Strengthening families, protecting children requires community effort

Workforce shortages have been a chronic challenge across many sectors since the pandemic. High turnover within the child welfare sector has been a national issue for years, and Alaska has not been immune from that retention trend.

So when a local unit of the state Office of Children’s Services reached a full year recently without any turnover, it was cause to celebrate.

“A single year without turnover is particularly remarkable for a workforce that is often underpaid, under-recognized, and working directly with children and families who are experiencing incredible stress,” said Jessica Clarkson, program manager for R.O.C.K. Mat-Su.

R.O.C.K. stands for Raising Our Children with Kindness. It is a collaboration of individuals and organizations in the community that promotes family resilience by building social supports and influencing systems that affect kids and families throughout the borough.

The organization is a department of the Mat-Su Health Foundation, which has been a partner in community health and wellness since its inception in 2008. As a minority owner of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, the MSHF receives funding from the profits of the hospital.

Through its philanthropic efforts, the MSHF has distributed more than $130 million throughout the Mat-Su in the last 16 years, while continuing to do its part to ensure that the medical center needs the needs of the Valley’s growing population.

The R.O.C.K. Mat-Su initiative began developing in 2014, when a group of influential people in the fields of child protection, early childhood education, behavioral health, primary care, tribal health, infant learning, and education began exploring a new way of working together.

R.O.C.K. Mat-Su operates with the collective goal of working to strengthen families by reducing child abuse and neglect. So there has been significant partnership with OCS through the Family Contact Improvement Partnership, which works closely with the unit within OCS that has experienced zero turnover for a year.

“The children and families served by the Wasilla OCS office are the most vulnerable members of our communities,” Clarkson said. “High turnover among child welfare workers affects the families and children they serve, often resulting in children remaining in OCS custody longer than necessary.”

When children enter protective service, families often require supervision to ensure safety. The specific partnership between R.O.C.K. Mat-Su and OCS aims to improve the availability, frequency, and quality of family contact.

Since low turnover is essential to meaningful family contact, the initiative includes a significant workforce support component that recognizes the need for consistency and stability.

“This has been a community effort since 2017,” Clarkson said. “The Family Contact Improvement Partnership unites community partners to support the workforce associated with supervising family contact staff with training and coaching needs, and general improvement in family contact procedures.”

While the Mat-Su Health Foundation provides the framework and support to ensure the Family Contact Improvement Partnership is based in research and is done with all stakeholders in mind, Clarkson emphasized the importance of a collaborative, community effort.

“We know that when parents are supported and strengthened, children thrive,” she said. “We also know that when children and families who have experienced trauma are supported in the right ways, they heal. Supporting and protecting children is everyone’s job.”

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