Attachment_2-B_Experience_and_Capacity.pdf

Request for Proposal Solicitation No.

BPM003221

Description:

Child Specific Recruitment

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts 3003 N. Central Ave., 20th Fl.

Phoenix, AZ 85012

PART 2 of the Solicitation Documents SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B

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Attachment 2-B Offeror’s Experience and Capacity

The Offeror is cautioned that it is the Offeror's sole responsibility to submit information related to the evaluation categories and that the State of Arizona is under no obligation to solicit such information if it is not included with the Offeror's proposal. Failure of the Offeror to submit such information may cause an adverse impact on the evaluation of the Offeror's proposal. It is strongly discouraged for you to copy the Scope of Work in lieu of providing unique responses below.

OFFER MAY BE DETERMINED AS NON-RESPONSIVE IF ALL QUESTIONS ARE NOT ANSWERED FULLY.

Question 1: Describe the Entity’s experience, including the number of years of experience, history and capability, in providing the Services offered in response to this RFP including but not limited to:

a. Experience in developing Child Specific Recruitment Plans

b. Experience in interviewing children and adults associated with the child

c. Experience in collaborating with professionals to meet the needs of the child

Offeror Response:

AASK is uniquely qualified to provide Child Specific Recruitment services under this contract. AASK has over 33 years of experience providing services to adoptive, foster, kinship families and youth in Arizona; through engaging, developing and supporting youth and families. The skills necessary to be successful with this contract are exactly the same skills AASK has utilized to become the largest Adoption/Foster Care agency in Maricopa County. As a licensed adoption agency, AASK has demonstrated its ability to successfully create/tailor programs built around targeted populations: kinship, teens, Latinos, Native Americans, or individuals with developmental disabilities.

AASK’s sole purpose is to ensure that every child in Arizona’s foster care system has a meaningful relationship with a caring adult. Every aspect of AASK is focused on ensuring a better life for children in care with AASK’s ultimate goal to make the placement of children in congregate care unnecessary. AASK’s resources are focused on ensuring that every child has an enduring lifelong family-like relationship with someone who cares.

Throughout its history, AASK has been a leader and an innovator in developing programs to meet the evolving needs of children in care and the families that come forward to provide homes. AASK has demonstrated success with identifying opportunities and developing, implementing and sustaining successful programs that fulfill its mission and meet the needs of foster children and their families.

AASK Adoption Program- Established in 1989. This was AASK’s original program. The program recruits, trains and supports families who are interested in adopting children from the Arizona Foster Care System. This program demonstrates AASK understands the importance of permanency and the skills and supports families need to be successful. Since inception of the agency AASK has facilitated the adoptions of nearly 8,000 children. Despite the challenges of Covid, during 2020 alone 214 children were adopted by AASK families.

AASK Foster Care Programs- Established in 1992. AASK realized that many children in Arizona’s Foster Care System were not legally free and created the AASK Foster Care Program to meet the needs of and provide

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Page 26 of 64 2 family-like relationships to those children. The program recruits, trains and supports families to provide homes for children in Arizona’s Foster Care System. AASK licenses families in Maricopa and Pinal Counties.

Despite the challenges of Covid, at the end of 2020, AASK had 347 licensed families caring for over 478 children. During 2020, Arizona foster children spent 208,884 nights living in AASK foster homes instead of congregate care.

AASK’s success in growing its program is directly attributable to its ability to engage and support its families.

The customer service skills and technical skills necessary to license, certify and support families continue to be what families say differentiates AASK from other contracted agencies; this is why over 95% of families surveyed by AASK say they would recommend AASK to a friend. A family probably explained the “AASK difference” when they recently responded to an anonymous survey conducted by DCS. The family stated:

AASK is hands down the best agency we have EVER encountered. We were with another agency when we were licensed previously and we had no idea how terrible they actually were, until we re-opened our license with AASK. We had no idea what we were missing, so to speak. AASK's strengths are supporting foster families in a caring way, treating us like team members and going above & beyond to ensure we are well and the kids placed in our home are well. They also do extremely well at advocating for our family. DCS is the reason a lot of foster parent's quit fostering... dealing with the unprofessionalism and subjectivity of DCS is a constant challenge...

but with AASK, we feel we can continue knowing they are watching out not only for the kids in our care, but our family as well.

In addition to demonstrating AASK’s expertise at engaging and supporting families and children, AASK foster care program demonstrates AASK’s ability to collaborate with DCS and other system partners such as the courts and behavioral health.

