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Staying the Course: runaway prevention program
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STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
Nathaniel J. Williams
Capstone Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the
Degree
Doctor of Social Work
Susan Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
University of Southern California
December 2020
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The capstone project is called Staying the Course, A Professional Development Program
for Residential Child Care Workers Utilizing the 4Ms of Safety – Mapping, Mental
Health/Wellness, Mediation, and Mentorship. It aims to address children who run away from
residential settings within the foster care system through an early-on intervention with
engagement and opportunities for the child directly upon admission, resulting in a written
commitment to stay the course, called a 4Ms Plan (APPENDIX A).
The Grand Challenge of healthy development for all youth is a social work profession
effort to ensure youth develop beneficially and improve the skills and capacities necessary to live
productive lives (American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare, 2016g). In contrast to
healthy development, children in the foster care system who are on runaway status are subjected
to risky situations. They are unable to receive the supports and services that the system has
determined they need. The desire of these children to run, while diverse in reasons, is proposed
to be addressed using a disruptive innovative strategy called Staying the Course, A Professional
Development Program for Residential Child Care Workers Utilizing the 4Ms of Safety.
To promote healthy development for youth, primarily focused on children who run away,
the 4Ms of Safety program is a broader conceptual framework that proposes incorporating the
components of mapping, mental health/wellness, mediation, and mentorship. Staying the Course,
A Professional Development Program for Residential Child Care Workers Utilizing the 4Ms of
Safety is an innovative step forward with the potential to provide a reduction in the number of
children running away from placement at ChildFirst Services, Inc. with potential impact
nationally on residential foster care services.
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
3
PRACTICE PROBLEM
The capstone problem is children running away from the foster care system. Moreover,
there are 400,000 children in foster care placement on any given day, and 1% to 3%, primarily
amongst 13 and 17 years old, have a runaway classification. These runaway children, who have
experienced neglect, abandonment, rejection, and safety issues, continue to evade the sustenance
and supervision of qualified professionals available to help them develop as adolescents
(Havlicek & Peters, 2014).
OVERARCHING METHODOLOGY AND TOOLS
The one-week long, intensive 4Ms of Safety training program addresses the skills
gap that residential childcare workers have in the area of engagement by giving specific
engagement and strategic tools and establishing procedures to plan, develop, implement, and
maintain the 4Ms training program delivered through four individual segments: mapping,
mental health/wellness, mediation, and mentorship.
The program's 4Ms of Safety Plan, intended to be in place throughout a child's
placement in a congregate-care facility, is developed upon admission and monitored weekly
and gives children the vital tools to be empowered and to decide to stay the course of their
required placement. The training program shifts from passive, reactive styles to active and
proactive practices. Childcare workers become equipped to engage children and help to
thwart the child's desire to run away from residential treatment facilities, thus changing
placement outcomes and children become empowered to make safe decisions for their future
and become both more responsibly engaged in their life path and a more confident
stakeholder in their own life.
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
4
SUMMARY OF AIMS
Children who run away from congregate care facilities and programs place themselves at
higher risk for harm, mistreatment, and abuse while away from the child welfare and foster care
system's guidance and supervision. These children have been remanded to the child welfare and
foster care system's care due to their behaviors or their parents' or guardians' behaviors. The
running away behavior is exasperating the situation by the absence and inability to take
advantage of the offered support and services.
It is believed that should we be able to intervene at the beginning of their placement by
enticing the children to be planful, responsible, and clear about the decision they are making
about their present situation. It is anticipated that through engaging a child upon admission to
think about the role that mapping, mental health/wellness, mediation, and mentorship will factor
into decisions about staying the course of placement or running away will be a deterrent to a
child desiring to run away due to their remembering what impact this will have on their next
steps.
Encouraging children to think about the map of where they are going, the assistance
mediation can provide, the importance of mentorship, and the role that good mental health and
wellness has on the decisions they will make in a moment that will affect their present and
future. Often children make decisions without thinking about the repercussions. This project
attempts to make the benefits and consequences of forethought front and center for the child
upon admission to a congregate-care facility. Furthermore, the same technology will be utilized
again upon the child's return from running away, should this occur.
This innovation and prototype (APPENDIX B) aim to contract with children for safety
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
5
and better decision-making instead of relying solely on consequences.
INNOVATIVE STEP FORWARD
The proposed solution, and capstone project, is the development and implementation of a
program titled "Staying the Course, A Professional Development Program for Residential Child
Care Workers Utilizing the 4Ms of Safety – Mapping, Mental Health/Wellness, Mediation, and
Mentorship," The proposed solution will be the utilization of the weekly professional training
time allotted for residential childcare workers to teach them how to complete and implement a
recently developed and proprietary tool, 4Ms of Safety Plan, for each new admission. The
training consists of 4 segments, one each related to mapping, mental Health/wellness, mediation,
and mentorship. The training is a one-week program in length, culminating in testing out and
certification for participants.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The capstone problem highlighted in this paper is specifically related to the societal
challenge of all children's healthy development. It seeks to address the issue of children in foster
care who run away from their designated placement. The US government reported 4,500 of the
400,000 children in foster care as being on runaway status at any given point in a year (Annie E.
