, will share their experiences of shared accountability, a commitment to collaboration and how it translates into better results for Iowa’s kids and families. Wendy and Chris will share what this partnership looks like as it blossoms into a fruitful environment for child welfare services.
In Iowa, we’ve embarked on a journey of partnership. We left behind our historical culture of separate entities working independently and are finding our way down a path of collaboration. With a shared destination guiding us, we are discovering how we can help each other find the best way. We are evolving beyond our roles and focusing instead on our shared outcomes.
Simply put, the journey is collaboration, communication and problem solving. It’s partnering with people around you. But it’s not always so easy to put into practice.
That’s why the Child Welfare Partners Committee (CWPC) was created. We all know we need to collaborate, but the day-to-day realities of our jobs can make collaboration a luxury.
In Iowa, families and children are a priority, so the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) and private human services agencies committed to create a unified approach to delivering child welfare services – the CWPC.
Two representatives from this committee – one from DHS and one from a private agency, will share their experiences of shared accountability, a commitment to collaboration and how it translates into better results for Iowa’s kids and families. Wendy and Chris will share what this partnership looks like as it blossoms into a fruitful environment for child welfare services.
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