Most Recent Pubs On-line
(when pdf format is indicated, free acrobat reader required)

Family Driven Care:Are We There Yet? A Road Map for System Transformation for Family Members, Educators, and Mental Health Professionals
The guide, written by Albert Duchnowski and Krista Kutash, is targeted to family members and middle level administrators in the education and mental health systems. Available here (50 pages, 800KB).

The Youth Suicide Prevention School-Based Guide Now On-line
As part of Florida’s goal to decrease the incidence of teen suicide by one third, CFS staff develop prevention guide for Florida's schools.

DCF District 13 Training Manual Now On-Line
In order to allow employees to enhance their job knowledge, skills, and abilities, a mentorship program has recently been introduced in the District 13 Department of Children and Families (DCF). CFS staff members Mary Ann Kershaw and Bill Leader helped to develop the training manual.

Monograph: Crafting Logic Models for Systems of Care: Ideas Into Action The monograph, which is available at no charge, is designed to provide a guide for communities engaged in developing systems of care. It provides a straight-forward method that system stakeholders can use to turn their ideas into tangible action-oriented strategies for achieving their goals for system development.

Creating Change and Keeping it Real: How excellent child-serving organizations carry out their goals
Cross-Site Findings for Phase I of Community Based Theories of Change (in PDF) by Sharon Hodges, Mario Hernandez,Teresa Nesman &
Lodi Lipien (December 2002)
Community-Based Theories of Change is a national study
funded by the federal Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS-SAMHSA) and National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research that is designed to address how human service organizations carry out their mission and goals, how they transfer their policy agendas across stakeholders, and how they sustain their service strategies over time. This report summarizes the cross-site findings of Community-Based Theories of Change and presents lessons learned across the three participating sites in 2002.

CFS Completes Ninth Evaluation for Pinellas County's Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative The report, "Evaluation of the Early Childhood Consultation Services & Partnership Programs", describes the Early Childhood Consultation Services and Partnership Programs, funded by the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative grant to Pinellas County, Florida.

Special Issue on Children’s Mental Health Policy Guest Edited by CFS's Mario Hernandez Guest edited by Department of Child and Family Studies’ faculty member Mario Hernandez, this issue addresses the impact of values and principles inherent in the systems of care (SOC) approach on formation of national child mental health policy.

Promising Approaches Series Provides Resources for States and Communities as They Refine Managed-Care Systems to Better Serve Children and Families Drawing on the Health Care Reform Tracking Project (HCRTP) findings to date, a series of papers highlights relevant issues and approaches that have surfaced through the HCRTP’s all-state surveys and in-depth impact analyses in a smaller sample of 18 states. [Overview]

CFS Staff Angela Gomez and Kathy Lazear Contribute to National Bulletin on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health. The Fall issue of Focal Point, published quarterly by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health at Portland State University, features articles on cultural competence in systems of care. Gomez’s article, Measuring the Cultural Pulse of Service Providers, profiles the System of Care Practice Review (SOCPR), used to capture the experiences of children and families in their interactions with the System of Care. Lazear’s article, Natural Helpers from the Neighborhood, describes EQUIPO, a neighborhood-based organization in East Little Havana, which uses a team of community residents (called madrinas and padrinos) and professionals, trained together to provide a range of neighborhood services. Focal Point can be downloaded at http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFocalPoint.shtml.

CFS staff complete final report on study: Mental Health Care for Child Welfare Clients. Available here [pdf] The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) contracted with CFS staff to complete clinical case studies on currently open Department of Children and Families (DCF) foster care cases in the SunCoast region. The study focused on twenty-one youth ages 10-17 years old who have been in their foster care placement for at least six months, have undergone termination of parental rights (TPR), and are medicaid enrolled. Findings include descriptive data on the demographic characteristics of the participants, clinical assessment of mental health functioning and psychological distress among the youth, and additional information representative of the challenges and successes in meeting the behavioral health needs of children in foster care.