Over time, AASK has learned that not every child or family has the same needs. Consequently, AASK has become very good at developing programs based around the unique needs of children and the families that care for them. In addition to AASK’s Traditional Foster Care Program, AASK has developed several specialized foster care programs that include:

Specialized Medical Foster Care Program- Established in 1994. Born out of need to support families caring for children with HIV and other serious and often fatal illnesses, the program today continues to grow and serves children who were born premature, were substance exposed, or have other chronic illnesses.

Todos Los Niños (TLN) Foster Care Program- Established in 1999. AASK recruits, trains and supports primarily Latino families who are interested in adoption and foster care. This English/Spanish bilingual program was created to break down the barriers that typically prevent Hispanic families from adopting and providing foster care. AASK is the first and only agency in Arizona to create an adoption and foster care program tailored specifically for the Hispanic community. AASK has the skill and expertise to provide culturally appropriate, bilingual services to Hispanic families throughout the process and to provide Hispanic families with culturally appropriate services. This program demonstrates AASK’s proven ability to truly be culturally relevant and engage a local community by tailor programming and messaging to meet the changing needs of a community.

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Developmental Disabilities Foster Care Program- Established in 2001. AASK recruits, trains and supports foster families willing to care for children and adults with a developmental disability that may include Cerebral Palsy, Cognitive Disability, Epilepsy, Autism and those children at risk for other developmental disabilities demonstrated by speech, motor or cognitive delays. AASK has the experience to successfully work with any DDD youth and the families working with them.

Tribal Foster Care Program- Established in 2001. AASK recruits, trains and supports families to provide care for tribal children. AASK strives to find families who value family reunification and cultural preservation and who are willing to partner with Native American Tribal Communities. This program demonstrates AASK’s ability to develop programs around the unique needs of the tribal communities. It has given AASK knowledge and skills to engage and work successfully with tribal youth, staff and caregivers.

Kinship Foster Care Program- Established in 2008. AASK operates the largest program in Arizona designed specifically to license and support family members and relatives to provide temporary care to children placed in foster care. AASK committed to developing from scratch a foster care program focused exclusively around the unique needs of kinship families. Because kinship caregivers are usually already caring for their kinship placements and because they face unique family dynamics, they experience many challenges not faced by community foster families. AASK decided to challenge conventional wisdom and redefine the way it approached traditional foster care by adopting a truly asset based approach. AASK kinship staff members understand that their role goes significantly beyond licensing families. They are there to support the family and ensure the placement is successful. The program has been a phenomenal success. AASK’s non-judgmental supportive services have resulted in fully engaged families who may have formerly been frustrated with their situation or system partners. At the end of 2020, AASK’s Kinship Program currently has 142 licensed foster families caring for 238 children. Over 1,600 children have already been adopted through the program, 93 have been received permanency through guardianship over 4,928 family have received services. This program demonstrates AASK’s ability to bring an innovative solution to the unique needs of a specific population. AASK accomplishes this by engaging, listening and understanding the population, developing innovative solutions that go against conventional practices, carefully evaluating results, modifying practices based on results and building the infrastructure necessary for scalability.

AASK Pre-Service Training for Adoptive and Foster Families- Established in 1989. AASK has been recruiting, training and supporting adoptive (and later foster) families for over 33 years. During this time AASK has prepared thousands of families to become adoptive and foster families for children in care. While the curriculum has changed over time (from agency developed to PRIDE, PS-MAPP, and currently Foster Parent College) AASK’s commitment to utilizing training to assess and prepare families has not wavered.

Since 2006, AASK has provided pre-service training to almost 3,000 families (5,000 individuals). AASK hosts trainings at AASK’s Central Phoenix, Peoria, and Chandler locations. Since January 2018, AASK has provided pre-service training using the AZDCS Foster Parent College (FPC) curriculum and has trained 526 families (865 individuals) in FPC. The training is offered in English and in Spanish and by a certified FPC leader.

AASK Mentoring Program– Established in 2005. AASK realized that despite its best efforts, not every child would be able to live with a foster or adoptive family. Many of the children living in congregate care may never have a positive relationship with a stable adult during their childhood. AASK decided to create a Mentoring Program specifically focused on finding caring adults to act as mentors for foster care youth.

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Currently, 117 youth are matched with a mentor. As a result of their relationships with their mentors the youth have learned soft skills (communication, trust building, relationships) vital to their development and emotional health. Older youth have also learned hard skills (how to budget, attain education, obtain reliable transportation and find employment). As a result of their mentors, the children are more stable and face fewer challenges as adults. They are less likely to face homelessness, unemployment, delinquency, and psychological and medical health issues as adults.

This program demonstrates AASK’s ability to engage and support youth particularly teens. AASK self-funds the entire cost of operating this program.

