Ashland, Wayne agencies work to ease trauma for court-involved, fractured families

ASHLAND – When children are placed in foster care, it's understood they are experiencing trauma. What's not always recognized is their parents are in a hard place, too.

Ashland County's courts, area social services and other sectors of the Ashland and Wayne communities are hoping to join forces to promote positive parenting and successful reunification of children in foster care with their birth parents.

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A recent two-day conference at the Samaritan Hospital Foundation drew personnel from Ashland and Wayne counties in the fields of counseling, education, health care, mental health and the faith-based community to evaluate "challenges and opportunities in a trauma competent court system."

Joining them was a contingent of experts from Texas who have implemented trauma-informed practices in their court system and have made a significant difference in mending fractured families.

Healing for the entire family is the objective of the evolving approach.

Breaking negative family cycles passed from one generation to the next

Carole Clark, retired judge of 321st State District Court of Texas, shared her personal experience with implementing a model called trust-based relational intervention.

According to seminar material, it is used to help "break family cycles of abuse and negative patterns that passed from one generation to the next."

One part of the suggested three-phase treatment plan focuses on trauma and mental health issues "to specifically address a parent's core trauma ...."

It is designed for the parent to work on the issues that led to intervention by Child Protective Services and to recognize and prevent those issues from recurring.

"I know from the work that has been done over the last year that Ashland County is ready for this type of change in our system," said county probate and juvenile court Judge Karen DeSanto Kellogg, in a written welcome to conference attendees.

Sherry Bouquet, executive director of Fostering Family Ministries, said there is often "somebody really important missing" in foster care training sessions and networking — "the birth family."

"Have Mom and Dad ever had an opportunity to heal from their trauma? Foster care is generational," Bouquet said. "They came from trauma, too."

"We have been training across Ashland County for six years," involving everyone who is part of the foster care system, said Bouquet, who is qualified as a trust-based trainer.

"The biggest pivot," she said, is working toward "more than just checking boxes on a case plan."

In looking at the birth parents, Bouquet asked, "What's the 'why' behind their behavior (related to) the adversity they experienced in their past?"

Many children are in foster care due to parents using drugs

When Kellogg campaigned for her position as judge, she said, "I wanted to bring the pieces of the puzzle together," referring to case management efforts of multiple entities.

Kellogg said she developed a heart for children experiencing trauma as an assistant prosecutor, an attorney in private practice and a board member of Appleseed Community Mental Health Center and Parenting Plus.

"I was always looking for alternatives" in approaching cases, she said, while also beginning "to learn a little bit more about trauma."

Everyone has experienced trauma somewhere in their history, Kellogg said. Her goal is to confront it.

The court is making strides in several areas, including setting a less adversarial tone in managing the case environment, shortening the time in between hearings and making them more frequent, and continuing to pursue mental health services and other resources.

Most of the children in foster care in Ashland County have been separated from their parents because of neglect or abuse, Bouquet said, most frequently as a result of drug abuse.

County statistics from Dec., 2021 show 55% of removals are drug-related,  Bouquet noted.

She said a spike a year ago resulted in more than 200 children in foster care. As of mid-December, cases had decreased to 133.

Clark told seminar attendees Ashland is "ahead of the game" with the goal of successfully reuniting families and preventing recidivism.

On an anecdotal basis, Bouquet said, chances of reunification after a second removal are greatly diminished.

To have a better chance of success, trust-based relationships are "powerful. It works," Bouquet said.

"We've trained over 400 people in four 1/2 years," Bouquet said, feeling privileged that Fostering Family Ministries is helping with a tool she believes has a biblical basis.

"Homes can be restored," she said.

Making better parents by helping them 'deal with their trauma'

Alongside following a treatment plan is "fostering a conversation" about valuing the role of parents in the community and creating connections, Kellogg said.

"If the end result is you want fewer children in custody and you want them to stay home, then you've got to make better parents," Kellogg said.

"If you want to make better parents, we've got to get people off of drugs.

"If you want to get people off of drugs, you've got to help them deal with their trauma," she said.

"It's going to be a whole community effort," Bouquet said.

"Some of our staff has already completed training" in the trauma-informed method, said Kellogg, whose goal for Ashland is to go beyond being "someplace special" to promoting and preserving families.

It must become a priority "before people are even coming into our system. Everyone needs some parent education."

Clark echoed Kellogg and Bouquet on several points; for example, that drug abuse is a major issue and that problems must be addressed inter-generationally.

In Tyler, Texas, "we had meth dealers who were grandparents," Clark said.

Overall, "Our goal is to reunite more kids with their biological family," she said.

Statewide, the average is 30%; but with a trauma-informed court, "we returned about 60% (of children) to their biological family," Clark said.

Moving forward, Kellogg hopes to get together in June with service providers to "talk about the bigger ideas," but also to "look at some of the smaller pieces."

She wants to move along the continuum of a court-involved system to take advantage of prevention services in the county.

In her welcome message to conference attendees, Kellogg said, "Trauma competency across providers and systems will drive community goals of family preservation and family promotion.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Confronting trauma: Court program puts focus on people not punishment