ABSTRACT
The Patch approach has been a growing part of the social service vernacular in the US since the early 1990s. At that time it was introduced as an innovation from Great Britain. In Massachusetts, Patch is a problem solving approach focused on creating constructive child welfare reform in community settings by renegotiating roles and relationships between public child welfare agencies and the people that they serve. Community Connections organized stakeholders outside public child welfare to better support families in diverse ways. The ‘Admin Team’ is composed of Area Office Directors, Area Program Managers, Family Support Specialists, Dorchester Cares Director and Valuing Children Director. The widening of the circle of accountability for children and families at the sites extends to the Patch council. Understanding the complicated social networks which make a community work is critical to understanding how to promote the safety, stability, and well being of families and children.