Casey Foundation, 2005). These children's whereabouts are unknown, and it can be assumed
they are in harm's way because they are absent from the protective factors of adult supervision
and care (Scott, 1994). The length of their absence can be as short as a couple of hours to
spanning several years. Due to the children's inability to be present, there are limitations to the
potential impact of available support and services because they cannot participate (Oosterman et
al., 2007). The system cannot help children who are not present (Pecora et al., 2005). The child
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
6
welfare system is responsible for protecting these
children as caseworkers, and a judge has determined that this is so needed (Anglin, 1990).
Engaging children with the propensity to leave without authorization is a challenging prospect
(Peter, C. et al., 2008).
ASSESSMENT WITHIN CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT
The future of this problem can evolve to be more challenging as the children who remain
in care are getting more complicated as it relates to their life history and are less likely to be
returning to their family of origin. Thus, children will be more disenfranchised about their
prospects and seek to run away to donate their frustration with their circumstances.
The configuration consists of the children, their families, social workers, police, judges,
schools, and community members. This group makes up the foster care and child welfare
community. The groups or labels used to designate these children are wards of the state,
dependent children, foster children, and children living in out of home placement (Lindsey,
1991).
Parthood consists of these foster children belonging to a placement option, group home,
that is utilized 11-13% when placing children out of the home. The absence of foster children,
from foster homes, pre-adoptive homes, and other facilities that group homes represent a more
significant segment of the population (Haskin, 2007). Furthermore, the general population of
children who run away from home and are listed as missing is an even more significant portion
of the problem.
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
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SIGNIFICANCE OF PRACTICE PROBLEM
The conceptual framework is envisioned based on children's empowerment to make their
best decisions and stay the course of their required placement in the foster care system. The
concept is premised on the belief that the provision of supports and services based on mapping,
mental health/wellness, mediation, and mentorship (4Ms) will empower young adults with the
vital tools to make the safest decisions for their future.
Mental health/wellness is characterized as a concern in assessing the condition,
performance, and contentment of individuals by underscoring the significance of acknowledging
that it is acceptable to get the various assistance one needs when they need it (Altshuler, 1997).
Additionally, via mentorship, a guide, teacher, or mentor has a vital position in helping one
organize steps toward achievement by assisting individuals in recognizing whose shoulders they
stand upon and who is around to help them (Reimer, 2010).
To supplement their development, the availability of mediation signifies the value of
permitting intervention, facilitation, and enabling to underscore the fact that there are always
alternatives to consider when managing a circumstance (Taliaferro & Borowsky, 2012). Lastly,
mapping indicates the position that a blueprint, record keeping, and recording serves in
transmitting where an individual has gotten to and aspires to go (Bernat & Resnick, 2006).
The 4Ms of Safety capstone project will exemplify and endeavor to eliminate the
wiggle room capacity that failure needs. Mediation, mental health and wellness, mentorship, and
mapping enable sound decision making. However, it is not established or safeguarded by any of
these pursuits alone. It can be protected when each is in place (Reimer, 2010). Observance of
these simultaneous and synchronized activities will ensure safety through this better decision
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
8
making.
LOGIC MODEL AND THEORY OF CHANGE
The logic model (APPENDIX B) considers that using a disruptive innovative strategy
called the 4Ms of Safety will impact a child's decision-making regarding running away. The
thinking is based on the premise that a comprehensive approach involving mapping, mental
health/wellness, mediation, and mentorship., offered in concert, will deter running away. The
inputs are funding that will be secured from private and governmental entities; staff will be hired
and trained to present the 4Ms, and materials will be provided. Initial outputs will be the Train-
the-Trainer sessions, and the conducting of workshops, along with an intermediate objective of
the 4M engagement plan for all admissions within 24 hours.
The desired outcomes include a curriculum, a short-term result of better-trained child
welfare professionals, and a long-term objective of a 50% decrease in children running away.
Within this logic model, external factors within the landscape, such as violations of a child's
court-ordered presence, the community, and program resources, must then be realigned to seek
the absent child. Professionals are challenged by the behavior of children who do not want to be
away from their homes and communities. This model will address these contingencies for
children who do not wish to stay the course.
The theory of change is based on the premise that an onboarding process of children
coming into foster care that is based on having them complete an orientation to the 4Ms of
Safety, with a completed 4Ms of Safety Plan, will impact the thinking, environment, and culture
of a foster care program that will deter children from running away. It is believed that with
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
9
practice change, the foster care system, and the children it supports, will experience a different
program outcome.
