Multidisciplinary team established in response to local drug-endangered children

WASILLA — The Mat-Su Valley Drug Endangered Multidisciplinary Team has officially formalized after several years of preparation.

Members celebrated the start of a new and extensive task force dedicated to supporting local children affected by substance misuse with a signing party Friday, April 1 for a Memorandum of Understanding and interagency protocols.

According to a recent press release, The Mat-Su Valley Drug Endangered Multidisciplinary Team is the first of its kind in the state, working to improve the ability of the state and Mat-Su Borough government, local tribes, and social service agencies to coordinate interventions and improve the collective response to children and families affected by substance misuse in the community.

“Child abuse and neglect is a community problem, and the Office of Children’s Services works with our community partners to make Alaska’s children safer and families stronger. This project in the Mat-Su Valley is a great example of a community coming together and creating a solution to help children experiencing neglect or abuse as a result of parental substance abuse. It is our community wrapping their arms around families and saying, ‘We got you!’” said Virginia Moring, Protective Services Manager 2, Office of Children’s Services

This multifaceted endeavor started in 2018 after the Cook Inlet Tribal Council received a grant from the Department of Justice, according to the press release. When that grant ended, R.O.C.K. (Raising Our Children with Kindness) Mat-Su started providing support to keep the project going.

Institutional and community stakeholders, including individuals with lived experience, held a series of meetings, focus groups, and workgroups aimed at identifying gaps in how cases involving drug-endangered children were handled.

They identified the following needs: increased interagency communication, training, improved understanding of agency roles, and a consistent definition of drug-endangered children as necessary components to improving system response and reducing further trauma to children and their families.

The DEC-MDT was created to fulfill those needs and close gaps in the community. Members include first responders, social service agencies, and other representatives covering a wide range of areas of expertise and resources.

DEC-MDT members created interagency protocols that outline a process for assessing and responding to drug-related calls where children are present in the home outlying how cases involving drug-endangered children will be handled, including dispatching social service agencies to the home soon after a drug-related encounter with law enforcement to provide necessary support services and interventions to children and their families.

DEC-MDT members include the Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Youth and Family Network, Chickaloon Village Traditional Council, The Children’s Place, Knik Tribe, Mat-Su Borough School District, Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, Office of Children’s Services, Palmer Police Department, Set Free Alaska, State of Alaska Department of Law Attorney General’s Office Civil Division, State of Alaska Department of Law Palmer District Attorney’s Office and Wasilla Police Department.

For more information, call 907-373-2832 or email kgamble@healthymatsu.org.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com