Who is Alia? 

Alia is a national non-profit based out of Minnesota, who works with organizations to transform child welfare systems to keep families safely together. Their work with Rock County CPS has included workforce well-being and leadership development to prepare the organization internally to engage with parents and communities in a co-design process for CPS systems transformation. Rock County Child Protective Services began their partnership with Alia in 2019 and is actively working with them to achieve Rock Families First goals.

To learn more about the incredible work Alia is doing across the nation, visit: https://www.aliainnovations.org/

Rock County Human Services' Work with Alia

As part of the 2018 Family First Prevention and Services Act, Rock Families First was launched in 2021 with three primary goals: 1) increase satisfaction in engagement for Black families living in Beloit, 2) safely reduce the total number of out-of-home placements, and 3) eliminate racial disparities in CPS. In partnership with Rock County CPS, Alia, and Black parents from Beloit, Rock Families First will continue to work to design a new way forward by empowering Beloit’s Black community network to ultimately minimize the need for CPS intervention long-term. Rock Families First is starting with the children with the greatest need, learning what works, then scaling learnings to the remaining parts of the county. Our goal is to keep more children safely at home with their families. We believe this is possible by standing up community-led solutions so parents can get the help they need earlier.

For a 1-page overview of our “why” and the goals of Rock Families First, click HERE!

What have we accomplished so far?  

Since our work with Alia in 2019, we have worked on the following, with a lot of work ahead of us yet to do!

• Delivered trainings for leadership and staff to align the needs and vision of this project work;
• Held a co-design process with parents with lived experience to create the IdeaBook outlining ways we can build and support the community, to better support each other and utilize child protective services as a last resort;
• Secured philanthropy funds, as well as grant funds, to use creatively over the next several years to keep families safely together;
• Found space in the community for our Community Cultivator to meet with families and continue this work long-term;
• Created “Mandated Supporter” trainings to provide to the school district, police department, and other professionals in the community to reinforce family-first efforts;
• In the development phase of a revised practice model in child protective services in a co-design approach with parents with lived experience; and
• Reduced the number of out-of-home placements for children in care by 70% through internal capacity building, community co-design work, and a transformational mindset shift in leadership and staff.