Workforce and Leadership Development

Workshop

E3 - Alaska's Child Welfare and Public Health Partnership: Introducing Harm Reduction Techniques into Infant Safe Sleep Conversations

Primary Presenter(s)

• 

  Sabra Anckner, RN

  Perinatal Nurse Consultant
  State of Alaska, Division of Public Health
  Anchorage, Alaska

Moderator(s)

• 

  Daniella DeLozier, MSPH

  Public Health Specialist
  Alaska Department of Health & Social Services
  Anchorage, Alaska

In 2016, Alaska found that 95% of the families who experienced the loss of an infant in a sleep environment had child protection history, with the parents as parents of other children or the parents as child victims. Alaska’s Division of Public Health (DPH) and Office of Children’s Services (OCS) partnered to create a 3-hour workshop for OCS field staff and their partners, combining Healthy Alaska Babies, a state-specific, harm reduction focused curriculum on infant safe sleep adapted from the Healthy Native Babies Project, and information on identifying high-risk infants and prioritizing their families. Thus far, more than 250 OCS staff and partners have attended the workshops. We will share program development, workshop evaluation results, and next steps.