TRANSFORMATION

Project Broadcast

Overview

Project Broadcast is a partnership between CCFH and the North Carolina Division of Social Services (NCDSS) focused on developing a trauma-informed child welfare workforce throughout the state.

Project activities include:

  • Trauma-related needs assessment for departments of social services
  • Training for child welfare personnel in trauma-informed child welfare practices
  • Training staff to facilitate the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents (Resource Parent Curriculum)
  • Disseminating a trauma screening tool designed specifically for child welfare contexts

Project Broadcast also consults with departments of social services on orienting new staff to trauma-informed practices and on preventing burnout among child welfare workers.

History

The genesis of Project Broadcast was the Breakthrough Series Collaborative on trauma-informed child welfare facilitated by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) in 2009. NCDSS and CCFH were co-participants in the collaborative, and they were joined by the Wilson County Department of Social Services as a site for initial exploration of promising practices. Based on this early work, NCDSS applied for and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop a five-year pilot project on trauma-informed child welfare with nine counties in North Carolina.

During the pilot project, CCFH and NCDSS worked with the counties to design and implement trauma-informed practices that would meet the unique challenges faced by child welfare workers. One key accomplishment was the development of a simple but sophisticated assessment tool that child welfare workers could use to identify signs of trauma in children entering foster care. To date, more than 19,000 children have been screened using the assessment developed in Project Broadcast.

The pilot project ended in 2016, but CCFH and NCDSS have continued to work with participating counties on building and sustaining trauma-informed child welfare practices. Thirty-two counties spanning all regions of the state have had some level of training or consultation with Project Broadcast.