SPOTLIGHT ON:
Making It Count Through Coordination and Collaboration
Community Science helps build strong community infrastructure by supporting Systems of Care
Change
is rarely an individual effort. In order to shift even the simplest
process, multiple stakeholders must be involved, working collaboratively
to ensure that no needs are left unmet. Unfortunately, it's far easier
in theory than it is in practice. For youth- and family-serving systems,
achieving this goal means working with their counterparts in other
agencies and organizations to coordinate - and integrate - services
available for children and youth in the multiple systems, and those at
risk of behavioral and other health challenges.
Meeting the needs of these children means building a better system.
That's
the foundation of Systems of Care programs throughout the United States
- a service delivery approach that builds partnerships across agencies
and communities to create a broad, integrated process for meeting
families' multiple needs.
Although
Systems of Care were originally developed to address the needs of
children with serious emotional disturbances, the approach is now being
applied to other populations whose needs require services from multiple
agencies, including
youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Simply defined, a System of Care
is a wide-ranging spectrum of effective, community-based services and
supports for children and youth with or at risk for mental health or
other challenges and their families. The system is organized into a
coordinated network, building meaningful partnerships with families and
youth, and addressing their cultural and linguistic needs, in order to
help them to function better at home, in school, in the community, and
throughout life. On the ground level, that means reducing the number of
children placed outside of their homes for care.
However,
unlike some "top-down" programs, the key difference in a System of Care
is that it's driven by the communities and families that benefit from
it. From government agencies to local community leaders, the system only
works when everyone works together.
The Systems of Care approach is based on
the principles of interagency collaboration; individualized,
strengths-based care practices; cultural competence;
community-based services; accountability; and full participation
of families and youth at all levels of the system.
Community
Science is proud to help build, support, and evaluate these systems
through our own passion, partnerships, and expertise. Senior Associate
LaKeesha Woods, Ph.D. is currently working with the Nassau County Family
Support System of Care as co-project director and an evaluator.
"System
of Care in general, and Nassau County's No Wrong Door Family Support
System of Care in particular, promote the holistic health of diverse
children and families. As local evaluators, we are charged not only with
measuring the initiative's desired outcomes, but providing information
to help the program develop and improve, celebrate its successes, and
add to the field of children's mental health," said Dr. Woods.
In
this role, Dr. Woods follows the implementation of services and
supports as well as the progress of children and their families
throughout the program, documenting outcomes and assessing impact. The
constructive, detailed feedback and insight based on the evaluation
findings enable program administrators to make data-informed decisions
to strengthen the system of care. This data are also fed to a national
Systems of Care evaluation team to build the evidence base for the
field.
To learn more about Systems of Care, click here. To read about Community Science's approach to Community & Systems Change, click here. | 
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