PROBLEMS OF PRACTICE AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
The innovation proposed in this project is an onboarding process for children entering
foster care based on having them complete the 4Ms of Safety training curriculum with a
completed 4Ms of Safety Plan. The purpose of that innovation is to improve the thinking,
environment, and culture of a foster care program and deter children from running away. It is
believed that with this practice change, the foster care system and the children it supports will
experience better outcomes.
The significance of the proposed innovation is that it targets professionals challenged by
children who do not want to be away from their homes and communities. The proposed design
will address the contingencies of children who do not wish to stay the course. It is anticipated
that the proposed 4Ms of Safety Plan will result in an anchoring document that will traverse the
period that a child spends in a foster care setting and potentially travel with them when they
leave and transition to adulthood and aftercare.
The desired outcomes include a usable curriculum, the short-term result of better-trained
child welfare professionals, and the long-term objective of a 50% decrease in running away from
foster children. Influencing this desired outcome are external factors, such as violations of the
child's court-ordered presence, requiring that community and program resources be realigned to
seek the absent child.
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
10
MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES
In examining the problem from multiple stakeholders' perspectives, when children in the
foster care system run away, they represent a risk for their community because they are minors
living without guardians in spaces that are typically unsafe. Law enforcement is impacted by
children running away, and municipal law enforcement agencies must investigate to find the
child (Watkins, 2018). Agencies involved in the placement of children in foster care settings
must be examined to determine what breakdown in the process allowed the child to run away.
Social workers and case managers responsible for the child will need to play a role in the search
for the child (Mellon, 2017).
Family and those close to the child are also impacted when a child runs from foster care
because children running from foster care are often running to get back to their families or
contact other loved ones (Watkins, 2018). Maintaining a secure environment where the child
would be unable to run away from foster care is a responsibility of foster homes; therefore, when
children run from foster homes, the home must be held accountable for the child running.
Because of the frequency and problems possible when children run away from foster care, this
robust response by several stakeholders who are impacted by children running from foster care is
essential.
The federal government's Administration on Children and Families serves as the national
leader on child welfare. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Human Services' Office of Children,
Youth, and Families serve as the state leader on child welfare. In Philadelphia, the Philadelphia
Department of Human Services serves as the local leadership organization on child welfare.
Regarding runaway children, there is no consistent leadership at the federal, state, and local
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
11
levels to address this phenomenon. It is anticipated that the subsequent capstone project, which
addresses runaway children and engaging them upon admission and encouraging them to stay the
course, will help to coalesce stakeholders around this critical issue.
Nonprofit organizations throughout the federal, state, and local community serving
children and youth generally follow these gov't entities' direction. The challenge with this
follows ship arrangement because it has hindered addressing issues not mandated by those
entities. Some stories hit the public domain that talks about circumstances that runaway children
find themselves in from time to time. However, when the news cycle moves on, the interest
wains.
There is a myriad of stakeholders who are involved in addressing the issue of runaway
children. They include; parents, families, schools, police, social service system, the judicial
system, juvenile probation, the health system, and the children themselves (Rees & Smeaton,
2001, (Rees, Franks, Raws & Medforth, 2005 & Smeaton & Rees, 2004).
The adversaries are few but most notably the police and juvenile justice system, which
sometimes sees children on runaway as a criminal matter. Because a court has mandated their
placement, these entities often see their runaway behavior as a violation of that court order,
which could be seen as a summary offense or as in some cases, as a felony (Agyepong, 2018 &
Havlicek, & Peters, 2014).
The child welfare system currently has 440,000 children in care on a given day —the
child welfare system services 650,000 children in a year. Furthermore, 4,000-7,000 children are
on runaway status on a given day. Runaway periods are as short as a couple of hours. Some have
lasted years. Some children have never been seen or heard from again and have been discharged
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
12
from the child welfare system, having never been accounted for (Annie E. Casey Foundation,
2015).
Problematic interfaces with the educational and mental health system have helped to
address the issues that are posed with children in foster care. The McKinney-Vento Act is
legislation, supported by policy, which attempts to address the out of care home children and
their interface with education and mental health services. However, when children are on
runaway, they are often not attending school, so this interface is not as helpful as it could be
(Courtney & Zinn, 2009 & Department of Health, 2002).
Promising interfaces with other systems include runaway helplines, human trafficking
task forces, collaborations with law enforcement, and interaction with the juvenile justice system
have all been efforts to galvanize public and private entities to work more collaboratively around
the issue of children who run away (Elliot & Fagan, 2017 & Havlicek, & Peters, 2014). These
interfaces have had challenges with coordination and resource allocation, which have hindered
addressing and eradicating runaway children (Biehal & Wade, 2002).
