Custer County selected as "super community" for national child welfare project

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Custer County has been selected to participate in a national "super community" project that promotes the health and well-being of abused and traumatized children and their families.

The project is administered by the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, California--one of the nation's largest child-advocacy centers. The goal of the project is to create a trauma-informed child welfare system across the country.

Custer County is one of six sites across the country selected to participate in the project.

As a member of the super community, Custer County DHS staff and community partners will complete a community assessment, receive support and consultation in the development of an implementation plan, receive and access trainings, products, technical assistance, and resources from the Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Project (CTISP), and be involved in a peer-to-peer network with other super communities nationwide.

"This project illustrates the vital link between DHS child welfare services and our community partners," says Deborah Smith, DHS Child Welfare Services Director. "We are especially proud that Custer County has been chosen to participate in this important project. The training and national resources provided by CTISP will help DHS staff and stakeholders improve services statewide to victims of child abuse and domestic violence."

The communities will work together to refine and disseminate a specialized service-system-intervention for children who have experienced abuse and trauma and their families. Custer County DHS will work with CTISP to identify and develop effective treatments and specialized service delivery models to serve victims of child abuse and children exposed to domestic violence who are involved in the DHS child welfare system.

In recognition of Custer County's selection for the project, a special event is scheduled for Nov. 5, 2013 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Frisco Conference Center, 101 South 4th Street in Clinton, Oklahoma. The event will feature presentations from Charles Wilson, MSW, Executive Director of the Chadwick Center; Lisa Conradi, PhD, Project Director; Susan Schmidt, PhD, Child Study Center, University of Oklahoma; and DHS staff.

To learn more about the Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Project, go to www.ctisp.org.

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