Group Description

This material will serve as the broad community’s foundation and introduction to the Child and Family Team (CFT) process. The audience represents all persons who may interact and participate on a CFT or at a CFT meeting (e.g., Child Welfare Services, Juvenile Probation, Short Term Residential Therapeutic Programs, Resource Families, Education, Behavioral Health, Parent/Family/Youth Partners, Physical Health, Community Based Organizations). This material will deliver basic information on the reason for child-serving system change and the importance of ensuring all levels of services and supports provided to the child, youth, nonminor dependent (NMD), and/or family are delivered in a manner that is trauma-informed, culturally competent, and permanency focused. The course material will provide the requirements and best practices of the CFT process.

All counties using the CFT Curriculum are required to follow the fidelity practice and trauma-informed values defined in All County Letter (ACL) No. 16-84[1] and ACL No. 18-23[2]. There are some variations in county practice regarding some aspects of implementation, policy, and use of supporting materials.

After completing the CFT Foundations and Skills Building trainings, trainees can begin using CFT practice and tools as part of trauma-informed, culturally relevant, and developmentally appropriate practice; however, please understand that this initial training does not make you an expert user of the CFT process, tools, and values. The classroom training with this module must be reinforced with field learning, regular supervision, trauma-focused awareness, and mentoring, all of which support trauma-informed approaches. It is also strongly recommend that all participants attending the training participate in the relevant CFT advanced and CFT ancillary classes.