Two hundred and twenty-two days. That’s how long one child slept on a cot at the Rutherford County Department of Social Services (DSS) office. Children often end up in DSS care when they are displaced from their foster homes and don’t have another placement lined up.
This situation brings tears to Delores (Dee) Hunt’s eyes. “These children often think, ‘You took me from my parents, and now nobody wants me,’” she says. “And then they have to sleep on the floor.”
Building a home for children on the DSS property became a passion project for Hunt, the Rutherford County DSS Director. She applied for the Dogwood Health Trust Housing Grant and was awarded $465,000 to build The Lighthouse at Building D. (Dogwood Health Trust is an organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of citizens in western North Carolina.)
A year and a half later, The Lighthouse at Building D opened its doors to children awaiting placements, becoming the first home constructed on a DSS campus in North Carolina to solve this crisis. What have been the results? “Since the project was completed, there hasn’t been a child on our floor,” says Hunt.
Hunt attributes the project's success to the power of cross-sector collaboration among DSS staff, county leaders, and community partners. In this article, she and other partners of the Institute for Family discuss common communication challenges and share nine effective strategies for collaboration in the social services sector.
These strategies align with Mission InCommon, an initiative of the Institute for Family, which brings together professionals, community experts, and local champions to reimagine systems that better serve families with empathy and effectiveness. Through strategic storytelling and deep listening, Mission InCommon uncovers shared themes and emerging trends that inform family-centered solutions and lasting change.
Before exploring these strategies, it’s important to examine the needs of families today and the challenges social service professionals face.
Family Needs and Professional Challenges
The needs of families have become much more complex. No single social service agency can solve every problem, including housing instability, behavioral health, substance use, child safety, food insecurity, transportation barriers, workforce challenges, and isolation.
“With resources being so limited, we want to reduce duplication and close gaps while responding in a way that is humane, efficient, and accountable,” notes Hunt.
When it comes to addressing child welfare needs, there may be misunderstandings about the role of DSS and its partners. Some social service partners may not understand DSS’ confidentiality limits or the policies and legal mandates DSS must follow. For example, a partner may provide information about a case and then request updates on the family in return, but DSS is not permitted to share that information.
“Some partners don’t always understand when we have to reunite children with their parents or why we can’t take guardianship of an adult,” says Hunt. “Even among professionals, biases can lead people to believe we should remove children or assume guardianship, but we have clear guidelines we must follow.”
In Wisconsin, about 65% of family separations involve neglect as a primary or contributing factor, meaning everyone knows someone affected by it.
“We've seen a strong intersection between poverty and neglect,” explains Luke Waldo, Director of Program Design and Community Engagement for the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being at Children’s Wisconsin. “When families are overloaded by economic stressors, such as housing instability, food insecurity, and underemployment, their capacity to provide consistent care becomes compromised. This required us to invest more time and energy into sectors that focus on economic stability.”
While neglect looks different across communities, the root causes, including housing instability, insufficient income, and social isolation, are universal. Experienced social service professionals recognize that communities may require tailored solutions to address common challenges.
Barriers to Cross-Sector Collaboration
Most social service professionals work with limited resources, making cross-sector collaboration more difficult. As Hunt notes, organizations are often understaffed and overextended, leaving little capacity for additional commitments. When time and staffing are already stretched thin, collaboration can begin to feel like just another meeting rather than a strategic opportunity.
Even for highly engaged leaders like Hunt, who serves on multiple community boards, it’s not feasible to attend every meeting or be present at every table. This lack of capacity — driven by limited time, staffing shortages, and competing priorities — creates a structural barrier to sustained collaboration and information sharing.
Sometimes a lack of trust is involved. “DSS doesn't necessarily have the best reputation in the community,” Hunt shares. “Conflicts with our partners may arise if they feel like we didn’t handle a situation correctly. For example, a school may report a concern about a child and later say that nothing was done to address it.”
Staff turnover is also a significant challenge that can erode momentum in social service partnerships. If a highly responsive social worker moves to another position, there may be a delay in communication when partners and parents seek assistance. It takes time to find and train another qualified social worker to fill the gap.
Best Practices for Effective Collaboration
Hunt sees opportunities for cross-sector collaboration “everywhere.” Social service professionals can increase their chances of connecting by staying open-minded and following these best practices:
- Create dedicated spaces for constructive dialogue. Roundtables and collaborative projects break down silos by bringing together experts who may not typically work together, including parents with lived experience, mandated reporters, child welfare professionals, and organizational and system leaders.
