Child Protection Program in Mississippi

 Child Protection Program in Mississippi

Program Description

The program to help child protection is Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP). The primary role of the program is to prevent the chances of children experiencing both neglect and abuse. Children may face cases of neglect and abuse in situations characterized by parental alcoholism, domestic violence, living in poverty, and, among others, the existence of mental health problems for either the child or the parents (Children's Trust Fund, 2022). The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS), thus, takes the responsibility of administering the program and ensuring the achievement of child protection against neglect and abuse. The program follows a belief that the best way to eradicate the problem of child neglect and abuse is to prevent it. Therefore, the program concentrates majorly on prevention measures. While the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) concentrates on victimized children, it also considers families at risk to prevent the problem at its onset.  

Population served

The mission and vision statement of The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) gives the exact information about the population the program intends to serve and how it attempts to achieve such missions. The vision statement presented in the organization aims to see "Mississippi's children grow up in strong families, safe from harm and supported through partnerships to promote family stability and permanency" (MDCPS, 2022). The statement identifies the target group as children who are either neglected or abused in the community. The program attempts to realize the vision through the provisions of its mission statement. The mission provides three ways in which the program attempts to achieve the vision: strengthening families, finding ways to prevent child abuse and cases of neglect, and promoting the well-being of children and families while also advocating for stronger family connections. 

Activities

Achieving the goals of successful child protection, Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP), through the administration of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS), engages in various activities. The most common activity in the program is to identify the victims of neglect and abuse and assesses the possible causes of such situations. Once the program initiators identify the victimized populations, they find appropriate methods to eliminate the possible causes of the situation to provide a conducive environment for the growth and development of the victimized children. Apart from the concern for children, the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) also helps find ways to strengthen families. In strengthening families, the program initiators take their time to counsel families while also teaching them about the importance of healthy living. Most of the services offered by MDCPS aim at creating an environment that can help children achieve healthy growth and development.  

Outcomes

Since the program's inception, communities around Mississippi have enjoyed a massive reduction in child neglect and abuse levels. The program engages in many activities that help stabilize families while also giving new hope to the children who have had experiences with both neglect and abuse. A report by McCarthy & Ballou (2019) shows a massive difference between the numbers in 2017 and 2019, and the positivity of the shifts confirms the program's success at the time of service. The outcomes include the increased number of child adoption within the communities, which further reduces the cases of children suffering due to neglect and abuse. In addition, the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) activities are responsible for the considerable reduction in the number of children in state custody and the increased post-adoptive measures that ensure children are safe and healthy even after reuniting with families reduced caseloads of individual caseworkers. The items, among others, are a great testimony that the program is indeed helpful to the communities.  

Evaluation Preparation

People and organizations tend to implement programs for different purposes, but the most important thing is to find a way of evaluating the success of such a program. Of course, the fact that an organization or a community implements a program does not mean it would guarantee success. Still, with a thorough evaluation, the perpetrators can identify gaps and find a way to improve their success chances. The outcome-based evaluation model is the evaluation mode that benefits the child protection program (Children's Trust Fund, 2022). The model defines a program as a set of activities and services leading people towards the intended and observable changes for the participants. The method is appropriate for the program because it outlines the required collection and analysis methods for any data regarding research based on people and communities. As such, the model can examine the impacts of the program within the communities, thus making it easy for the program initiators to find the limiting factors and improve them accordingly. 

There are various things that the program initiators must take into consideration before using the evaluator program. The considerations given to the items will help them to find the most dependable results. The items include the feasibility of information collection and analysis, the information they will require to help them make important decisions, and finally, the credibility of the information obtained to the managers and donors associated with the program. The outcome-based evaluation model is the most preferred for this program because of its capability to assess the outcomes and make recommendations that can propel the program to further success.