AASK Sibling Program – Established 2014. Upon entering foster care children, for reasons outside of their control, are often separated from their siblings. Given AASK’s dedication to ensuring that every child has someone who cares, it was logical for AASK to create a program dedicated to strengthening sibling relations:

the relationship that is usually everyone’s longest life connection. Youth, who are not living under the same roof, are provided the opportunity to have regular and meaningful visits during monthly activities that encourage emotional connection and fun. In addition, annually there is a week long summer camp to give these brothers and sisters a week together to have new experiences, learn about each other and ensure a solid foundation of sibling connection when not together. To date the program has served 582 youth, uniting 225 sibling groups. AASK self-funds the entire cost of operating this program.

AASK Arizona Family Resources.Org Program- Established 2015. This program was designed to support the growing number of unlicensed kinship families who are caring for children in Arizona’s Foster Care System.

AZFR is designed to be a one-stop, state-wide website designed to support unlicensed kinship families. AZFR is an ever-evolving website. Currently the site answers over 400 different questions. The site includes links to resources for clothing, school supplies and other needs. There are also tips for dealing with all of the system partners with whom the family may come into contact (for example, DCS, behavioral health, schools and the court.) A Statewide Calendar of events and trainings sortable by county and date is also available. The results from launching AZFR have been amazing. The site has over 2,200 visits per month. The site has 750 statewide subscribers to its newsletter.

In order to add a human element to the site, AASK added a full-time social worker with over 15 years of experience to be able to provide personalized support to families (attend court or CFTs) and answer questions, ranging from “Are these behaviors my child is displaying normal?” to “What is a Report and Review hearing?”

to “Where can I receive emotional support as a caregiver?” Each year, the social worker personally supports hundreds of families.

Successfully meeting the requirements of this RFP and providing the services required is nothing new to AASK.

In fact, AASK has over 15 years of experience successfully providing DCS Child Specific Recruitment services.

To date, this program has resulted in over 225 adoptions, 8 guardianships and an additional 19 youth currently matched and living with their adoptive family.

The WWK Child-Focused Recruitment Model is the cornerstone of AASK’s success. In 2006 AASK was chosen to be the first Arizona Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Recruiter site. Based on AASK initial success in 2008, AASK was awarded a second WWK Recruiter, one of only a handful of organizations in the US and Canada to be awarded a second grant. In 2017, AASK was awarded funding for an unprecedented third Arizona recruiter.

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AASK’s 3 designated, full-time Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Recruiters (AASK Child Focused Recruiters) are trained in utilizing the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids model to find families for DCS-referred youth. Wendy’s Wonderful Kids evidenced-based, child-focused recruitment model has been proven to substantially and significantly increase a child’s likelihood of adoption. Child Trend’s five-year independent rigorous evaluation concluded that children who have Wendy’s Wonderful Kid Recruiters are 1.7 times more likely to get adopted than those not served by the program and older youth and children with mental disorders are three times more likely to get adopted. Trained WWK Recruiters operate under the mindset that no child is unadoptable, and they work within the framework of the WWK model to make this belief a reality.

The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids model focuses exhaustively on an individual child’s history, experiences, and needs, with specific tactics to help accomplish this goal. These tactics include an in-depth review of existing case records to completely understand the child’s strengths and needs, and seek out those who will be able to provide a loving and caring environment. Through this review and with DCS permission, AASK conducts a diligent search of significant past and present relationships with adults familiar to the child, including at least one of the following searches: Seneca Center Family Finding Search, Accurint and Connect us Kids. The search provides up to 30 year address history for a person with listed phone numbers, aliases and decease notices, and email addresses, if any. It provides relatives, with address history and listed phone numbers and possible family acquaintances, with address history, listed phone numbers and email addresses. Finally it includes neighbors with listed phone numbers at the subject’s most recently reported address.

AASK Child Focused Recruiter also develops a one-on-one relationship with the youth, meeting in person at least once a month. Purpose of this is to allow the recruiter the time and understanding to assess the youth’s readiness for adoption and help with any needs that should be addressed prior to moving forward with a match.

Based on all of this the AASK Child Focused Recruiter develops a customized recruitment strategy best suited for the youth or sibling group. The recruiter works with the youth using appropriate strategies to address concerns, including, but not limited to the 3-5-7 Model, Unpacking the No, Three Houses exercise, and eco-mapping. The WWK recruiter also maintains/builds networks for the child by working closely with the youth’s team (caseworker, foster parent, attorney, CASA volunteer, teacher, therapist, relative, mentor, faith-based representative, extracurricular activity leader, etc.) to ensure that consistent messages are sent regarding permanency and that the youth has the support of the entire team. Once a match has been identified, on-going help to prepare and transition both the child and the family for the adoption is available as needed.