For example, the Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities (SFTCCC) initiative, led by the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being at Children’s Wisconsin, dedicated its first year to cross-sector community roundtables, data walks, and storytelling cafes, in which stakeholders shared their perceptions of the root causes of neglect. “We listened, synthesized, and analyzed their feedback and stories and then paired those insights with the best available research and evidence, which grounded our conversations in facts rather than assumptions,” Waldo says.
- Bring the right people to the table. Collaboration means you can’t work in silos — everyone needs to come to the table and understand all the community partners. Clarify the roles required to collaborate in addressing a social service issue. For example, if there’s a behavioral health need, ensure that a representative from a managed care entity is included in the discussion. This strengthens trust and keeps community partners accountable to one another.
- Meet people where they are. Cross-sector collaboration thrives when you meet people and systems where they are. For example, Waldo’s team integrated Mobility Mentoring® into Children's Wisconsin's existing programs, home visiting, employment services, family support, and child welfare. Rather than creating something new, they partnered with EMPath to enhance existing capacity with poverty-informed tools. Since the staff had established relationships with families, Children's Wisconsin provided them with additional frameworks and skills to address the economic root causes of neglect. His team identified gaps in service models, engaged specialized expertise, and adapted the approach to the local context.
Effective collaboration builds on existing strengths rather than replacing them, and it requires acknowledging what's missing without blaming the people doing the work,” Waldo explains. “When you can clearly articulate the connection between systemic issues (such as poverty) and outcomes (such as neglect), it becomes easier to justify cross-sector investments and align diverse partners around shared goals.”
- Be responsive. When someone contacts you for help, respond immediately. Being responsive helps you build trust and promotes an efficient, collaborative environment.
- Be quick to listen and respond graciously. If someone calls with a complaint, resist the urge to be defensive. “Sometimes when people call, they just want to be heard,” says Hunt. “Listen attentively, without making any excuses or becoming defensive. Take in all the information before responding.”
For example, someone may call to complain about a social worker’s speech or behavior. After listening carefully to what happened, say: “Let me research this and get back to you.” After you conduct your own research, regroup to discuss how to resolve the issue.
- Set the example. Model what you want others to follow. Be the partner who is open-minded and offers a listening ear. Identify the underlying barriers and work together to address them.
- Get out in the community. One of Hunt’s favorite quotes is, “You can see so much further when you’re on the other side of the desk and not behind it.” To take the lead in collaboration, engage with the community and discuss your organization’s needs. Being a member of multiple community organizations creates more opportunities to answer questions and share information with partners.
- Deepen shared understanding through storytelling. Storytelling humanizes social service data and builds empathy across professional boundaries. Waldo has found success in sharing stories through personal narratives and his organization’s “Overloaded: Understanding Neglect” podcast. The Institute for Child and Family Well-Being has developed shared language for overloaded families and the root causes of neglect, which helps professionals across sectors discuss the same problems in the same way. The goal? Reduce family separations due to neglect by building a community that collaborates to pursue policies and practices that support overloaded families and address systemic failures.
- Build trust and collaborative partnerships over time. The Institute for Child and Family Well-Being at Children’s Wisconsin’s approach to partnership focuses on creating natural opportunities for expansion. “We continue to invest in building shared understanding through storytelling, data engagement, and creating spaces where diverse stakeholders can learn together,” Waldo explains. “By acting as a field catalyst rather than a program owner, we connect existing initiatives and elevate what's already working locally. We also provide technical assistance without competing with community efforts.”
Collaboration Success Stories
Explore real-life examples of how collaborations with therapeutic and community partners and programs improve the lives of children and families:
The Lighthouse at Building D
When applying for the Dogwood Health Trust Housing Grant, Hunt and the Rutherford County DSS titled their proposal “Support, Housing, Advocacy, Resources, and Education (SHARE) for Foster Care.” The initiative was designed to address the urgent needs of children awaiting foster homes or other appropriate placements.
In addition to partnering with Dogwood Health Trust, Hunt worked closely with the following stakeholders:
- Michelle and Mark Lattimore, owners of the Peace in the City group home. The Lattimores volunteered their time and expertise to walk through the home and assess safety needs. Drawing on their experience operating group homes, they recommended practical improvements — such as installing security cameras and a front-door peephole — that the team had not initially considered. They evaluated every room and provided comprehensive recommendations at no cost, demonstrating the strength of community partnership.
