Reflections on Kentucky’s Statewide Implementation and Use of the CANS for Clinical Decision-Making for Youth
By Lizzie Minton, LCSW - 2023 TCOM Program Committee Chairperson
A Child Welfare Clinical Consultant for Kentucky’s Department for Community-Based Services
We are just two months away from welcoming you to our beautiful state of Kentucky! Dr. Andrew Winters and I look forward to sharing reflections on Kentucky’s implementation and use of the CANS in clinical decision-making for youth in out-of-home care during our keynote presentation. Like many of you, our journey has been full of ups and downs over the last ten years. While we have had statewide use of the CANS since 2018, we continue to work with child welfare and behavioral health providers on their use of the CANS, finding new ways to enhance collaboration. This is an ever-evolving process as we have navigated high staff turnover and complex relationships across systems.
Our focus on transformation has never wavered. We remain committed to doing our part to transform Kentucky’s child welfare system into a family-focused and person-centered helping system. Implementation is an ongoing process, requiring us to continuously evaluate our approaches and make thoughtful changes as needed. We will share what we have learned from focus groups with behavioral health providers and child welfare workers, from analyzing administrative data, and how these findings impact practice.
Dr. Andrew Winters
Dr. Winters is an Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work and Family Science. His research focuses attention on the relative effectiveness of different types of services provided through the behavioral health, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems to children and adolescents involved in these systems. His research agenda addresses two focal areas: service equity, access, and alignment for youth with multiple system involvement, and the capacity and readiness of the workforce to deliver these services. Dr. Winters is particularly interested in the facilitators and barriers to service implementation and sustainability within child-serving systems. Dr. Winters’ research impacts practice and policy by drawing attention to ineffective system reactions. He is currently engaged in three community-based research projects.
Dr. Winters is Co-Principal Investigator on a two-year follow-up study to Project SAFESPACE, exploring facilitators and barriers to intra-and interagency child welfare screening for trauma and behavioral health needs and behavioral health functional assessment processes to understand what is contributing to compliance and practice issues. The research team plans to conduct a retrospective administrative data analysis, obtaining state-level data to descriptively examine the relationship between screening, assessment, and treatment and child welfare outcomes of safety, permanency, and well-being. The research team will also conduct focus groups with child welfare staff and behavioral health providers centering on the commonality of the experiences of the participants as they relate to screening and assessment practices in promoting youth outcomes.
Lizzie Minton
Lizzie Minton currently works as a Child Welfare Clinical Consultant for Kentucky’s Department for Community-Based Services. Since 2016, Lizzie’s work has focused on the implementation and integration of standardized screening and assessment for children in out-of-home care, including the use of the CANS for youth and their families. Lizzie is a certified CANS Trainer and provides ongoing training and technical support to all behavioral health providers in Kentucky who use the KY-CANS. Previously, Lizzie was a therapist for children in foster care and residential treatment. Lizzie is pursuing her Doctorate in Social Work at the University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work and Family Science.
This year’s TCOM Conference is a wonderful opportunity to connect and learn from others focused on population health and TCOM implementation. Kentucky is quite beautiful in the fall, and Lexington has much to offer! I’m counting down the days when we gather to learn and celebrate together!
Lizzie Minton, LCSW
2023 TCOM Program Committee Chairperson