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Casey Family Focus Groups |
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CASEY FAMILY PROGRAMS FUNDS SAFF HELP US RE-WRITE NEVADA FOSTER CARE REGS
Sierra Association of Foster Families has recently received the first installment of funding to assist the State of Nevada in re-writing Nevada’s foster care regulations. Nevada Division of Child and Family Services Deputy Administrator Barbara Legier contracted SAFF in January to begin hosting a series of foster parents focus groups throughout the state in order to ensure foster parent voices are heard in the regulation re-writes. Joseph Galata, SAFF Statewide Support Services Coordinator and Michalle Shown-Rodriquez, Executive Director will host 21 “confidential” focus group meetings with foster parents in Reno, Carson City/Douglas County, Elko, Ely, Winnemucca, Yerington, Las Vegas, Mesquite, and Pahrump during February, March and April. Each meeting will focus on a specific area of the regulations. In May, interested foster parents from each of those groups will be invited to participate in “stakeholders” meetings with key state child welfare leadership to draft the proposed changes. As Chris Lovass-Nagy, State Grants Administrator stated, “We need our foster families to tell us what works for them, what’s realistic for them and their families, and what we can do make the system a better place for them to work within. The foster parents are really the experts on this one. We need to hear from them.” This is a wonderful opportunity for SAFF foster families to have their voices heard and concerns aired in a positive and productive way. The foster parent focus groups will be closed to agency personnel, providing a confidential environment for foster families to participate in open discussion. However they will not offer a forum to discuss agency conflicts or specific case issues. Funding from the Casey grant will help pay for mileage for foster parents to attend the meetings. Please consider attending one of more of the upcoming focus group meetings and help shape foster care regulations in Nevada. To participate, please contact the SAFF office at 775-828-9977 or email us a saffassistant@sbcglobal.net . Angela will tell you the scheduled dates for Reno, Carson City/Douglas County, Las Vegas, Pahrump, and Mesquite. Dates for Winnemucca, Yerington, Fallon, Lovelock, Fernely, Elko and Ely are currently being arranged. In Reno: 3/4 6:30pm 3/18 10:00am and 6:30pm In Carson/Douglas/Lyon County: Thursday March 20 10am Roberta Simon's Home (email for directions saffassistant@sbcglobal.net) Winnemucca Wednesday March 26, 11:30a-3:00p Winnemucca Library Elko Hilton Garden Inn Wednesday March 26 7p-9p Thursday March 27 9a-11p
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