BUILDING ON EXISTING EVIDENCE
The proposed innovation builds on existing evidence regarding the broader landscape that
prevention is instrumental in addressing societal issues before they manifest into more significant
challenges. Counseling and the provision of guidance for children in foster care may also play a
significant and positive role in developing children and adolescents in foster care, reducing
runaway intent. Altshuler (1997) noted the importance of school social workers in playing a role
as counselors for children where emotional difficulties, social skills deficits, and attention
problems can be addressed. Counselors can facilitate children in foster care, overcoming social
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
13
and psychological barriers to personal development while contributing to encouraging positive
developmental behaviors.
Last, mediation is essential because it is a means by which conflict between foster parents
or foster care managers and children in the foster care setting can overcome differences and
problems in the foster care setting. Benesh and Cui (2017) noted that faster parent training
programs for foster youth should be put in place to develop conflict resolution skills among
foster parents.
This proposed innovation builds on existing evidence regarding the broader landscape of
history, policy, practice, public knowledge, and discourse as it relates to children running away
by recognizing that together, these activities should be aimed at accomplishing positive
outcomes for children in foster care settings where parental engagement leads to personal
development. A factor playing a significant role in this personal development is the issue of
empowerment. Several theories of empowerment can be used to implement these solutions in the
foster care setting. O'Connel (1978) discussed empowerment from the standpoint of improving
empowerment in the social work setting where the core of empowerment is service.
As the proposed solution, the 4Ms of Safety relates to the local contextual environment
by recognizing that a foster parent or a manager in the foster care setting, quality service, and
support is an essential facet of the healthy approach to child development. Activities such as life
planning, support, counseling, and mediation are all actions that require a service mindset. By
facilitating life planning or conflict resolution while supporting and counseling the child or
young adult, they are empowered to be more autonomous. They think more independently while
planning their futures. Wallis (2010) discussed the issue of power in empowerment, focusing on
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
14
orphans and vulnerable children. In their discussion, the focus remained on empowering by not
taking control of the child or adolescent and being a servant to their personal development.
Specifically, this works through collaboration rather than dictating how the transformation of the
child to adulthood will occur. In this manner, there is a greater focus on achieving positive
development for the child.
There is also the issue of agency in the scope of empowerment. Agency is difficult for an
adult to grant a child; however, in foster children, foster parents must be mindful of the issue of
personal agency and the ability to reduce dependence once the child reaches adulthood (Samman
& Santos, 2009). Agency and empowerment are significant issues, especially in life planning,
where the child must take an active role in road-mapping their future.
EXISTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATION
The proposed project includes existing opportunities for innovation since there are
limited efforts to address children running away from foster care. These efforts include program
restrictions and consequences once a child has run away and returned. The opportunity for
innovation is two-fold. Training and guidance can be offered to children upon admission and
addressing the challenge of children running away in a four-pronged initiative addressing the
4Ms of Safety.
ALIGNMENT WITH LOGIC MODEL & THEORY OF CHANGE
To clarify, the proposed innovation aligns with the logic model and theory of change
presented in the conceptual framework and weaves the concept that a comprehensive program
supported by inputs, outputs, and outcomes will change the circumstances of children running
away by instituting the 4Ms of Safety. The conceptual framework is envisioned based on
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
15
children's empowerment to make their best decisions and stay the course of their required
placement in the foster care system. The concept is premised on the belief that supporting and
services are based on mapping, mental health/wellness, mediation, and mentorship. 4Ms) will
empower young adults with the vital tools to make the safest decisions for their future.
Mental health/wellness is characterized as a concern in assessing the condition,
performance, and contentment of individuals by underscoring the significance of acknowledging
that it is acceptable to get the various assistance one needs when they need it (Altshuler, 1997).
Additionally, via mentorship, a guide, teacher, or mentor has a vital position in helping one
organize steps toward achievement by assisting individuals in recognizing whose shoulders they
stand upon and who is around to help them (Reimer, 2010).
To supplement their development, the availability of mediation signifies the value of
permitting intervention, facilitation, and enabling to underscore the fact that there are always
alternatives to consider when managing a circumstance (Taliaferro & Borowsky, 2012). Lastly,
mapping indicates the position that a blueprint, record keeping, and recording serves in
transmitting where an individual has gotten to and aspires to go (Bernat & Resnick, 2006).
The 4Ms of Safety capstone project will exemplify an endeavor to eliminate the wiggle
capacity that failure needs. Mediation helps us to ask the question, "Did you consider this?"
Mental health and wellness raise the opportunity for us to consider, "Are you OK?" Mentorship
helps us to ponder the question, "Who has our back?" Mapping tasks us to resolve the challenge,
"Where am I going?"