- Rutherford County Manager’s Office and local government departments. Because the property is owned by the county and overseen by a traditional board structure, the project required close coordination among multiple entities, including the facilities department, the county manager’s office, board members, and external partners such as Dogwood Health Trust. Approval from the county manager was necessary before the home could be placed on the property, making cross-department collaboration essential to the project’s success. In addition, the facilities manager and finance director are critical players in moving projects.
- NC Department of Health and Human Services. Hunt consulted with the department to confirm regulatory requirements. After several discussions, it was determined that the home did not require licensure from the state of North Carolina, provided it was not operated as a foster home with full-time placements.
- Other community partners, including Habitat for Humanity, United Way, Mosaic Hope, and The Armstrong House. These partners provided valuable input and feedback during the grant development process. Habitat for Humanity even identified a potential home to help meet the need before Dogwood Health Trust approved funding to construct the home directly on the DSS campus.
“I spent hours each day managing my checklist and making follow-up calls,” Hunt says. “In the end, it didn’t cost us anything but collaboration. That’s the value of strong community partnerships — they stepped in to help for free, even though they could have billed us for their time.”
The Lighthouse at Building D includes three bedrooms with two beds each, accommodating six to eight children at a time. A television and games offer opportunities to relax and unwind, while a full kitchen allows social workers to cook alongside the children. Behind the home, a large playground gives kids space to play.
When the home is not being used for emergency placement, it also serves as a visitation space where families can spend meaningful time together in a comfortable, home-like environment that supports connection, healing, and bonding while strengthening family relationships and encouraging the goal of reunification. Because The Lighthouse at Building D is so close to the DSS office, social workers can easily stop by to check in with the children.
Duke Endowment Grant
Hunt was awarded the Duke Endowment Grant, a three-year grant serving Henderson and Rutherford counties. The grant is designed to reduce the number of children entering foster care by addressing issues before the courts get involved.
“When we receive a report on a particular family for abuse, neglect, or dependency, about 85% of cases involve neglect,” says Hunt. “Often, families are facing legal challenges they can’t afford to address on their own.”
As Waldo echoed, neglect usually stems from economic instability rather than intentional harm. Parents may be working multiple jobs to cover rent, but unreliable transportation can jeopardize employment. Without income, families fall further behind. Some may need assistance obtaining vital documents, such as a birth certificate from another state, to secure housing or employment. In other situations, parents may prefer for grandparents to assume custody but lack the financial resources to navigate the legal process.
Through the Prepetition Legal Representation and Advocacy Program, the grant enables Pisgah Legal Services to provide legal counsel and connect families with critical resources before a formal petition for custody is filed. By intervening early, Hunt’s team helps stabilize families and prevent children from entering foster care.
From July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, the grant helped Hunt achieve the following results:
- Assisted 87 families
- Prevented 21 children from entering foster care
According to Hunt, about 90% of DSS cases involve substance use. To address this issue, DSS partnered with Preferred Choice Healthcare to implement a pilot program that provides Family-Centered Treatment-Recovery (FCT-R) to families receiving home services. This wraparound, systemic approach helps parents achieve sustained recovery while allowing children to remain in their natural environments, reducing the need for out-of-home placements.
FCT-R is an intensive, home-based behavioral health program designed to support families involved with child welfare who are struggling with substance use and related family instability. The program uses a family systems approach that focuses on treating the entire family rather than just the individual experiencing substance use challenges. Services are delivered in the home and community and include family therapy, substance use recovery support, trauma-informed interventions, parenting skill development, and connections to community resources. The goal of FCT-R is to strengthen family relationships, support parental recovery, and improve family functioning so children can safely remain in their homes or achieve successful reunification with their families.
From July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, the program:
- Received 33 referrals
- Conducted 23 join-up sessions
- Delivered 190 sessions
- Served 86 family members
“When we learn a family is coping with substance use, we act as liaisons,” says Hunt. “We have to make referrals to get the issues addressed and give families some extra help with recovery.”
The program continues to demonstrate success, making steady progress toward its goals and producing meaningful outcomes for the families it supports.
Investing in the Future
Hunt believes all the work of social service professionals comes down to one essential truth: “Children need us — they are our future.” Collaboration, she says, is what makes that commitment possible, the vehicle that moves families toward stability and turns shared effort into meaningful change.
Cross-sector collaboration doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentional effort, built on a foundation of trust, effective communication, and shared understanding. When partners seek assistance, responding with empathy and a collaborative spirit is crucial to achieving shared goals. Meeting people where they are and building on existing strengths lays the groundwork for lasting impact.
Now is the time for social service professionals to step beyond their desks and actively engage in collaboration that transforms lives.