Welfare Reform: Adolescent Girls in Transition CFS staff complete study on adolescent girls whose mothers are in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program. Available here [pdf] This recent study looked at girls ages 14-18 to determine which factors make a difference in the lives of girls moving in a positive direction toward adulthood from those girls facing more serious challenges.

A look at early childhood mental health services in Florida: New report provides preliminary overview of Florida’s mental health service system for young children with social, emotional and behavioral problems. Available here [pdf] With funding provided by the Agency for Healthcare Administration to identify emerging best practices and effective model programs, CFS staff developed and implemented a study which looked at the Medicaid-funded mental health services to young children ages 0-5. The report, Infant and Toddler Medicaid-Funded Mental Health Services, reveals findings and provides recommendations for maximizing the quality, effectiveness, and delivery of early childhood mental health services in Florida.

Evaluation of the Florida Department of Children and Families Community-Based Care Initiative in Manatee, Sarasota, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties: Final Report on Fiscal Year 2001-2002 Full Report Available here [pdf] [Report Highlights 4 pages pdf] This report provides answers to the question "Is Community-Based Care an effective child protection system?" The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) contracted with CFS to conduct an evaluation of the four counties in which Community-Based Care - privatization - was operational in 2000-2001.

Natural Helper and Professional Partnership in Children's Mental Health: Lessons from the Equipo del Barrio at Abriendo Puertas, Inc. (September 2001) This report draws on the experience of one of the neighborhood-based initiatives supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Mental Health Initiative for Urban Children - the Abriendo Puertas, Inc., a neighborhood-based system of care in Miami, Florida - to extract "lessons learned" about developing, nurturing and sustaining natural helper and professional partnerships. Available here [pdf].

Reports from the Evaluation of the Safe Schools Healthy Students Initiative in Pinellas County Florida In an effort to make schools safer and help protect students from violent behavior and drug & alcohol use, the Clinton Administration allocated $100 million in grants to 54 communities. The goal of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative (SS/HSI) was to link school systems with community-based services and prevention activities in a community-wide approach to violence prevention and healthy child development. Pinellas County, Florida was awarded 2.5 million in grant monies over three years.The Department of Child and Family Studies designed and implemented a multi-method, comprehensive evaluation strategy for the diverse set of programs funded through this initiative; reports to date are available in pdf format.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Family Impact Study Full Report and Executive Summary [pdf] Now Online!

The SSI Family Impact Study examines how families in selected communities experienced changes in eligibility for SSI benefits for their children with serious emotional disturbances.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Recommendations for Improvement by State Mental Health Commissions by Robert M. Friedman, Ph.D. [pdf]

During the years of 1997-2001, Florida was selected as one of 13 states to conduct a review of the state’s mental health and substance abuse system. CFS’s Dr. Robert M. Friedman, who served as Florida’s Co-chair of the children’s mental health workgroup, recently identified and summarized themes that appeared most consistently in all reports in the area of children and adolescents, and their families. Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Recommendations for Improvement by State Mental Health Commissions can be viewed on line, or for additional information, Dr. Friedman can be reached at friedman@fmhi.usf.edu.

A Conceptual Framework for Developing and Implementing Effective Policy in Children's Mental Health [pdf] by Robert M. Friedman, Ph.D.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework, based on the best available research, to guide thinking about the relationship between policy development, policy implementation, systems of care, and outcomes in children's mental health.