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
16
Ethical decision making is not established or safeguarded by any single of these pursuits
alone, but it can be protected when each is in place (Reimer, 2010). Observance of these
simultaneous and synchronized activities will ensure safety by better decision making.
The logic model recognizes that the inputs of funding, staff, training, and materials are
required. Along with a curriculum, train the trainer sessions, and workshops as the outputs. The
expected outcomes are better-trained child welfare professionals in the short term, a 4M
Engagement Plan for all new admissions as an intermediate objective, and a fifty percent
decrease in children running away as the long-term objective.
OVERALL LIKELINESS OF SUCCESS
The project's overall likelihood of success is high and supported by literature, conceptual
framework, logic model, and change theory. The problem of foster care runaway behavior can
be disruptive for a child in foster care and the child's stakeholders. A child must not be allowed
to remain on the street alone. Several entities are accountable for the consistent security of the
child. The reduction of runaway behavior is contingent on the child understanding positive
decisions and being a good decision-maker for themselves. Adults must play a significant role in
engaging the child to develop positive behaviors in the child-related to healthy choices.
The use of a conceptual model where the child is involved with adults in ways that will
support dialog and development is explained herein, with the theoretical model emphasizing the
role of adults when dealing with children in foster care to reduce their risk of being a runaway.
The model focuses on personal development as a means of creating positive outcomes for the
child. Healthy youth development may set the stage for children to feel positive feelings about
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
17
the foster care setting. As the child develops feelings of empowerment through their relationship
with people responsible for their foster care, runaway behavior may be prevented.
PROJECT STRUCTURE, METHODOLOGY, AND ACTION COMPONENTS
Staying the Course, A Professional Development Program for Residential Child Care
Workers Utilizing the 4Ms of Safety – Mapping, Mental Health/Wellness, Mediation, and
Mentorship (4Ms Training Program) – engages and trains residential child care workers in the
awareness of personal mapping, mental health/wellness, mediation, and mentorship to prepare
them to engulf the child in a nurturing web that will promote better decision making, stability,
and engagement in planning for the child in the present and future.
The program's training includes an innovative onboarding process for children entering
foster care. The 4Ms Safety Plan is prepared for each new admission within 24 hours. To foster
this plan's completion, the residential childcare worker completes the 4Ms of Safety weeklong
training curriculum. The program is viable and sustainable. The curriculum gives childcare
workers needed skills and talents to impact the target population of runaway foster youth and
offers ways to reach children who are fully or partially disengaged, thus removing the
disengagement barrier to them reaching full attendance for their mandated stay and enabling
childcare workers to guide the vulnerable population to consider alternatives to running away.
Developing engagement skills in childcare workers facilitates creating empowered
children in healthy, non-violent, and productive ways as part of their new norms. The purposeful,
results-oriented program seeks to achieve a 50% reduction in runaways one year after
implementation. The 4Ms training program offers a practice change with the propensity to
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
18
positively impact the foster care system and the experiences and outcomes of the children it
supports.
ANALYSIS OF THE MARKET/RELATIVE TO ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
One organization in the United States is the National Runaway Safeline, a national
program aiming to prevent teenage runaways and reunite runaways with their families.
The campaign involves providing a phone number that teenagers who are thinking of
running away can talk with counselors and social workers who can help them deal with their
underlying issues. The toll-free 1-800-RUNAWAY is always available with dedicated
employees and volunteers willing to speak with others (NRS, 2020). The program has been
relatively successful and is supported by numerous other organizations and partners who give it a
nationwide reach in dealing with runaway or homeless youth in the country (NRS, 2020). The
flagship campaign is National Runaway Prevention Month (NRPM), launched every November
to create awareness of runaways' plight.
The NRPM is a campaign that focuses on creating awareness and providing a hotline
where teenagers who want to run away or those who already have can get help. On the other
hand, the "Stay the Course" campaign is different because it seeks to demystify the perception
that running away solves the problem. Instead, it helps teenagers realize that running away
exposes them to worse experiences. Instead, it provides a safe place that allows teenagers to
address their problems as a group. The groups become a source of positive peer pressure
that can yield better results than merely speaking with a counselor. The main difference between
the campaigns is that the proposed campaign integrates peer pressure and teenagers'
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
19
unwillingness to share information with their parents. Instead, it uses the peer pressure element
positively to help these teenagers deal with the underlying issues causing them to leave.
Another difference between the two is that the NRPM campaign does address the plight
of homeless youth who ran away. In a sense, it is reactionary. Meanwhile, the proposed "Stay the
Course" campaign is proactive. It aims to prevent teenagers from running away. The moderators
who will be chosen can help teenagers from hostile homes who have experienced physical and
sexual abuse. Those struggling with their identities like gays, lesbians, bi-sexual, and transgender
youth can help embrace themselves. Those who have school problems like bullying can get help
on how best to deal with the situation.
