Nurturing

Hillsides was recently selected by a local artist, Greg Marquez, as the recipient of a dramatic sculpture entitled "Nurturing." The piece is a bronze relief of driftwood that has been carved in such a way as to feature the intimate intertwines of the sinews of a single piece of wood. The artist exposes the natural movement of the wood to form a strong and durable union that reflects the nurturing nature of intertwines.

Given the services we offer, Marquez chose Hillsides for this permanent installation as a way of providing an artistic metaphor about who we are as an organization. Based on a freestanding pedestal, it allows the viewer to see it from various angles, each depicting the interdependence of the driftwood elements to form one strong piece. It stands just outside of the entrance to the administration building on campus as a welcome to visitors and as a statement of our mission to heal and nurture all we serve.

All of us are dependent on relationships that sustain and nurture. We experience these relationships within our families and communities and they are essential to our well-being. For the children, youth, and families in need who we serve, the support and care they receive from Hillsides is critical and makes all the difference to their success. Our reliance on one another reinforces the interdependent nature of the human experience. We need one another!

This statement of interdependence contrasts to the current debate generated by the failure of the initiation of the Affordable Care Act. All that is being said seems to be void of any reference to why this situation is truly alarming. For those who looked to this initiative to assure affordable healthcare, it represents a long awaited access to services that are essential for long-term well-being. We may argue the specific strategies employed to access affordable healthcare, but for the most vulnerable like the children and families we serve the political posturing and bureaucratic incompetence is of no comfort. The reliance on some reasonable system of healthcare is a reminder of how interdependent we are and how essential it us for us to strengthen nurturing bonds that ultimately sustain us in spite of organizational ineptness.

Tomorrow is Halloween, Thanksgiving is less than a month away and soon the great winter holidays will be upon us. This is a season of giving in which the nurturing ties that sustain are celebrated. For us at Hillsides, this is a time when we are reminded of how dependent we are on our donor community to help us reach out to all those we serve, both in our Residential Treatment Services program and through our various community-based services. Through your support and generosity we are able to tangibly demonstrate that we can count on one another to nurture and care for all those we serve.

We are grateful to the artist Greg Marquez whose "Nurturing" reminds us of how essential we are to one another. Learn more about the artist’s interpretation of the sculpture.

We are also grateful to all who faithfully support us and ask that as you put away your Halloween paraphernalia and prepare for the holiday season that you consider supporting our efforts at this time of year to nurture and care for all those we serve. For more information on how you can help go to www.hillsides.org.

Still shooting

On December 14, the nation will mark the year anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut. Twenty children and six adults were killed that day in a senseless act of violence. Almost a year later the violence continues with news of a middle school teacher gunned down in Sparks, Nevada shielding his students from a gun wielding classmate. This is not the only time in the last year when there have been reports of gun-related violence in schools.

Regardless of your position on gun control, everyone is asking why this increase in violence and how can we stop this from occurring. Together as communities we should address how to assure that children are kept safe especially in schools and that teachers and school personnel not worry about their security.

The answer is not to arm our teachers or turn schools into fortresses, but rather to create communities that are attentive and responsive to the needs of our children and families. One of the things that we have begun to do at Hillsides is to sensitize all our staff to the role trauma has to play in the lives of the children and families we serve. For many of them they have experienced a great deal of violence not only because of physical threats but also emotional abuse. A word, a gesture or a tone of violence can trigger memories that revisit a traumatic event and prompt an otherwise irrational response.  

We have learnt that without this kind of heightened sensitivity we run the risk of retraumatizing children who are already in vulnerable emotional states. These episodes of post traumatic stress have the ability to destabilize a child and further jeopardize the child’s well-being. It is in this kind of situation that violent outbursts can occur, contributing to a cycle of behavior that is challenging to stop.

An approach to care that is sensitive to the trauma that has been experienced can effectively reduce episodes of post traumatic stress. More importantly, the approach by staff exposes the child and family to an environment that is attentive, supportive and responsive. With in this kind of environment difficult issues can be addressed, solutions can be identified, healthy strategies pursued, and hopefully violence averted.

This is not the only thing that can be done to address a pervasive violent culture, but it certainly is something that can be introduced into all our schools. A trauma-sensitive approach can have a lasting impact not only on our students and their families but also affect our ability to support communities responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable. With any luck it could also be a strategy that contributes to stopping the senseless violence that has become all too pervasive. 

Lifetime achievement

Each year we celebrate those individuals who have helped us make a significant impact on the lives of all we serve. This year among the many individuals that we will honor at the annual Circle of Excellence Awards there is one whose accomplishments are especially noteworthy. Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award this year is Susanne Crummey, the long time Associate Executive Director, who after 43 years of service is retiring at the end of November.