In order to allow the AASK Child Focused Recruiter to focus exclusively on child focused recruiting activities, AASK employs an AASK Child Specific recruiter to focus on general recruitment activities for each youth. The AASK Child Specific recruiter works with the AASK Community Outreach team to develop custom marketing tools (Social media, brochures, flyers, posters, letters, newspaper articles, TV interviews, Wednesday’s Child and radio spots) for each youth.

The AASK Media Team is able to take advantage of AASK’s strong media-based recruiting experience. For example, for over twenty years AASK has been responsible for the “Wednesday’s Child” segments on KPNX TV Channel 12. These segments feature youth waiting for permanent homes, family success stories, and/or bring to light the plight of youth in care. Additionally, AASK writes “waiting child” columns that run in nine different publications, including The Arizona Republic, Arizona’s most widely circulated newspaper. This media based outreach helps recruit potential families by letting them meet not foster children but real children who just happen to be in care. Recently AASK launched “Finding Forever” a regular segment on Channel 3.

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AASK is also increasingly utilizing social media. AASK continually improves its website (in English and Spanish) and keeps an active presence on Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, AASK purchases advertisement on social media (Google, MSN, Facebook etc.) to generate interest. AASK encourages families and volunteers to utilize word-of-mouth and social media sharing to help AASK educate the community and recruit additional families. On occasion, billboards, posters in fast food restaurants, and direct mailers have also been part of the communication portfolio.

AASK has created specific campaigns targeted on recruiting families interested in becoming a foster/adoptive family for children who fall within a specific need or demographic. Those needs have ranged from race/ethnicity (African American or Latino), or age (teenagers), to location (zip codes in which the family resides), for family situation (sibling). Collateral materials are designed around the unique needs each target audience/segment. For example collateral intended for families in rural communities maybe different than the collateral designed around urban communities. Collateral designed to attract more teen homes maybe different than materials designed for younger youth. Cultural sensitivity is also vital to the message: the difference in the design of collateral for various cultural or ethnic groups must go far beyond just language it must incorporate terms and concepts that are culturally relevant and appropriate to the community. AASK also tailors its approach to best reach the intended audience (for example getting a news story on Univision, speaking at a primarily Latino Church or speaking to a Maryvale service organization in order to reach a primarily Latino audience.)

AASK brings a talented experienced team to this service. JoAnne Chiariello has been leading AASK’s Child Specific Recruitment effort for over 12 years. She has received over 150 hours of in-person, Child Focused recruitment training from national experts at the Annual Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA) North American Summit. In addition to on-going training, The Dave Thomas Foundation Adoption University is an on line training resource available to WWK recruiters and supervisors. JoAnne is nationally listed as an adoption competent supervisor after completing the National Training Institute’s 30 hour Adoption Competency Training for supervisors. In 2014, JoAnne was named The Dave Thomas Foundation WWK Supervisor of the year. In addition to her 25 years of experience working with youth in foster care, Joanne has served as a children's behavioral health agency Clinical Director and has worked in several behavioral health settings over the years. She has over twenty years of experience as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and holds a Master’s in Counseling.

AASK’s 33 years of experience operating a foster care agency has taught AASK that building strong partnerships with ADCS Specialist, volunteers, youth and system partners takes specials skills. To be effective recruiters must strive to meet the highest standards of customer service by offering clear communication, follow-through, respect, flexibility and attention to detail. Since 2006, AASK has required all recruiters (Child Focused and Child Specific) to be degreed, experienced and promoted from within. Only internal candidates are considered;

external candidates are not considered. To be considered for this position, candidates must be a current AASK employee, and have demonstrated their ability to successful work in Child Welfare with children, families, DCS and system partners (behavioral health, courts, etc.). They have already demonstrated their ability to interview children and adults and their ability to collaborate with professionals to meet the needs of the child.

Brianna Rossi has a BA in Community Health and has been an AASK Child Focused Recruiter for five years.

She has received over 80 hours of in-person, Child Focused recruitment training from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Brianna completed the 25 hours of NTI Adoption Competency training. Previously

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Brianna worked as an AASK Kinship Family Specialist working to support kinship families and as a Department of Child Safety case manager.

Kayla Huner-Waymire has a BSW and has been an AASK Child Focused Recruiter for four years. She has received 65 hours of in-person, Child Focused recruitment training from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Kayla has completed the 25 hours of NTI Adoption Competency training. Previously Kayla worked as an AASK Kinship Family Specialist working to support kinship families.

