Executive Director’s Corner - November 2022
Since our last newsletter EPIC `Ohana has been busy with some very exciting projects and programs. In the next few paragraphs I will share some of the highlights.
`Ohana Conferencing, in partnership with Child Welfare Services and Lili`uokalani Trust has developed the Two Makua Meeting to bring together birth parents and resource caregivers (foster parents) within the first few days of placement. These meetings, sometimes called “icebreaker meetings” or similar to what was called “Project First Care” are designed to help build relationships and, most important, to ease the trauma of placement for the children.
Youth Circles now has a fully automated transition plan document and an updated evaluation form. These things didn’t just happen in the last few months, but they were established as goals and with hard work and perseverance, both are accomplished.
Family Finding and Connections enjoyed a wonderful visit with Kevin Campbell, our friend and originator of the family finding model. Recently they met for the first in-person team retreat at Wilma’s house since the pandemic.
HI HOPES and our Pono Process Program hosted a “hackathon” with the family court in September to design ways to better engage youth in their own case planning and to help youth plan and understand permanency. We are also talking with CWS and the Spaulding Foundation about funding a project that improves engagement with youth, especially in conversations about permanency.
HI HOPES is planning an in-person sibling connections event in December and an in-person summit on the Big Island in January.
Family Wrap Hawai`i went from a team with just a handful of people, to a team of more than 20 people over the last three years. A good part of this growth has been with youth and parent partners. In this newsletter you see a little bit more about the Makua Allies program that is working with pregnant mothers. We also just finished a “train the trainer” workshop with the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance and the Birth Parent National Network for a program called “Better Together.” Trainers from New Hampshire came to train our parent partners, resource caregivers and service providers to, in turn, train others to communicate better and build stronger working relationships. The training is inspiring and very promising for the future.
Our Youth Partners are now engaged in a strategic planning process. Recently they received a grant from the Stupski Foundation to help youth transitioning from foster care, or who have experienced the juvenile justice system or houselessness to achieve post-secondary education success.
Our network Nā Kama a Hāloa had a network session last week at the brand-new Lydia’s house in downtown Honolulu. The network is striving to build a collaboration across more than 30 organizations and individuals to improve outcomes for native Hawaiian children in the child welfare system. Lydia’s house is a beautiful building complex that will eventually provide housing for houseless or transitioning youth while also providing services and safety. Our partner Lili`uokalani Trust is renovating the complex and it was the perfect place to talk about and plan for the wellbeing of native Hawaiian families and children.
A product of the Nā Kama network is a cultural training for new social workers that is now a part of the onboarding of every new social worker. We also incorporated the training for all of our EPIC staff. Nā Kama’s partnership with Kamehameha Schools has also led to a 6 part training called Ho`oa`a, which provides a deeper dive into understanding how to integrate native Hawaiian culture and values into the work we do every day. We just had the second session of the program.
And these are only a FEW highlights! Thank each and every one of you for your partnership and your support. As we move into gratitude month, we know we have SO much to be grateful for.
Mahalo
Laurie
