Page 16 - Strengthening California’s Emergency Child Care Bridge Program

Strengthening California’s Emergency Child Care Bridge
While many of the staf expressed the importance of collaboration and having an existing relationship with their partner agency, they also shared that they benefitted from having support from external agencies All counties stated that they had partnerships with outside agencies to support the implementation of the Bridge Program Many of these outside agencies provided assistance with trauma-informed care coaching and trainings In addition to partnering with outside agencies on the trauma-informed care portion, they also worked with Head Start programs, county First 5s, and local non-profits in order to connect families to supportive services Outside agency partnerships were especially important for counties serving larger numbers of Bridge families
Whether internal or external, efective communication between partners and partnering organizations is essential to the Bridge Program’s success Given that this program operates within the intersection of both the child welfare and ECE systems, 58% of counties noted that having a mutual understanding of goals, values, and roles was integral to the success of the program Additionally, more than 80% of child welfare agencies mentioned efective communication was key when working with their partner agencies
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I think it would be helpful for other foster parents to know about it even before they accept placement. Because it can make it can make or break your decision on whether or not to take another placement, if you know that you can get help financially with child care.
– San Diego Caregiver
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Facilitating Access to Bridge Child Care by Increasing Awareness of
the Program and Expanding Eligibility Criteria and Funding
The successful implementation of the Bridge Program begs the question of how to best increase program access to serve those most in need Incidentally, of the caregivers who provided recommendations for program improvement in their interview, one-third suggested a need for improved outreach and program advertising Caregivers mentioned a lack of awareness of the program and shared that they felt that if more caregivers knew about the program then this could lead to more caregivers accepting a foster child placement Often, caregivers are only informed about the Bridge Program when the caregiver expresses a need for child care, rather than the program being ofered without asking or on the initial request to take in a child
As stated previously, interviews with program administrators and staf revealed that external partnerships were integral to program successes Half of the counties described partnering with community resource agencies to share resources for foster families to spread awareness about the program, along with working with school districts and community colleges to reach new foster families Additionally, program administrators found working with R&R agencies outside of their county resulted in building new relationships and sharing knowledge of each other’s programmatic nuances Some counties mentioned leading informal trainings to help Children’s Social Workers understand the Bridge program, but described the need for a formal training on the program and how to efectively outreach to families
16 | 2022