Community Child Protection Teams assess ways to prevent harm to local children

CCPT/CCFT Chair Jenny Cook (left) and Co-Chair Antoinette Boskey presenting their teams annual report from 2022 to the Craven County Commissioners.

The annual report from the Craven County Community Child Protection Team (CCPT) and Child Fatality Prevention Team (CFPT), which reports on childhood deaths, cases of abuse or neglect, and recommends which actions can be taken to protect children.

CCPT and CFPT Chair Jenny Cook presented the team’s annual report, along with Co-Chair Antoinette Boskey, to the Craven County Commissioners in early August.

Cook said the purpose of the child protection teams is to develop a community wide approach to child abuse and neglect that ultimately aims to prevent childhood abuse, neglect, and death.

The team identifies gaps and deficiencies in service delivery to make and implement recommendations for laws, rules, and policies to prevent children harm.

“The team is not only composed of public agencies, but it also includes those private agencies as well,” Boskey said. “Representation from the community gives us a much more well-rounded view of what’s happening from different perspectives.”

In fact, one area of focus the team has in 2023 is to complete a survey with families to identify gaps in services and needs among families in the Craven County community, according to Cook.

They are in the process of developing that survey, but when people do begin to receive it they are encouraged to participate.

“We need people to fill it out and send it back because we are looking for ways to fill known gaps and a way to get providers in here to meet the needs of the families we serve,” Cook said.

This year the team will also focus on submitting appropriate referrals to community partners to prevent further maltreatment and providing families and community partners with educational QR sheets.

“Part of our recommendation throughout our team meetings was to develop a QR code to provide information and educational services to our citizens and providers,” Cook said. “The good thing about this code is that it can be edited to add additional providers and information as we get knowledge of those.”

The code, created and funded by Craven County Department of Social Services, was developed in February and has already been scanned almost 300 times, according to Cook.

Cook explained how the teams developed the QR code as a result of studying fatalities that did not occur as a result of abuse or neglect.

Out of the fatalities they looked at, 10 were perinatal conditions, three were due to birth defects, and one was due to co-sleeping.

Team members review cases on a quarterly basis and review records of deceased residents under the age of 18, according to Boskey.

“We meet January, April, July, and October,” Boskey said. “We discuss the outcomes of services and circumstances surrounding the child’s death to search for ways to prevent future fatalities.”

The team reviewed eight cases in 2022 to identify current gaps in service. According to Boskey, their assessments determined there are not enough providers to support teens struggling with substance abuse.

“There has been a definite increase in smoking, vaping, and drinking,” she said. “So we’ve got to fill that gap somehow.”

Boskey said there are limited placements for certain children within the foster care system who need a higher level of care due to behavioral issues.

From that conclusion, the team named various recommendations that could help at risk teens.

Their recommendations include: follow up with Trillium for teen substance abuse treatment, partner with the Department of Juvenile Justice and discuss court involvement with children who show aggressive behaviors, provide nutrition counseling to help children understand the importance of healthy food choices, partner with the school system to give children something to look forward to, provide referrals for parenting classes to educate parents on substance abuse impacts, and partner with Trillium to locate therapeutic placements to meet the mental health needs of children in foster care.

According to Cook, the last recommendation is an especially important one.

“DSS tends to have children who are recommended for high therapeutic care and they’re not accepted into certain placements,” Cook said.

For more information on the local Community Child Protection Teams, click here.