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For the Most Current Research

Published within CFS, Data Trends provides weekly updates and summaries of current research in children's mental health. [bookmark the Data Trends Home Page]

Recent Releases by CFS Researchers

Hernandez, M. (Ed.). (2003). Children’s Mental Health Policy [Special issue]. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders 11(1). [read overview]

Clark, Hewitt B., Belkin, Marlo Troi, Obradovich, Letti D., Casey, Richard E., Gagnon, Robert, Caproni, Peter, & Deschênes, Nicole (2002). Transition from school to community: navigating rough waters. In Lane, Kathleen L., Gresham, Frank M., & O’Shaughnessy, Tam E. (Eds) (2002). Interventions for children who are at risk for emotional disorders. (pp. 299-315). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. [chapter on-line in pdf format]

Evans, Mary E., & Armstrong, Mary I. (2002). What is case management? In B.J. Burns, & K. Hoagwood (Eds) (2002). Community treatment for youth: evidence-based interventions for severe emotional and behavioral disorders (pp 41-68). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Duchnowski, A.J. Kutash, K. & Friedman, R.M. (2002). Community-based interventions in a System of Care and outcomes framework. In B.J. Burns, & K. Hoagwood, (Eds) (2002). Community treatment for youth: evidence-based interventions for severe emotional and behavioral disorders (pp 16-37). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

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Information for Families
Building Bridges resource guide for professionals working with children with disabilities [pdf]

Adoption Companion: A Guide for Adoptive Families [pdf]

The Center for Autism and Related Disabilities [tip sheets in English and Spanish and annual reports]

Services That Your Children Can Receive in Florida [PDF File--acrobat reader required]

The Florida Center for Parent Involvement Parent Resource Guide [tip sheets in Spanish & English]

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Evaluation Reports

The National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program: A Commentary by Robert M. Friedman and Mario Hernandez
Drs. Friedman and Hernandez review four articles in the American Psychological Association's Journal for the Division of Children, Youth, and Family Services that discuss the evaluation of the program which was implemented in 1993 to encourage the development of community-based systems of care for children and adolescents with a serious emotional disturbance and their families.

The commentary focuses on 4 major themes: (1) the complexity of community-based systems of care and the special challenge that this presents for the evaluation; (2) the need for theories of change for systems of care to be more clearly developed and defined; (3) the implications of the diversity of the population served for the development of interventions and for the application of interventions that have been tested on other populations; and, (4) the strategies for conducting evaluations, given the constraints that exist in large evaluations of community-wide interventions. This journal is available on-line to subscribing individuals or institutions, at: http://www.catchword.com/erlbaum/10939644/v5n1/contp1-1.htm, or to request reprints, contact author Robert Friedman.

Annie E. Casey Mental Health Initiative for Urban Children (MHI) Evaluation Reports.
After five years of implementation and a sixth year dedicated to finalizing evaluation findings, the MHI evaluation team published its final evaluation summary reports in a four-series publication. These reports describe the implementation of the Annie E. Casey Initiative, its evaluation findings and the lessons learned from implementation in Boston, Massachusetts; Houston, Texas; Miami, Florida; and Richmond, Virginia.

Florida Youth Suicide Prevention Study: A Report to the Legislature [pdf] This report details Florida's success in implementing services to reduce the prevelance of suicide among the state's young people.

A Profile of Children in Florida’s Child Protection System--Fiscal Year 1999-00 [545 kb pdf]
This report reflects a continued partnership between the Consortium for Child Welfare Studies at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI; University of South Florida) and the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) to conduct analyses of Florida’s administrative child protection data. The report examines four of the primary service areas that make-up the Office of Family Safety: Protective Investigations, Protective Supervision, Foster Care, and Adoptive Home Placements. These four service areas are organized in the report by (a) Children Entering the Child Protection System, (b) Maltreated Children, (c) Children Entering Service, (d) Children’s Length of Stay in Service, and (e) Children Exiting Service.

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Collections

The Consortium on Child Welfare Studies is comprised of CFS investigators with a commitment to building community partnerships and engaging in projects which bridge mental health and child welfare systems of care. Visit their website forrecent publications reflecting their work.

Journals Edited by CFS Faculty
Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research [jbhsr home]

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions [jpbi home]

Event Proceedings
On-line: Proceedings from the Annual Research Conference: A System of Care for Children's Mental Health, Expanding the Research Base