John Hicks has a MSW and has been an AASK Child Focused Recruiter for three years. He has received 45 hours of in-person, Child Focused recruitment training from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. John has completed the 25 hours of NTI Adoption Competency training. Previously John worked as an AASK Intake Specialist working to engage, educate and access prospective adoptive and foster families. Before John joining AASK, John spent 13 years at the Department of Child Safety rising to the level of Assistant Program Manager.

RJ Nunziata has a Bachelor of Recreation Management and has recently become the AASK Child Specific Recruiter. Previously, RJ has spent 11 years as the AASK Teen Engagement Specialist for the AASK Mentoring program. His expertise is in engaging youth who did not have permanency and helping them understand the benefits of a family like relationships. Prior to joining AASK RJ was the Teen Director of Phoenix’s largest Boys and Girls club. RJ has completed the 25 hours of NTI Adoption Competency training.

Question 2: Describe in detail, the Entity’s experience in providing culturally relevant services, including but not limited to non-English speaking families.

a. Describe your agency’s experience working with families and children who are part of the LGBTQ community.

Offeror Response:

For over 33 year AASK has been successfully providing culturally relevant services to families and youth in Arizona and for 15 years these services have included the Child Specific Recruitment services specified in this solicitation. AASK has a proven history of successfully working with many different cultures and communities.

AASK serves families and youths from all cultural backgrounds, all ethnicities, all colors, all religions, all socioeconomic levels, all national origins and ancestries, all languages and all genders and sexual identity.

AASK strives to be inclusive and no family or youth has been denied service based on race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation or physical, developmental, behavioral or educational needs. AASK is a 501c3 with no religious affiliation. AASK understands that to be effective, it must do more than offer equal, nondiscriminatory services. AASK works to tailor services to meet the unique cultural needs of the served populations. AASK is committed to service delivery across all programs and at every level that is culturally appropriate to the families, children and individuals served

AASK’s sole purpose is to ensure that all youth in Arizona’s foster care system have a meaningful relationship with a caring adult. Every aspect of AASK is focused on ensuring a better life for all children in care with AASK’s ultimate goal to make sure youth have emotional and legal permanency. Given the diversity of children in care and in the people who are committed to them, AASK understands the need to offer services that are inclusive; open and available to everyone. AASK is unwilling to let preconceived notions about languages, cultures, gender, sexual orientation, religion and geographic locations prevent children from having the support of a family. Therefore, AASK has designed its services around overcoming potential barriers that might prevent a child from having a family. Services are designed to be culturally and linguistically appropriate. AASK

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Page 32 of 64 2 delivers services in a manner that is comfortable, supportive and empowering for all the persons receiving services regardless of race, color, creed, religion, culture, or sexual orientation.

One of the keys to AASK’s success in providing services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate is that AASK defines culture in its broadest terms. AASK understands that culture encompasses not only race, language and ethnicity but also gender and sexual orientation. AASK is aware that ethnicity and race are not necessarily the primary ways in which people self-identify. AASK embraces the LGBTQ community, and supports working with individuals' and families regardless of their unique SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender, identity, expression). AASK has a history of working successfully with traditional couples, same sex couples, and both traditional and alternative life style singles. Since programing began, AASK has worked with hundreds of alternative parents, mentors and youth to establish family and achieve successful emotional and legal permanency. Additionally, AASK staff is sensitive to families and children’s faith background. AASK welcomes and supports youth and families of any faith-based background, as well as those who do not identify with a faith or spiritual group, AASK staff are careful to not presume understanding of different cultures and strive to incorporate respectful curiosity when building relationships.

AASK recognizes that culture may also come from shared life experiences such as common occupations or education, or from challenging life experiences such as homelessness or exposure to domestic violence. AASK recognizes that it is the combination of membership in multiple cultural and sub cultural groups that create an individual’s sense of self and an individual’s cultural identity. Individuals’ cultural identities in turn affect how individuals respond to services and how effective services must be delivered.

For those individuals that speak languages other than English or Spanish, AASK contracts with certified professional interpreter and translators, who are over 21 and meet the Federal law standards regarding Limited English Proficiency. AASK will secure those proficient in American Sign Language, Arabic, Farsi and Swahili as needed as well as work with ADCS to ensure other interpreters as needed. In this way, services may be provided in the language with which the family is most comfortable. For those individuals that have low literacy skills or who are illiterate, AASK will help them, in a manner sensitive to their needs, with understanding and interpreting documents and materials, providing alternative formats for delivery of written information and with obtaining access to other community resources.

