The Mississippi Supreme Court issued the following press release.
The Mississippi Commission on Children’s Justice this week asked leaders in child welfare to rethink how the state’s system responds to allegations of child neglect rooted in poverty.
The model is one centered on hope. The idea is to give hope to parents and children who encounter the Department of Child Protection Services and the Youth Courts.
The Commission conducted three days of meetings with a leading proponent of hope-centered programs, Chan Hellman, Ph.D., of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Oct. 20, 21 and 22 at the Gartin Justice Building and the Department of Child Protection Services in Jackson.
“The hope is that Dr. Hellman’s presentation will change our mindset and we see a new way,” Taylor Cheeseman, Interim Commissioner of the Department of Child Protection Services, told CPS leaders, judges and court staff on Oct. 21.
“Hope is the guiding framework of how we respond” in providing services to those in need, said Hellman, a professor of social work at the University of Oklahoma and Director of The Hope Research Center. Giving hope is an essential part of nurturing families and children toward improving their lives.
“Hope is the belief that the future will be better, and you have the power to make it so,” Hellman said.
His approach includes teaching people to do three things:
set desirable goals;
• identify viable pathways to goals, finding solutions to the problems that stand in the way;
• maintain the willpower to pursue those goals.
Hellman said action separates hope from a wish. “We are moving parents and families from wishing to hoping because we are going to make that pathway.”
CPS Deputy Commissioner Tonya Rogillio said it’s important to instill hope in the social work staff as well as the people they serve. The agency has a 30 percent turnover rate.
Hellman said, “I’m a firm believer that you can’t give what you don’t have.” He believes that creating a culture of hope lowers staff burnout and improves job satisfaction.
Justice Dawn Beam, co-chair of the Commission on Children’s Justice, said, “If Mississippi embraces this, it could have tremendous impact.”
One of the biggest challenges of implementing a hope-centered program is getting beyond skepticism. “It feels like it’s kind of a fluffy rainbows and unicorns thing,” Hellman said.
Earlier in his career, he would have laughed at the idea. But as a quantitative psychologist, he has measured and documented results including improved grades for children. He studies the effect of hope on outcomes for children and adults. His research is focused on hope as a psychological strength helping children and adults overcome trauma and adversity. He is the co-author of the book Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life.
Hellman has spent 25 years working with victims of domestic violence, child maltreatment, homelessness and poverty. He knows the struggles. He grew up in poverty and was homeless from eighth grade through high school.
As a psychologist, he experienced a eureka moment 12 years ago when he interviewed a 19-year-old homeless man who had recently been diagnosed with HIV. The man was filled with hope and had plans for attending college. Recalling the incident, Hellman said, “It was a realization that I had spent my entire career focused on the wrong question. ‘What’s wrong with you?’” His approach, he said, shifted to “What happened to you?” and “What’s right with you?”
“Hope can be taught. It starts with goals, pathways and willpower,” Hellman told members of the Mississippi Programs of HOPE committee of the Commission on Children’s Justice during a discussion Oct. 22. “At the heart of change is our ability to understand the way things are and to imagine the way things could be.”
Chancellor Rhea Sheldon of Hattiesburg, co-chair of the Commission on Children’s Justice, said, “I’m excited to see what we are going to be able to do going forward with collaboration with non-profits and Child Protection Services.”
Justice Beam said, “It’s a vision that we all can work together for the children of our state.” She said. “We don’t need to dream with boundaries. We need to dream big.”
The Commission on Children’s Justice recently established Programs of HOPE to continue to address child neglect prevention. Five multi-disciplinary committees were established to identify and recommend actions which can fill gaps, strengthen opportunities and lift up Mississippi families to a place where they can see a path toward better lives.
Programs of HOPE committees include Housing and Transportation; Opportunities for Treatment; Parent, Child and Family Supports; Economic Security; and Pathways of HOPE.
The Mississippi Supreme Court created the Commission on Children's
Justice in 2006 and tasked it to develop a statewide,
comprehensive approach to improving the child welfare system;
coordinate the three branches of government; and recommend changes to
improve children's safety, strengthen and support families, and promote
public trust and confidence in the child welfare system.
13 comments:
As long as we depend on government to solve our societal issues we will always have the same issues only they will worsen as time goes by. Whether it is crime in the streets or neglected children community leaders, pastors must address these issues for the best results. True change comes from within.
