In July 2017, the Children’s Commission launched the Statewide Collaborative on Trauma-Informed Care (SCTIC) to elevate trauma-informed policy and practices in the Texas child welfare system by creating a statewide strategy to support system reform, organizational leadership, cross-systems collaboration, and community-led efforts with data-informed initiatives.
The Statewide Collaborative on Trauma Informed Care (SCTIC) is a dedicated network of professionals and stakeholders invested in transforming the Texas child welfare system into a system that routinely views children and families as individuals who have experienced traumatic events. Under the leadership of the Children’s Commission, the SCTIC embarked on the first phase of its efforts in 2017 by developing objectives and strategies for moving the entire Texas child welfare system forward in a trauma-informed manner.
Building a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System: A Blueprint
Based on the SCTIC’s work, the Children’s Commission published Building a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System: A Blueprint.
The Blueprint creates a roadmap for the Texas child welfare system to become trauma-informed and trauma-responsive and invites innovation and improvement in the approach to trauma-informed care in both the public and private sectors. The SCTIC Implementation Task Force provides a vehicle for implementing the Blueprint by organizing and collaborating on statewide and local efforts.
Implementation Task Force & Workgroups
Chaired by the Honorable Judge Carlos Villalon, Judge of the Child Protection Court of the Rio Grande Valley West, the Implementation Task Force was created to oversee the implementation of the strategies set forth in the Blueprint. The Implementation Task Force set global priorities for the SCTIC, established workgroups to carry out these priorities, and monitored progress to help ensure successful implementation.
The workgroups Policy & Practice, Training, and Information Sharing, Data, & Funding each completed large projects during the initial phase of implementation.
Judicial Trauma Institute
The Judicial Trauma Institute was presented live on April 22-23, 2021 via webcast. The content was designed by Commission staff in partnership with the SCTIC Training Workgroup and hosted by the Texas Center for the Judiciary. The goal of the conference was for judicial teams to gain information and discover practical tools and resources about how to become a trauma-informed and trauma-responsive court in child welfare cases. Judicial teams were composed by judges who invited the following members from their jurisdictions: a court coordinator; a prosecutor; an attorney who takes appointments for parents and for children in CPS cases; a senior-level Caseworker or Supervisor at DFPS; and a CASA Executive Director or Program Director. Due to the virtual format, additional child welfare stakeholders and single registrant judges also attended.
Video replays and conference materials can be accessed on the Judicial Trauma Institute webpage.