AASK has a proven history of successfully working with many different cultures and communities. AASK understands that to be effective, it must do more than offer equal, nondiscriminatory services. AASK works to understand unique needs as well as tailor services to meet the cultural needs of the served populations. AASK is committed to service delivery across all programs and at all levels that is culturally appropriate to the youth and families served.

For example, in 1999 AASK developed Todos Los Niños (TLN) Foster Care Program. Realizing that youth who came into care would do better if the home they went into supported their cultural connectedness AASK created a program to recruit, train and support primarily Latino families who are interested in adoption and foster care.

This program recognized that cultural was much broader than just language. This English/Spanish bilingual program was created to break down the barriers that typically prevent Hispanic families from adopting and providing foster care. AASK is the first and only agency in Arizona to create an adoption and foster care program tailored specifically for the Hispanic community. This program demonstrates AASK’s proven ability and commitment to truly be culturally relevant and engage a local community by tailor programming and messaging to meet the changing needs of a community.

AASK is a designated Wendy’s Wonderful Kids grantee. Providing culturally relevant service is one of the core values/requirements of the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Model. Every year, the AASK Child Focused Recruiters and the AASK Child Specific Recruitment Director attend the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids National Summit and have access to exclusive webinars and resources from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption on why and how to provide culturally relevant services. Recent topics have included “Developing professional cultural competence in adoption” , “Adoptions and Native Americans: cultural competence issues and practice tips”, State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

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“Beyond colorblindness: a relational and color-conscious approach to parenting in multiracial adoptive families”, “Reaching for the rainbow: expanding resources for children and youth by improving practice with LGBT resource families” , Working with, and finding families for LGBTQ youth” and “Transracial adoption:

What I wish my parents had known.”

All AASK program staff (including AASK Recruiters and the Child Specific Director) have completed the National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative and earned the designation of “adoption competent.” A significant emphasis of the training was dedicated to understanding how race, ethnicity, culture, class, and diversity impact both the adoption and guardianship experience and the mental health needs of children in care. Additionally, the training focused on positive identity formation and the impact of adoption and guardianship with an emphasis of working with both youth and families who identify with diverse SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression) alignment.

AASK understands that LGBTQ youth are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system and often face discrimination and mistreatment in out-of-home care. AASK realizes that support for youth’s unique development is critical to the over-all success of a youth. In fact, research shows that family acceptance is an important predictor of how well an LGBTQ youth will fare as an adult. Development of SOGIE is universal and normative. Healthy development of SOGIE is essential to a child and youth’s well-being. SOGIE is one of many domains of human development that is supported or undermined by the behavior and attitudes of key adults and providers in a child’s life. AASK staff and supervisors have been trained to work with all families and mentors to understand this complex development and how to assist youth who are exploring how they identify.

Families also sometimes need help recognizing their own implicit and explicit bias around youth who may be struggling with their identity. AASK staff has helped parents/mentors process concerns as they arise around this topic. When a youth’s identity shifts while living with a family, AASK offers support to the family and youth to adjust to the new reality. Helping parents work through this change often takes time and understanding, AASK staff rely on the solid relationships they have built to help families process their concerns.

In order to ensure that AASK understands youth, AASK incorporates cultural discovery into the youth’s initial meeting. AASK Recruiters avoid assumptions about a youths cultural and SOGIE alignment. Whenever possible, AASK’s approach is to tailor services on a case by case basis so that plans are culturally appropriate and incorporate the youth’s voice. One example of how AASK ensures that youth feel seen and validated is making sure that the AASK staff know and use a youth’s preferred name and pronouns. The unique needs and perspectives that are generated from youth are incorporated into service development and delivery. AASK Recruiters know their job is to be an advocate for all youth and will make sure the youth they serve know that AASK is there for them and will be their ally. Recruiters ensure that youth are safe at school and in the community by ensuring youth receive respectful treatment in all settings

AASK believes that supporting a youth’s network involves taking the time to educate and help others successfully honor the culture of the youth. This will not only help to build stronger relationships but allow the youth to feel safe to express their desires and needs. A youth’s SOGIE is one of many domains of human development that is supported or undermined by the behavior and attitudes of key adults in a child’s life.

AASK’s staff is keenly aware of the subtle ways youth’s identify can be eroded by unknowing adults. AASK has the ability to identify these actions and has the knowledge and expertise to train others to be aware of how their beliefs and actions affect the youth they care about. This will assist the youth’s successful transitions and overall well-being. Understanding and increasing a youth’s network’s comfort level in using (or in some cases not using) terms not only benefits the helps LGBTQ youth whom AASK Recruiters work with, but can also help other youth know that that provider is a safe person.

