Staff Spotlight: Christopher Cope, Program Director of Preventive Services

[Interview from 11/1/2023]

Can you tell me your name and what program you work for here at BCS?

My name is Christopher Cope and I’m the program director for Preventive Services.

Can you tell me what your program is and what it does?

We work with the whole family to address any concerns that they may have. Primarily, we have a focus on the safety and well being of children. We’re really working with families to address any concerns that they may have related to their children.

How long have you worked with BCS? And how did you get involved?

I have been here for about six years now. I’ve only ever been in Preventive. I started as a social worker, and then supervisor, and now the program director. I moved here from Texas and when I got to New York, I was looking for a place that worked specifically with family therapy. I was looking to get my license hours, and I fell into this preventive job. And I’ve been here since.

What’s one of your favorite aspects of your job or the program in general?

I’ll give two different answers to that. My favorite aspect of our program is how we meet families where they’re at and with the support that they are needing. I really like the aspect of our work where we enter all the different dynamics of the family, and all of the different goals that they may have, and really try to support them in reaching those goals. At the end of the day, I think it’s important to help families make changes that will not only keep their kids safe, but will also push them to thrive. Then for my specific role, I really enjoy getting to participate and watch workers grow in their therapeutic skills. And just seeing the program work to connect really well as a team.

Is there a specific moment in your time here that sticks out to you as memorable? What keeps you here?

I remember, particularly when I was a social worker, doing home visits with families. A lot of our families are referred from Child Protective Services, so they are not necessarily wanting to work with us at the beginning. The moment where you’re able to join with a family, where it switches to truly collaborative work together, is really the amazing part of our program. I’ve got to experience that multiple times. When families really reach the goals that they had, when their child really starts succeeding in the areas that they are wanting to see them succeed in, those are just really great moments. Those experiences have definitely kept me here. In our staff meetings, we leave a space for the “wins.” This can be hard work, so it’s good to focus on some of the things that are going really well. That space is really neat because we get to hear little snippets of families that have reached their goal or achieved something they were working towards.

Speaking of the hard work, what would you say is a challenging aspect for the social workers on your team and for you as the director?

So much of our work is fieldwork, our social workers have to go out in the community for home visits. I think it can be challenging to keep up engagement with families who have to allow workers to enter their home, as it’s a really vulnerable space. I think one of the challenges in the director role is trying to both make sure we’re serving our families really well, while also keeping up and adhering to all of the ever-changing policies and procedures of Child Protective Services. Making sure that both are compatible and that we’re able to do both at the same time can be a challenge.

Is there anything else about your program you’d like to share? 

I think something to note is that we are really trying to be more accessible to the community before major problems exist. There’s been a trend for a long time now that Preventive was primarily seen as preventing something from happening again, after some kind of event happened. But we are trying to be out in the community in a way that makes it accessible when families are struggling, before they reach a point of a concern, or a major safety concern for their child. I think that’s just something to note that we’re really moving in that direction– to help meet families before any intervention is needed.

How does that work? What does that look like?

It looks like building stronger partnerships, even within BCS. I’m slowly getting to know all the different programs even better. It also looks like just making sure that we are connected to the different schools that are in our area because they have major professionals that are working directly with families and children and seeing what’s going on. It’s really making sure that people in the community know that we are here. And that families can work with us, even if they don’t have Child Protective Services in their lives. I think a lot of times people have the notion that Preventive Services must come from Child Protective Services. And that’s not true.

Just to clarify, do you mostly serve families in East New York? Or all over Brooklyn?

We do have some catchment areas, East New York is kind of our primary area. But we have families in Brownsville, we have had families in Crown Heights, in Bushwick, in Bed-Stuy. Generally speaking, if it’s off the C train, we’re able to make it work. We are a service that’s able to go beyond just East New York, though East New York is definitely our hub.

What other BCS programs do you primarily work with and want to in the future?

We’ve been starting to work more closely with the COVID-19 Disparities program. Part of that is they are also based in East New York, but they do a lot of great work of being out in the community. So, we’re really trying to partner with them to just build up those strong connections within East New York and Brownsville. And then I’m hoping to build stronger ties with our Education division. That’s a division that’s already working with kids on a regular basis and so we’re really trying to build up that collaboration as well.

Do you think your program fills a void in the community? How does it fill a gap in services? And why do you think it’s important in Brooklyn and in this neighborhood specifically?

I think one of the things our program does that I don’t think is readily accessible everywhere, is a free, comprehensive service that works with the whole family. We help with connecting them to resources and referrals, which are not necessarily unique for other services in the Brooklyn area. But, in addition to that, we are also providing work with the whole family to address any concerns, or challenges that the family has. It’s not just with the parent, or one participant, it’s really with the whole family. I think that’s a unique aspect that is harder to find.