A key stakeholder relationship Dallas CASA maintains is with Child Protective Services.  Focusing in on my personal relationship with my peer at this state agency, I looked at some of the same questions that we used for our team performance assessment.  The relationship scored high despite some tense disagreements over issues including CPS adherence to maximum caseload maximum limits. What impresses me is that the CPS regional director has felt free to bring to my attention issues that have been escalated to her and we have been able to address those in an open, respectful, and calm manner.  Some of the issues we deal with fall into the personnel category and we both try to keep those problems in perspective, particularly when child safety is not involved.  And we know just enough about each other's personal lives to add a helpful "other" dimension to our professional relationship.  A project we're working on together is trying to develop a better understanding of the origins of disproportionality in the child welfare system.  The over-representations of African American kids in foster care has been a constant for years.  We're hoping a nonprofit and a state agency working together to better understand the underlying causes can bring about results that have not been achieved through other routes.  Jointly addressing a difficult issue like disproportionality would not be possible without the mutual trust that has developed while still maintaining our necessary independence.

Kathleen