Drug Endangered Children Training and Advocacy Center

Dec Training Center

Mission Statement
Drug Endangered Children Training and Advocacy Center

We are committed to providing the best evidence based training, technical assistance, and resources available to multi-disciplinary professionals, emphasis on first responders, whose job it is to identify and rescue children from dangerous drug environments by providing children with the services, resources and medical care they need to ensure their well-being.

WHAT'S NEW

*NOW YOU CAN REGISTER FOR TRAINING ONLINE (See the Training Calendar Page)

A total of twenty one (21) DEC trainings were conducted in 14 counties during the first half of 2012. These trainings were held in the counties of Alpine, Monterey, Mendocino, San Diego, Riverside, Madera, Inyo, Kings, Sacramento, Butte, Trinity, Orange, San Joaquin, and Madera. This year to date we have trained over 600 participants from a variety of agencies serving in Law Enforcement, Social Work, Prosecution, Probation, First 5, Head Start Programs and Chaplains to name a few.

California still leads the United States with our response to drug endangered children. Grants provided to law enforcement in each county for the enforcement of drug laws require a multidiscipline DEC response supported by a memorandum of understanding which include the Department of Social Services. No other state in the nation has developed a similar system by which the DEC program has been implemented in every county. Because of this, the Executive Director and Training Director of DEC-TAC are frequently called upon by the Federal Government, as well as other states, to travel, train and mentor their staff on implementing the DEC strategy.

In July, the Directors were asked to attend a federal curriculum development session in Maryland where they provided expert instruction and materials to aid in creating a standardized National Drug Endangered Children Investigation Course curriculum.

The DEC-TAC office just completed a review of each counties submitted grant and operational materials.

Critiques with recommendations for improvement are being sent to each county grant recipient so that corrections can be made before the new ADA (Anti-Drug Abuse) grant submission deadline.

Training dates and venues are currently being scheduled for the fall season. Please visit our training calendar to see if there will be one in your county or call our office if your agency is interested in hosting a free training. We also provide 4 hour trainings on a variety of DEC specific topics at the request of your agency.

ARTICLE OF THE MONTH:

The Times Standard out of Eureka California, requested an interview with the Executive Director of DEC, Sue Webber Brown. Click on the following link to read about: The tragic case of Maggie Jean Wortman: A woman who never had a chance gives her son the same fate.

http://www.times-standard.com/ci_20252302/tragic-case-maggie-jean-wortman-woman-who-never?source=most_viewed

DEC TRAINING HAPPENINGS:

The DEC training team, consisting of Sue Webber-Brown, Christine Smith-Snapper and Jeff Laugero, held training at the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA on March 21, 2012. With 60 attendees from Narcotic Task Forces, Sheriff Department’s and Probation, the 8 hour mandated class was received with great reviews on evaluations. The trainers spent more time on the investigation portion and prosecution section which seemed to be of greatest value.

This training was co-sponsored by the Western States information Network (WSIN) who generously paid for the conference room and assisted in distributing flyers for the well-attended event. Another draw was the California Meth Pharmaceutical Initiative (CMPI) quarterly meeting held the following day at the same location. CMPI was well attended with representatives from local state and federal agencies providing drug trends, and regional reports on a variety of topics.

On April 26^th, DEC-TAC consultants will be training in Inyo County. There is still room available for this training. Please go to our “Request Trainings” tab and download the registration form and fax or email it to our office. You will receive a confirmation email once you are confirmed.

DEC-TAC SERVICES OFFERED:

• POST Certified 8 hour courses

• 15 DEC elective courses including Indian Courses

• In field training on case-by-case

• Website with resources

• Expert DEC witnesses

• Telephone/technical consult

New DEC TAC Brochure

This project is supported by funding from the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA)

awarded by Grant No. DK09011734 to Counseling Solutions Inc., on behalf of the Drug Endangered Children Training and Advocacy Center.

The opinions, findings and conclusions of this website are those of the author and not necessarily those of Cal EMA.