Analysis of the results

A successful analysis of a program follows an outlined procedure to understand the aspects of the program that are more important for the evaluators. Outlining the aspects of a program allows the evaluators to make the most relevant inferences about the program without the possibility of forgetting any important aspects. The first aspect of the program that requires analysis is the goal or objective. The program's objective acts as a point of direction for the evaluators to prevent the possibility of shifting away from the main topic. For example, the objective of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) is to prevent child abuse and neglect; thus, all the actions of the program should revolve around such an objective (MDCPS, 2022). The ensuing aspect of the analysis is the appropriate method for data analysis. The appropriateness of the assessment method increases the chances of finding reliable results. Other important aspects of program evaluation include:

·         Appropriate indicators.

·         Data collection and implementation over time.

·         Analysis and interpretation of data.

The implementation of changes is based on the recommendations identified in the chosen model. The indicators used to determine the progress of each goal must be appropriate to give accurate results. Whenever the evaluators choose the wrong indicator, there are high chances that they will not find the most relevant results. Data collection and analysis take time because the program aims to identify the differences between pre and post-implementation. Therefore, the evaluators must be patient enough to identify such changes. Once the evaluators identify relevant information relating to the program and its success, they should coordinate with the program initiators to implement the recommendations. Through implementing recommendations, the program gets an opportunity to improve its success.

Evaluation and Reporting

Reporting

The program evaluation takes time and involves populations, thus dictating the methods used to report the data. One of the most appropriate methods is to report results from the program through graphics. For example, the graphs and pie charts can represent the percentage changes in pre and post-program types. The use of graphs also helps many people to interpret the results with ease, especially those who want quick analysis. Putting the results into writing is also a good way of reporting a research study. Writing provides the program initiators with an opportunity to give detailed explanations about the results. Such detailed analyses help many people to understand the exact issues around the success and failures of the programs. While it is not commonly used, oral reporting can also be an excellent way to report the results. However, there is a massive chance that the audience might not grab the information as it requires good communication skills.  

Ethical considerations

Most research studies involve the use of people as participants. Therefore, the researchers must maintain specific ethical considerations to reduce the chances of getting into problems with such participants. The most common ethical consideration while working with children as participants in the informed consent. Informed consent seeks to acquire the children's permission and explain the benefits and activities they are supposed to gain and perform while participating in the research (Montreuil et al., 2021). The second aspect of ethical consideration in research is the voluntary involvement of participants. Nobody should become part of research without their permission and willingness to help find results. Finally, anonymity and confidentiality are two of the most important aspects of ethical considerations in any research or program execution. Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) works with children, and it is essential to keep them anonymous while keeping their information as secretive as possible. Both anonymity and confidentiality help improve the security of children once their situations find resolutions.  

Communication to staff and stakeholders

Communication to staff and stakeholders majorly aims to report information about the findings, acknowledge problems faced, or request assistance to propel further investigations on the same issue. Therefore, it is essential to choose the best method of information capable of providing detailed information for the functionalities such as informing, reporting, or requesting. Emails are one of the most effective communication methods with staff and stakeholders in this digital era. Email provides a platform to engage the stakeholders in a meeting but can also necessitate sharing research documents that the stakeholders can access and read. Other forms of communication with the stakeholders are not limited to networking, social media, and physical meeting to present the fundamental research and its components. Social media platforms and phone calls or messages should only be essential when informing or reminding the staff and stakeholders about meetings. 

References

Children's Trust Fund. (2022). Community-based child abuse prevention (CBCAP) federal grant. https://ctf4kids.org/program-partners/cbcap/#:~:text=Community%20Based%20Child%20Abuse%20Prevention,operate%20networks%20of%20community%2Dbased%2C

McCarthy, W., & Ballou. (2019, June 11). REPORT: Mississippi Department of child protective services at risk of takeover for failure to protect children. Retrieved from https://www.wlox.com/2019/06/11/report-mississippi-department-child-protective-services-risk-take-over-failure-protect-children/?msclkid=0ddc657bbcf311ec8cf9078105daaa2d

MDCPS (2022). Prevent Child abuse/neglect. https://www.mdcps.ms.gov/prevent-child-abuseneglect/

Montreuil, M., Bogossian, A., Laberge-Perrault, E., & Racine, E. (2021). A review of approaches, strategies, and ethical considerations in participatory research with children. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20, 1609406920987962.