The Oklahoma Pinnacle Plan - Oklahoma Department of Human ...

The Oklahoma Pinnacle Plan:
An Improvement Plan for Child Welfare Services
APPENDICES
March
2012
Because children in the Child Welfare System have a significantly higher likelihood than the general
population of experiencing multiple ACEs, the Oklahoma Child Welfare service community has actively
embraced the vision of Oklahoma becoming a Trauma Informed Child Welfare System. A Child Welfare System
that recognizes and responds to childhood trauma and provides services in a Trauma-Informed manner
allows individuals who are exposed to ACEs the opportunity to heal and change a trajectory that may
otherwise lead to long-term health and mental health problems as well as other social ills. A Trauma-
Informed Child Welfare System that addresses childhood trauma as early as possible can achieve better
overall outcomes, resulting increased Safety, Permanency, and Well-being.
A Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System is one in which all parties involved recognize and respond to
the varying impact of traumatic stress on children, caregivers and those who have contact with the
system. Programs and organizations within the system infuse this knowledge, awareness, and skills into
their organizational cultures, policies and practices. They act in collaboration, using the best available
science, to facilitate and support resiliency and recovery. iv
Oklahoma has embarked on a process to transform the child welfare system into a Trauma-Informed
System. The work in Oklahoma’s Child Welfare System is consistent with a national focus and initiatives
to identify and address childhood trauma within the Child Welfare System. It serves as an integral part
of delivering effective Child Welfare services and seeks to assure that those services have a positive
impact on children’s development and on families served. In August 2010, it was announced that the
Oklahoma Department of Human Services child welfare system was selected as a lab site for the
Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Project (CTISP), www.ctisp.org.
Goals
The goals of the CTISP and the goals of the Oklahoma Implementation Plan are the same. They are that
Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Systems will understand how:
child and family resiliency after trauma can be enhanced;
current and past trauma impacts the families with whom child service workers interact;
adult trauma interferes with adult caregivers’ ability to care for and support their children;
vicarious trauma impacts the child-serving workforce;
exposure to trauma is part of the child welfare job;
trauma has shaped the culture of the child welfare system, the same way trauma shapes the
world view of child victims; and
Trauma-informed systems integrate a range of evidence-based and trauma-specific treatments and
practices supported by the NCTSN. v
Based on the Unique Community Profile completed by Chadwick with Oklahoma, recommendations
were identified to identify interventions and resources and to build on Oklahoma’s recognized
strengths. Senior Leadership within the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and partnering
Oklahoma child serving systems have expressed and provided support to the stated goals of the CTISP
Implementation. This is evidenced by the identification of staff to serve on the steering committee,
provide internal agency leadership and provide input to the development, review and Trauma Informed
Care work. Continued Senior Leadership support is anticipated crucial to the ongoing success of this
plan. Oklahoma’s Implementation Plan for a transformation to a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare
System includes initial roll-out to six lab sites (Jackson/Greer, Custer, Oklahoma 55 A, Pontotoc,
Appendix C – Trauma-Informed System Implementation Plan
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