Implementation of a workforce initiative to build trauma-informed child welfare practice and services: Findings from the Massachusetts Child Trauma Project
Date
2014
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
Children and Youth Services Review
Abstract
Children involved with Child Protective Services experience high rates of chronic and cumulative interpersonal
trauma and adversity, referred to as complex trauma, that can have a profoundly negative impact on well
being across the life course. Child welfare agencies face myriad challenges in addressing the needs of children
with complex trauma. In response, the Massachusetts Child Trauma Project (MCTP) was launched as a statewide
initiative to enhance the capacity of child welfare workers and child mental health providers to identify, respond,
and intervene early and effectively with children traumatized by chronic loss, abuse, neglect, and violence. Specifically,
this large-scale multi-system improvement effort is driving practice change through three key mechanisms
in all regions of the state: (1) training child welfare staff and resource parents to recognize and respond
to child trauma, (2) disseminating three trauma-focused EBTs in community-based mental health agencies via
sequential cohorts of intensive Learning Collaboratives, and (3) implementing child welfare-led TraumaInformed
Leadership Teams (TILTs) that bring mental health providers, child welfare workers, and consumers together
to sustain efforts to implement, maintain and spread trauma-informed practices. The article describes the
development and implementation of this multiyear initiative and a number of key lessons learned to date.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
complex trauma, cumulative interpersonal trauma, treatment, child welfare services
Citation
Fraser, J. G., Griffin, J. L., Barto, B. L., Lo, C., Wenz-Gross, M., Spinazzola, J., ... & Bartlett, J. D. (2014). Implementation of a workforce initiative to build trauma-informed child welfare practice and services: Findings from the Massachusetts Child Trauma Project. Children and Youth Services Review, 44, 233-242.