In regards to the murder rate in Jackson, just heard Labamba say on local news that this is a problem that the Federal government needs to solve. So sad. So pathetic.
What did they find the welfare money Phil's friends stole?
Want to give the kids hope? Try to create another commission, but this time appoint the poor kids and pay them lots of money to do no work.
I have no problem with helping ANY kid . . . but please don't forget our forgotten elderly.
They also like a random Christmas present.
I'm talking about those that have no one left.
No family still living.
No close friends still living.
Some may be in a nursing home, but many still live alone.
Just a reminder.
That was three solid days of yada-yada-yada. Nothing but more wheel-reinvention.
Several years ago, I became aware that and employee and his wife, every Friday after work, were heading to the boats in Vicksburg. EVERY week. They would return on Sunday, having left three small children at home, alone. The oldest was ten. The kids were instructed to not open the door for any reason and to not leave the house. Of course they were left with cereal and the TV remote.
I called child protective services and gave them a full report. The first thing that agency did was advice the two parents of the identity of who had reported them. Nothing was done to protect the children.
As long as these state agencies are staffed with JSU graduates seeking PERS retirement, not a damned thing is going to change. We can trot out a new Executive Director every three years and run radio commercials on Supertalk all day long...nothing changes.
Sorry folks - but these efforts are in fact "fluffy rainbows and unicorns". It works like this: There's a budget. Within that allocated budget (however meager) you do the level best you can by the community. That's it. If you're really managing the utility of those dollars, then that's as good as it gets. Mississippi barely even has a welfare system, nor a mental health system - only the skeletons of something that barely meets the qualifications of such. Perhaps more federal lawsuits will do the trick.
Shad White refuses to actually go after the whales that are skimming billions from the people that could go to child welfare and mental health, because he's too busy positioning himself for his next office, while not upsetting too many Oxford allies along the way.
WHERE on earth does all of Mississippi's budget disappear to every year? No one knows.....except Shad White, but he ain't tellin'.
Remember the old days when parents took care of their children? The government makes a terrible "in loco parentis".
I agree with the principal of focusing on giving hope, but how can you do that when these kids are also being taught that anyone with white skin is racist and so is the country they live in?
Also that interim director has one of the best last names ever, "Cheeseman".
This is why we need full communism. Even if the parents are alive, the state should take all children and educate them in revolutionary ideologies. Parents can attend ceremonies that award their children's academic and athletic achievements. Parents should be focused on revolutionary labors. Children are the future and parents are the past. Long live the revolution!
The dude that wants to blame JSU graduates is pretty damned funny. Somehow, I do not think this problem started with JSU graduates and it won't finish with them. I am glad anyone even wants to work for the state.
No, most of these kids are not taught that all white people are racist. Are you teaching your kids that all black kids think they are racist? Are you teaching your kids that all persons of a non-white persuasion are inferior?
Why did you both make this about race? Aren't you tired of race-baiting? Can't we all just get along?
9:46; I'm not that guy, but he's probably tired of telling the truth and nothing ever changing. You know he's right.
"This is why we need full communism."
Come to think of it, you may be right 9:28.
At least communism requires that everyone get off their ass and work in some capacity.
The worker is a primary part of communist theory.
But that's why communism will never work in the United States.
We've created a large chunk of our population that can't comprehend the concept of work.
The post below was suppressed yesterday. We are trying to thread the needle on what language causes JJ censorship, and what language does not. Is it a certain word, or is it the entire message?
As you have made very clear, it is your site, and we completely understand it’s your right. We appreciate the very hard work you are doing, and the incredible value you and your site bring to our community and will very much appreciate knowing what you will, and will not allow, so we can post in accordance with your requirements.
Thank you!
The laws of nature are the laws of nature.
As long as the BLM (Black Leftist Marxist) movement keeps gaining ground by teaming up with billionaires more concerned with adding to their fortunes than teaching young black children morals verses embracing lawlessness, it ain’t gonna get better.
And we should all be ashamed that we’ve become so used to it that we continue to allow America’s poor children to be subjected to the criminal atmospheres that they now have to grow up in. Especially our
so-called leaders i. e. every
politician, every
judge (especially those guilty of moral manslaughter via their revolving door catch and release system), every
preacher (especially those drawing their huge 6 figure incomes from “tithes” too worried about losing their churches tax exempt status to preach about it), every
so-called journalist and every
professor.
What’s happening in these Democrat controlled cities is shameful and pathetic!
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