AASK is committed to securing the necessary resources to serve youth and families in a culturally appropriate manner when those individuals have cultural needs beyond AASK's current internal capabilities. These may include but are not limited to forming collaborations with culturally relevant community partners, hiring interpreters and/or translators and utilizing contracted social workers with expertise and experience specific to

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Page 34 of 64 2 youth’s cultural needs. In addition to providing community linkages for these youth, partners have sometimes trained AASK staff on how to best work with specialized populations, how to access available resources for the youth, how to recruit and engage any additional community partners that are needed and how to improve AASK program to make them more effective and culturally appropriate. Example of partners include national connections made through the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and include but are not limited to:

Family Acceptance Project™ , Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Center for Adoption Supports and Education (CASE), and Human Rights Campaign.

Cultural competence is an important consideration in the recruitment, selection and supervision of staff.

Providing services in a manner that promotes diversity, independence, self-esteem, mutual respect, and the values of all persons served is not easy. In addition to including cultural competence requirements in staff job description, AASK also tries to hire staff that mirrors the cultural diversity of the populations it serves. Of AASK current staff, 16% are bilingual Spanish speakers. The employees of AASK include 13 Hispanic workers, 1 Native American, 1 Asian, and 8 African American.

All AASK staff attend cultural competency training a minimum of once per year. Principles of cultural competency are incorporated into many other monthly staff training sessions as well. AASK staff is regularly evaluated for their ability to deliver services in a manner that respects and values the unique combination of cultural group memberships of the youth and families served. Cultural sensitivity is incorporated into performance evaluations. Discussion of cultural knowledge and sensitivity are included in staff supervision and training.

AASK has institutionalized cultural competency by incorporating principles of cultural knowledge and sensitivity into all aspects of the agency including service development and delivery, administration and policymaking. AASK considers the language used on paper work, resources, brochures and forms to ensure it is welcoming, culturally friendly and inclusive. Because language is constantly evolving, AASK consults with experts in the field regularly to keep terms accurate. For example many gender-variant and non-heterosexual youth do not use the terms “lesbian,” “gay,” “bisexual” or “transgender” to identify themselves. By contrast, every child and youth has a sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (or SOGIE). AASK utilizes clear policies relating to client rights, AASK’s responsibilities and complaints/grievances. No youth has been denied access to a Child Specific Recruiter based on race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, number of placements, or needs (physical, developmental, behavioral or educational.)

Question 3: Describe how you’ve been successful in identifying adoptive and/or legal guardians for children in out-of-home care.

a. What measures have you taken to locate potential permanent caregivers for children who have been identified by DCS as falling into specific categories such as teens and siblings?

Offeror Response:

AASK has over 33 years of experience finding families for children in Arizona’s Foster Care System. AASK believes every child in Arizona should have a caring family regardless of their unique challenges. AASK’s mission is to ensure that every child has someone who cares and AASK believes that every child waiting to be adopted is adoptable. AASK’s resources are focused on ensuring that every child has an enduring lifelong family-like relationship with someone who cares. AASK has been successful finding families for both a specific child and for specific categories.

• Experience Finding A Family For A Specific Child

• Experience Finding Families Interested In Specific Categories (Ex. Sibling Or Teens).

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Experience Finding A Family For A Specific Child

For over 15 years AASK has successfully provided DCS Child Specific Recruitment services. To date, this program has resulted in 225 adoptions, 8 guardianships and an additional 19 youth currently matched and living with their adoptive family. During this time AASK has used two distinct and powerful methods to locate potential permanent caregivers.

1. Child Specific General Recruitment Activities.

2. Child Focused Recruitment

Child Specific General Recruitment Activities

Child specific general recruitment activities are designed to enlist interest from the general community. By publicizing a child’s story, AASK has generated interest from the general community that has led to prospective adoptive families who have no connection to the youth they adopt. Child focused recruitment, on the other hand, has focused on finding potential permanent caregivers from people who were connected to the youth.

Child Focused Recruitment continuously and relentlessly mines the child’s existing network (family members and people connected to the child) to identify a permanent caregiver for a child.

AASK has found both Child Specific General Recruitment Activities and Child Focused Recruitment to be effective. AASK has found that executing both methods concurrently is the best way to find permanent caregivers. The methods are very different; they require distinct tasks, distinct focus and distinct skills. To be successful, AASK has separate recruiters focused on child specific general recruitment activities and child focused recruitment. The AASK Child Specific Recruiter focuses on general recruitment activities for each child while the AASK Child Focused Recruiters (AASK WWK Recruiters) focus on child focus activities.