METHODS FOR PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION- ANALYSIS OF OBSTACLES,
ALTERNATIVE PATHWAYS, AND LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES
FINANCIAL PLANS AND STAGES
The capstone project's financial plan to address children who run away from foster care
only requires a month to put things together before the actual implementation of the training
classes. Office space and the rental of a training room are available from ChildFirst Services, Inc.
at their Philadelphia office. Two offices, one for the master trainer and one for the two assistant
trainers to share, and the one day per week, use of a training room were secured with the offices
at the square foot rate of $19.64 and the training room a monthly fee. Videophones for each
office and a flat monthly rate for utilities were negotiated using the common areas included.
ChildFirst Services, Inc. will provide an advance of $75K, it will only take a month until
classes may start, and there is a surplus of $20K going into the first full year. Monthly expenses
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
20
for the program will run $10,500. The monthly revenue is estimated at $18,375 as things get
started.
In the short-term, ChildFirst Services, Inc. is anxious for their staff to begin the training
and the benefit of the program, in addition to the value of the information, it may be learned in
any order. If an employee leaves ChildFirst Services, Inc., the open slot may be filled
immediately with a new student who will start their sixteen-week course at that point in the
curriculum. The 4 M's may be learned in any order.
In the long-term, the potential is unlimited, as external stakeholders recognize the gain
from the program, the need for additional classes to train staff from other organizations will
require ChildFirst Services, Inc. to grow its training division and expand all aspects of its current
model.
The opportunities to scale this capstone proposal to other organizations are present by
assisting organizations in understanding the revenue loss that children on runaway present by
empty beds and disruptions to normal operations. A rationale for scaling can be made. By
examining this lost income, it will be seen that the expense of this program will pay for itself in
short order. Thus, making scaling possible beyond the host site agency, ChildFirst Services, Inc.
METHODS OF ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT
The evaluation and research question are whether staff training in a universally applied
onboarding method for new admissions will better equip staff to reduce the number of children
running away from congregate care facilities.
The design of the study will be quasi-experimental by using quantitative pre and post-
tests questions. The quasi-experimental research method is all about manipulating an
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
21
independent variable without random participants' assignment to various orders or conditions
(Edmonds and Kennedy, 2016). The main aim of quasi-experiments is to evaluate different
interventions without the use of randomization. However, just like randomized attempts, the
quasi-experimental design aims to show the real casualty between the actual response and the
outcome. The strengths and limitations of the quasi-experimental model are just like any other
experimental design. The quasi-experimental design has its strengths and weaknesses. The
strengths are that unlike other experimental designs, quasi-experiments are easier regarding their
setup. It is so because these designs are mainly used when randomization is unethical or
impractical. Other models often need their subjects to be randomly assigned. Secondly, using the
quasi-experimental design reduces ecological validity threats because the natural environment is
safer than when the laboratory and other models are used. Since these experiments are natural,
the results and findings may be used in other settings and subjects. Therefore, it would give room
to make general conclusions regarding a given population. It is more advantageous because the
experimenter can manipulate the
experiment as he wishes. Unlike natural experiments, manipulations can only happen on their
own, and the experimenter can do nothing about it.
The disadvantages are that the experiment's lack of randomization limits the experiment's
ability to conclude a causal relationship between an outcome and the intervention. These studies
are more feasible because they lack random assignment, which also presents the investigator
with lots of challenges concerning internal validity.
The sampling will be non-probability as the evaluation will be given to all participants in
the 16-week training program at the program's onset and completion. Non-probability sampling
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
22
is a method where it is impossible to calculate the selected member's odds collected for sampling
(Hibberts, Johnson & Hudson, 2012). The advantage of non-probability sampling is that it is
cost-effective as compared to other sampling methods. As a result, it saves both money and time
by minimizing the researcher's travels and hassles. When one has a smaller population to study,
it is the preferred sampling method. It is so because it is easier to use as compared to probability
sampling.
RELEVANT STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT
The myriad of agencies to choose from as collaborators are large since there are 16,000
children in foster care in Pennsylvania. One thousand four hundred of these children are in
congregate care facilities throughout the state. Overtures to child welfare agencies, county
children and youth agencies, the state department of human services, the trade associations for
county-run social service agencies, and providers also serve as a potential magnet for
collaborators. Implementing the 4Ms of Safety model will require training of the staff in the
engagement process with children.
Potential individual providers of children congregate care program are the ChildFirst
Services, Inc., Children's Home of Easton, Children's Home of Reading, and KidsPeace
Potential county administrators of children and youth services could be garnered from the
Pennsylvania County Children and Youth Administrators Association. The mission of the
association is listed as "Pennsylvania Children and Youth Administrators is to enhance the
quality of service delivery for children, youth and their families by providing for its members'
serving as a forum for the exchange of information, assistance in educating the general public
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
23
and its constituencies and an environment of support for the Association membership."
