Community Partners Protecting Children (CPPC)
The Community Partnership for Protecting Children approach to child welfare requires a significant shift in ownership so that everyone in a community believes they have a role in keeping children safe and supporting families.
The partnership harnesses the creative talents of neighborhood leaders, parents, human services providers, the faith community and local organizations to work with the public child protection agency to prevent child abuse and neglect and enhance safety and well-being for all families.
This evidence-based, structured approach to community-based child abuse prevention is based on a theory of change, which uses specific strategies to promote better outcomes for children and families.
Shared Decision Making With the Community
Each site's decision-making body uses evaluation information to inform decisions about strategies, funding, staffing, etc. In addition, the decision-making body is composed of a mixture of "professionals" and community residents and parents, working together to make the best choices. This group is expected to communicate the goals and outcomes of the partnership to local community, city, county and state leaders, encouraging expansion and support of the approach.
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History |
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Since 1996, the National Community Partnership for Protecting Children Initiative has made concerted efforts to change fundamental thinking about how society protects children and to reform our nation's child welfare system.
The community partnership approach starts from the premise that no single factor is responsible for child abuse and neglect, and therefore that no one public agency can safeguard children. Children's safety depends on strong families, and strong families depend on connections with a broad range of people, organizations and community institutions.
The Community Partnership Initiative began in four cities: St. Louis; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Louisville. Today there are more than 200 partnerships across the country with nine Kentucky sites.
Each site implements the community partnership approach that involves four key, interwoven strategies: Individualized Practice; Neighborhood Networks; CPS Policy Practice and Culture Change; and Shared Decision Making.
Individualized Family Centered Practice
This practice represents a family-centered service delivery that stresses partnership among families and their support systems, formal and informal. Individualized plans are developed in conjunction with family team meetings, which includes the family, individuals from the family's own support systems, and representatives of the more formal systems involved, such as schools, counselors, and family support organizations. The core components of individualized practice are engagement, assessment, planning and implementation.
Building Community and Neighborhood Networks of Support for Families
Sites enlist key players from other service systems to ensure that families get the help they need. These partner systems include domestic violence services, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, emergency economic assistance, and many others. In addition, sites direct intensive support to high-risk families to prevent child abuse and neglect. Residents are enlisted to serve as mentors to new parents, tutors to children and to offer help to neighbors, relatives and friends.
Child Protective Services Policy, Practice and Culture Change
Nationally, CPPC Sites have made several important changes in their CPS systems: They collect and analyze CPS administrative data to determine the trends in the neighborhoods they are serving and use this data to drive their decision making; CPS staff cross-train, shadow, co-locate and jointly work with staff from the domestic violence service system, mental health treatment centers and substance abuse treatment facilities to better serve families with multiple and complex needs; CPS workers serve as safety consultants for residents and other agencies to build a strong, positive presence in the neighborhoods being served through the partnership approach; and CPS is increasing it's attention to families who cycle through the CPS system repeatedly.
Shared Decision Making with the Community
Each site's decision-making body uses evaluation information to inform decisions about strategies, funding, staffing, etc. In addition, the decision making body is composed of a mixture of "professionals" and community residents and parents, working together to make the best choices. This group is expected to communicate the goals and outcomes of the partnership to local community, city, county and state leaders, encouraging expansion and support of the approach.
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Principles |
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The principles underlying the Community Partnership Approach include:
- Families are stronger when all members, including caregivers, are safe from abuse;
- There is no substitute for strong families to ensure that children and youth grow up to be capable adults;
- Families need supportive communities to help them be strong;
- Children can best be kept safe when families, friends, residents, and organizations work together as partners;
- Children should stay with their own families, whenever possible;
- Services and supports need to be available earlier, before crises occur and must be closely linked to the communities in which families live;
- Government alone, through the public child protective services (CPS) agency, cannot keep children safe from abuse and neglect;
- Efforts to reduce abuse and neglect must be closely linked to broader community initiatives and priorities;
- All families should receive high-quality services, with no disparities among racial, ethnic, religious or socioeconomic groups;
- Each community must shape the strategies and network of services based on its own resources, needs and cultures. In other words, residents of different communities will come up with different ways of putting these principles into action.
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Kentucky CPPC Sites Contact Information |
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- Simpson County – Angela Lane, Co-Chair, (270) 586-8266, angela.lane@ky.gov
- Fayette County 40505 - Debbie Featherstone, Co-Chair, (859) 252-5803, dafeathers@bluegrass.org
- Jefferson County – Matt Reed, Co-Chair, (502) 635-5233, mreed@ymcalouisville.org
- Hardin County - Renee Sartin, Co-Chair, (502) 543-7081, renee.sartin@ky.gov
- Grant County - Jenny McComas, Co-Chair, (859) 824-4471, jennife.mccomas@ky.gov
- Ohio County - Shannon Minor, Co-Chair, (270) 274-8996, shannon.minor@ky.gov
- Marshall County - Tammi York, Co-Chair, (270) 527-1354, tammi.york@ky.gov
- Letcher County - Missy Kiser, Co-Chair, (606) 633-0191, missy.kiser@ky.gov
- Big Sandy Region – Debra Wilcox, Co-Chair, (606) 788-7108, debra.wilcox@ky.gov
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CPPC Program Consultants |
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