People Helping People
Many child welfare workers are talking about the shifting roles of professionals and the need to mobilize the existing strengths of neighborhood residents toward self-help, mutual aid, and mutual support.
What is "People Helping People"?
This tool describes a natural helper/professional partnership system in Tacoma, Washington. Teams provide individualized help for families who self-refer, or who are referred by Child Protective Services. The teams also recruit foster families in high-risk communities and identify others who wish to provide families and children with a fabric of neighborhood support. The system is a neighborhood approach to drug abuse that works by enhancing motivation, developing new daily routines, and preventing relapse. The tool describes the vision, the hopes and dreams, and successes of this group as well as the barriers, problems, and "things we wish we had known."
How was this tool applied in Family to Family?
Knowledge gained from the People Helping People program has been used in hiring staff for blended child welfare/drug treatment approaches, defining roles for paraprofessionals, providing staff support, and self-evaluation.
What did we learn from these applications?
Neighborhood residents, if given support, will design a human services approach that doesn't fit any of the current categories of service delivery and funding, but does show promise in filling the needs of vulnerable families. Natural helpers possess a wide range of skills. When they work with each other and with professionals, they can offer a holistic, individualized approach that reduces fragmentation and increases families' abilities to help themselves after formal services end.
What you need to get started:
Those interested in exploring a natural helper/professional partnership, or in enhancing one already developed, can order this tool and discuss their reactions to it.
What you need for full implementation:
A structured workshop designed to help these programs fit individual neighborhoods and natural helper/professional partners is available. Visits to the site in Tacoma are also possible.
How to find out more:
resources, examples, references:
The tool can be ordered from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Consultants available to answer questions or lead initial discussions include Jill Kinney 253.927.7547, Margaret Trent 253.274.9732, and Kathy Strand 253.627.3533.