Why VPRC is Important to Vermont Families
VPRC was founded by a group of child welfare parents and professionals who share decades of experience with the current child protection system. It operates based on the following beliefs.
Children involved in the child protection system in Vermont, as in other states, experience trauma when removed from their homes. Also, too often, they linger in foster care for years, encounter multiple moves while in foster care, and must cope with poor well-being outcomes as adults. Despite substantial federal funding for children in foster care, child protection systems across the nation have been unable to provide an effective response to child abuse and neglect.
Proficient legal representation for parents involved in the child protection system is best accompanied by social work services and peer support from the very beginning of the parents' involvement. This results in the essential development of trust that is necessary for these parents to be able to learn how to safely look after their children. This, in turn, protects children from being subjected to the trauma of removal from their homes and the uncertainty of placement in foster care.
Vermont, like most jurisdictions around the nation, has lacked such comprehensive legal representation. Parents are represented by lawyers under contract with the Public Defender. These lawyers, mostly solo practitioners, are not appointed until a petition is filed in court, and they are not able to dedicate enough of their time to be able to represent parents as they need to be represented; they receive low compensation; they have little institutional support and supervision; and they do not have the benefit of collaborative social services.
In contrast, the state is represented by institutional practitioners who receive competitive salaries, benefits, supervision, and Family Services input.
OUR PROGRAM MODEL
Service collaboration and client/service provider relationships are the keys to success for our program model of service provision for parents. Multidisciplinary teamwork and trusting relationships create the opportunities that allow parents to learn to make the changes necessary for their children to be able to remain safely in their homes.
VPRC's Family Intervention Team (FIT) members--including an attorney, a social worker, and a peer navigator (a parent who has had direct experience with the child protection/foster care system)--represent and support parents at risk of experiencing the placement of their children into state custody and out-of-home care. To prevent a petition from being filed in court (either Family or Probate), VPRC works with parents to address the issues that threaten their children's safety. The legal representation and the social work, both family-centered and presented from a strengths perspective, continue as long as the parents need assistance.
Two other established programs, Center for Family Representation in New York City and Detroit Center for Family Advocacy, continue to demonstrate the benefits of this program model for families. VPRC is its first rural application.
VPRC recognizes the value of performance and client outcome analysis, and we are committed to working with both our clients and our community partners to identify what works best and how we can continue to improve our services. Based on our first year of operation, we are beginning to understand the case patterns which are proving to be most effective.