(ww.pcya.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pcya.org/Pages/
AboutUs.aspx)
The statewide association of private human service providers is represented by the
Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Families. This mission of the council is
"PCCYFS' is focused on improving the quality of life for Pennsylvania's children, youth, and
families who are at risk by supporting and promoting an accessible service delivery system
within our communities." (Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Families (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://pccyfs.org/AboutUs)
The state agency responsible for oversight of all public and private child welfare
organizations through licensure and monitoring is the Pennsylvania Department of Human
Services. The mission of PA DHS is to serve as "A cabinet-level state agency in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services' seven program offices administer services
that provide care and support to Pennsylvania's most vulnerable citizens. These services include
eligibility and benefits determination, foster care, juvenile justice, early childhood development,
services for persons with developmental disabilities, autism services, long term living programs,
management of state psychiatric hospitals, and management of the Medical Assistance physical
and behavioral health care programs
A specific public county child welfare agency with the most significant number of
children in the state's foster care system is the City of Philadelphia Department of Human
Services. The mission of Philadelphia DHS is "the county child welfare and juvenile justice
agency. Our mission is to provide and promote safety, permanency, and well-being for children
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
24
and youth at risk of abuse, neglect, and delinquency." (Media Alert for Immediate Release -
Phila.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.phila.gov/media/20190107145042/
DHS_press_release_010719.pdf)
It is anticipated by bringing these collaborators together to support this project will
involve the major stakeholder groups involved in supporting youth in congregate care facilities
throughout the region and state. It is anticipated that there will be generational differences,
challenges to social justice, and contests to the diversity that these collaborations will experience.
However, with the years of experience as a human services administrator and agent of change, I
will work diligently to mitigate these unhealthy challenges.
COMMUNICATION PRODUCTS AND STRATEGIES
Some spokespersons will be selected to spearhead the campaign. Teenagers hold social
media influencers with high regard because they seem relatable. The prominent spokespersons
maybe two celebrity influencers like David Dobrik and Liza Koshy. Alternatively, some of the
stars in the Marvel Runaways series can be chosen as celebrity spokespersons. Marvel may even
be willing to support the program. At the community level, the volunteer moderators will act as
the spokespersons for the campaign.
The most appropriate channel to spread awareness is through social media. Teenagers
within the target age demographic are avid social media users. As such, social media campaigns
may be able to reach them more effectively. The campaign coordinators can reach out to
influencers and encourage teenagers to avoid running away by seeking help from designated
campaign groups in schools, community centers, and religious centers. T.V. advertisements can
also be used to share runaways' stories to deter teenagers from choosing it as an option. A well-
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
25
coordinated campaign will create awareness and help create groups where the teenagers can
share their experiences and resolve the underlying issues that can influence them to run away.
ADDRESSING THE STATED PROBLEM
The new campaign's message is to encourage teenagers to seek help within their
communities rather than running away. The main appeal is to use logic in making critical
decisions. Teenagers experience emotional turmoil that may make them perceive running away
as the best solution. The campaign seeks to prevent teenagers from romanticizing the idea of
running away by highlighting the challenges teenagers face on their own. These challenges are
worse than the initial factors affecting them. It also taps into positive peer pressure to help teens
share their experiences and encourage them to stay home while dealing with the underlying
issues.
My specific capstone problem is the foster care runaway situation: on any given day,
there are 400,000 children in foster care placement, and 1% to 3%, primarily amongst 13 and 17
years old, have this runaway classification. These youngsters, who have experienced
mistreatment, rejection, denial, and welfare issues, continue to escape the supervision of
qualified professionals offered to help them mature as adolescents (Havlicek & Peters, 2014).
Recognition that a strong effort must be made to address children who run away from
home is of paramount importance in addressing this issue so that children do not place
themselves in harm's ways. More importantly, as a community, we let them know the importance
of staying ahead of their lives, which has great promise.
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
26
ETHICAL CONCERNS AND POSSIBLE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES
In every study, ethical considerations are an essential part. Some research works are
doomed to fail in case this part is missing in them. The main ethical issues in research include
informed consent, confidentiality, and respect for anonymity, beneficence, and privacy respect
(Kelly et al., 2013).
The disadvantages of non-probability sampling are unlike probability sampling, non-
probability focuses more on simplicity instead of effectiveness. Due to its too much dependence
on judgment, it requires interviewers who are purpose-oriented. Non-probability sampling
depends too much on the judgment. Due to its lack of rules on sample selection, it has a high
judgment dependency. As a result, it can cause bias on the matter.