The AASK Child Specific recruiter works with the AASK Community Outreach team to develop custom marketing tools (Social media, brochures, flyers, posters, letters, newspaper articles, TV interviews, Wednesday’s Child and radio spots) for each youth.

For 33 years AASK has been recruiting Adoptive Families. During this time, AASK has learned that the key to recruiting is to cut through the noise and distraction of everyday life. Too often people will say “I have thought about being a foster parent for years but I just never found the time.” To be effective, recruitment of potential permanent caregivers must engage potential families enough that they are motivated to take action.

Engagement requires creating a strong enough emotional connection to the child that the natural tendency towards procrastination will be outweighed by the desire to learn more about the children.

AASK has found that the best way to make that emotional connection is by highlighting the child’s story and making it come to life for a family. AASK’s messaging focuses on the child and his/her need for meaningful relationships. AASK’s messaging breaks through the typical stereotypes about “foster children” and instead helps the community understand that this is just a child who has been placed in a difficult situation. AASK messaging highlights the transformative power of relationships in children’s lives and tries to help potential families visualize the difference they can make in this child’s life.

AASK’s key to creating the necessary collateral for child specific general recruitment activities has been to invest the time getting to know the child and creating material that reflects his/her personality, strengths and/or interest. The more specific the material is the more effective it is. For example if the child’s dream is to become a fireman creating a video of the child touring a fire truck will not only reflect his/her interest but it will demonstrate his/her personality and passion.

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AASK’s strong media-based recruiting experience has allowed the AASK Community Outreach team to find adoptive families for children. For example, AASK has regularly featured children on the “Wednesday’s Child” segments on KPNX TV Channel 12 that AASK has been producing for over twenty years. Additionally, AASK has regularly featured the children on the “waiting child” columns that AASK writes that run in nine different publications, including The Arizona Republic, Arizona’s most widely circulated newspaper. Recently AASK has begun to feature the children on Channel 3 “Finding Forever” a biweekly segment that AASK partners with

KTVK 3TV.

AASK has also utilized social media to find permanency for children. AASK often feature the children on its website (in English and Spanish) and in it post on Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, AASK purchases advertisement on social media (Google, MSN, Facebook etc.) to generate interest. AASK encourages its families and volunteers to utilize word-of-mouth and social media sharing to spread the word. Because AASK recognizes the impact and reach a testimonial from a family, that has adopted a child, can have on prospective families, AASK promotes and encourages this peer-to-peer network. On occasion, billboards, posters in fast food restaurants, and direct mailers have also been used to find permanency.

AASK has created specific campaigns targeted on recruiting families interested in becoming a foster/adoptive family for children who fall within a specific need or demographic. Those needs have ranged from race/ethnicity (African American or Latino), age (teenagers), or family situation (siblings). Collateral materials often feature children AASK is recruiting a family for and are designed around the unique needs of each target audience/segment. For example collateral intended for families in rural communities maybe different than the collateral designed around urban communities. Collateral designed to attract more teen homes maybe different than materials designed for younger youth. Cultural sensitivity is also vital to the message: the difference in the design of collateral for various racial or ethnic groups must go far beyond just language it must incorporate terms and concepts that are culturally relevant and appropriate to the community. AASK also tailors its approach to best reach the intended audience (for example getting a news story on Univision, speaking at a primarily Latino Church or speaking to a Maryvale service organization in order to reach a primarily Latino audience.)

AASK has also created specific recruitment campaigns targeted on recruiting families who share an interest with a referred child. Locating families who share interest with the child not only increases the family’s interest/emotional connection to the child but it also makes the child more open to the family. For example, for a child who has a real passion about trains, AASK creates collateral material that focuses on this passion and looks for opportunities to reach families who share similar interest. Recruiters would locate local model train publications, associations (ex. Arizona Model Railroading Society) or venues like the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park to look for opportunities to reach the families who are interested in trains to make them aware of this youth’s story. This general recruitment campaign is developed for a specific child based on their interest in trains that is used in that community. Similarly, AASK recruiters were recently referred a child who was passionate about robotics. The recruiter approached the school’s robotics club to find out more about robotics and designed a recruitment strategy around that child’s interest.

When needed, AASK has also created specific recruitment campaigns around a child’s special needs. For example, a referred child with Cerebral Palsy was not be best served by a general community campaign. AASK reached to United Cerebral Palsy of Central Arizona for education and assistance on how to create a campaign that would reach experienced resources who would not be intimidated to care for a child with unique needs.

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Upon receipt of referral of each youth, the AASK Child Specific Recruiter has worked…