Episode Details

Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by Nicole Strattman, the manager for the Resource Families: Recruitment, Development, and Support program in Children and Family Services. In this episode they discuss Resource Parents/Resource Families and why they are important in child welfare.

Nicole Strattman

Nicole has been employed with the County of Orange Social Services Agency (SSA) since 1999. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California. She is currently the manager for the Resource Families: Recruitment, Development and Support program in Children and Family Services. Nicole has worked in a variety of programs at SSA which have included assignments investigating child abuse as well as representing SSA in Family Law Court. In 2014, Nicole began working alongside the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force to create an enhanced collaborative response model, treating trafficked children as victims and ensuring the child welfare system had the services to meet the victim’s needs. She is a California Department of Social Services “Above and Beyond” award recipient and has received recognition from California State Senator Ling Ling Chang and California Congresswoman Katie Porter for her commitment to end Human Trafficking and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). Nicole was a key advocate in bringing in a therapy dog into youth’s court hearings, which was profiled on local news station, KTLA in Los Angeles as well as the nationally syndicated show CW’s Dogs of the Year. As an expert in the field, she has traveled across the state as a presenter and trainer on CSEC and Human Trafficking as it relates to Child Welfare, where she has trained social workers, victim advocates, mental health practitioners, law enforcement and international delegations from countries, such as Egypt and Vietnam.

Key Points

• The language of resource parenting came in 2013 and the term aims to emphasize the importance of family homes over group homes or institutionalized living situations. 
• The goal of resource parenting is always reunification with the biological parent of the child. 
• Care communities are those around resource parents and families, who provide support through volunteering or mentoring, if they cannot house a child themselves. 
• Resource parents are important because they provide a stable home and life for a child who is separated from their biological parent.
• Trauma-informed training for resources parents is key to ensure families and individuals can effectively provide care for commercially sexually exploited children.

Resources

• Quality Parenting Initiative 
• Family Urgent Response System
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• YMCA
• Court Appointed Special Advocate
• Hearts in Motion
• Olive Crest

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Transcript

Sandra Morgan 0:00

You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode 295, “What is the Role of a Resource Parent in Serving Commercially Sexually Exploited Child Victims” with Nic