For many of our staff the thought of working at one place for such a long time is almost inconceivable. Today we are all accustomed to a certain amount of mobility and job diversity. It seems foreign to consider remaining loyal to any one place, institution or even profession. All the more reason for us to be grateful that in such an environment there are great people like Susanne, who in spite of her own ambition, professional career and personal responsibilities, has none the less made an extraordinary commitment to Hillsides. For Susanne, Hillsides is not a job but it is a community where she has had the privilege of being surrounded by like minded and dedicated people who are all focused on one thing--creating a lasting change for all those we serve.

It is within this context that Susanne has provided incredible direction and exemplary leadership that has helped Hillsides grow its capacity to provide indispensable services to increasingly more vulnerable children, youth, and their families. Rooted in a strong therapeutic approach and unquestionably committed to improving the lives of those in her care, she has been a coach, a mentor, a model, and a friend to all who would join with her in the creation of this therapeutic community that is Hillsides.

More than anything else Susanne has brought a very thorough approach to decision-making that engages all parties to seriously consider all the ramifications and always stay focused on the best interests of the child. This very intuitive and holistic way of fulfilling her day-to-day responsibilities has provided the organization with a steady and sure leader who will be sorely missed.

So what is Susanne’s legacy? There are too many achievements, too many individuals, too many initiatives to list. I suggest that her greatest legacy is the lives transformed by her in these 43 years. If this indeed is her legacy, then our testimonial must be lives of dedicated services modeled after such an extraordinary example.                                        

Susanne’s last day will be at the end of November. Between now and then we ask all who have been touched by her selfless and generous care to share with us the contribution that she has made to your life. You can make a comment on the blog or send an email to info@hillsides.org and some will be posted on Facebook. Others can share a remembrance via a Facebook post on Susanne.

 

Foster care failure

The most recent article in the Los Angeles Times series entitled, “The Child Mill,” exposed yet another failed organization that seemingly took advantage of the funding in the foster care system to benefit itself with little regard for the children entrusted to its care. The article revealed another frightening example of a system unable to safeguard children who are very vulnerable. To be fair, I’m sure there is another side to the story of the rise and fall of the Wings of Refuge foster care agency, but there are enough alarming details to certainly question its capacity to effectively provide foster care. If nothing else, the reference by its executive director to what she called, “professional foster children” is an indicator of an attitude toward these children that is not acceptable. 

That being said, the problem with these articles is that it paints a picture in very broad strokes, portraying many involved in providing foster care as either a group of ineffective, naïve, do-gooders at best or as a group of scheming, self absorbed, opportunists at worst. For the vast majority of providers of foster care services neither is true. Foster care is a highly regulated field of service that is essential to the child welfare system and, in most instances, is an indispensable resource to very vulnerable children and their families. It is also a relatively sophisticated system of care with clearly established standards of care and operations monitored strictly by both the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Community Care Licensing. So how can such blatant abuse occur?

As a provider of foster care services, I can attest to the multiple and redundant systems utilized to monitor the safety and well-being of those we serve. In addition, the county employs a legion of auditors who on a regular basis review all aspects of our operations and governance. As an institutional provider of foster care services, Hillsides is held accountable by such a rigorous system of checks and balances. How is it that organizations like Wings of Refuge were able to operate so poorly for so long without some intervention? Could it be that in an attempt to expedite and facilitate the recruitment and development of these desperately needed homes, the county relaxed its requirements? If so, then DCFS  needs to re-examine its policies since clearly the best interests of children have not been served by such facilitation.

What is the solution? Most recently, the Child Welfare Institute in Los Angeles has set out on an ambitious study of how best to recruit foster families. The institute has helped identify not only who are the ideal foster families, but how to be supportive of these extraordinary individuals and families who welcome into their homes children who otherwise would be deprived of a home like setting while separated from their families. The fact is that overall Los Angeles has been able to assemble a system of care that provides a fair amount of early intervention for families at risk of being separated and as a result, many families have the resources they need to stay together. However, for those families whose circumstances call for a period of separation, it is absolutely imperative that we are able to provide them with safe, reliable, and effective foster homes.

The solution lies not just with early intervention and an effective system of foster homes, but also an ability to tap into the tremendous resource available through organizations like Hillsides who are equipped to provide a very integrated array of services to the children and families, who after any number of interventions, still require a more intensive treatment program. The solution has to do with developing a full array of services that can best be tailored to address the considerable challenges these children and families confront. I would suggest that for some of these families using a more comprehensive initial assessment would lead to the development of more effective plans of treatment and hopefully reduce significantly the number of failed interventions that can have a very negative impact on both the child and family.

Although there are no simple solutions, the task is not as complicated as it may seem. There are many models both locally and nationally that would help identify effective strategies to address the needs of children served by the child welfare system. With any luck, the recently established Blue Ribbon Commission will be able to help sort these issues out and develop a plan of action that will help DCFS eliminate the child mill atrocities exposed by the Los Angeles Times.