In the process of research work, the main ethical issue is informed consent. Through
informed consent, an individual's autonomy right is protected at all costs. Informed consent seeks
to a person's integrity assault and protects his liberty at all costs. It is only possible for a person
to make informed decisions to take part in ongoing research voluntarily only if they are aware of
the risks and benefits that may come with the study (Plankey-Videla, 2012). Informed and free
consent usually needs to include an introduction to the research subject and its purpose. It is also
essential to describe and educate a person of all the possible physical discomfort or harm,
privacy invasion, and any individual's dignity threat. Additionally, the participant should be
made aware of the compensation ways in case these harms occur. Despite the physical damage
and the compensations, the participant should receive the necessary knowledge and explanation
of the freedom to withdraw.
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
27
The beneficence principle comprises the professional authority to participate in
meaningful and useful research work so that the constituent's welfare is promoted and served
better. The beneficence ethical principle means that "be of benefit but do no harm." Beneficence
can be quite severe because, as a researcher, to understand her participants' intimate detail, she
may open old wounds. However, it is the researcher's responsibility to investigate all possible
consequences of the ongoing research and find a balance between the risks and the benefits.
When referring to anonymity and confidentiality, they have a close connection with both
the rights of beneficence and dignity respect. A participant's anonymity is only protected if the
participant's identity has not a single link with the given personal responses (Le Roux, 2015).
Privacy also means that a participant is free to share and, at the same, withhold any information as
they prefer.
Privacy is a person's freedom to choose the extent, general circumstances, and time under
which they share or withhold private information from the researchers or any person involved.
Whenever a participant refuses to share their personal information because they consider it privacy
invasion, the researcher is obligated to respect their view in this case.
CONCLUSIONS, ACTIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS
The one-week long, intensive 4Ms of Safety training program addresses the skills gap
that residential childcare workers have in the area of engagement by giving specific engagement
and strategic tools and establishing procedures to plan, develop, implement, and maintain the
4Ms training program delivered through four individual segments: Mapping, Mental
Health/Wellness, Mediation, and Mentorship.
The program's 4Ms of Safety Plan, intended to be in place throughout a child's placement
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
28
in a congregate-care facility, is developed upon admission and monitored weekly and gives
children the vital tools to be empowered and to decide to stay the course of their required
placement. The training program shifts from passive, reactive styles to active and proactive
practices. Childcare workers become equipped to engage children and help to thwart the child's
desire to run away from residential treatment facilities, thus changing placement outcomes and
children become empowered to make safe decisions for their future and become both more
responsibly engaged in their life path and a more confident stakeholder in their own life.
RESULTS
ChildFirst Services, Inc. enrolled all its workforce in completing the weeklong training
program of Staying The Course over six weeks during the summer of 2020, resulting in all 100
children having 4Ms Plans of Safety in place by August 7, 2020. During the subsequent 75 days,
ChildFirst Services, Inc. saw a 46% reduction in runaways going from 4.4 children to 2.1
children. These results are compared to the preceding days from 1/1/20 to 8/6/20 (APPENDIX
D).
As staff become more adept with the information and the process and given a more
extended implementation period, the results will be even more impactful.
The development and deployment of the Staying The Course Professional Development
Program will seek to address a slice of the Grand Challenge of healthy development for all youth
by training front line staff who engage with teenage children who run away from foster care
without permission. Thus, placing themselves in precarious situations. The healthy development
of this segment of children is adversely affected by their absence from the supports, supervision,
and counseling they need to develop into healthy and well-adjusted adults and citizens.
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
29
The dissemination plan for the results of the evaluation of this capstone project will be
shared in a press release that will be highlighted on ChildFirst Services, Inc.'s website.
Furthermore, efforts will be made to share the results at annual and regional trade associations,
conferences, and workshops focused on children's residential services. Steps will also be
undertaken to write a journal article on the results of the capstone project. Journals concentrating
on the foster care system will be the focus of this overture.
LIMITATIONS AND RISKS
The risk, complicating factor, and constraint that may interfere with the sustainable future
that this capstone project has is that the time needed to develop and train the front-line personnel
professionally will be time spent away from their ordinary duties. Thus, their supervisors may be
hard-pressed to allow for their absence. However, it is believed that within the time, the value of
the training, and the outputs and outcomes, will speak volumes for the effectiveness and efficacy
of the program.
STAYING THE COURSE: RUNAWAY PREVENTION PROGRAM
30
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Williams, Nathaniel J.
(author)
Core Title
Staying the Course: runaway prevention program
School
Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Degree
Doctor of Social Work
Degree Program
Social Work
Publication Date
12/08/2020
Defense Date
11/13/2020
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
AWOL,Child welfare,foster care,OAI-PMH Harvest,residential services,runaway,runaway prevention
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Brooks, Devon (
committee chair
)
Creator Email
presceo@childfirstservices.org,presceo@hwa-team.com
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https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-411547
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Tags
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runaway
runaway prevention