Social Current / Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services Inc

Coa's main program is the Accreditation of human and Social Services agencies. Although the nature of the Services provided by these agencies may vary, each is required to demonstrate implementation of a series of administration, management and service delivery standards. Coa accredits nearly 1,600 public and private agencies and estimates that these agencies in turn serve approximately 7 million individuals and families each year. The impact of the Accreditation process can be demonstrated in the heightened quality of the Services these agencies provide as well as in their ability to implement and consistently adhere to sound governance, financial management, risk prevention management, performance quality improvement and human resource processes. With the onset of covid-19, coa rapidly shifted to virtual Accreditation operations and training to support organizations and ensure the health, safety and well-being of all staff and volunteers. The process to transition was essentially seamless and organizations did not experience a disruption in their Accreditation process. Using lessons learned from the experience in 2021, in 2022 coa returned to onsite reviews while continuing to maximize the use of technology when appropriate to allow for a more efficient and less burdensome process. The coa team also continued Accreditation operations while working with others in the organization to consider new Services and offerings for the new organization that will result once the merger with the alliance for strong families and communities, Inc. is finalized and approved.coa accredited 64 organizations under its 8th edition standards, 2 organizations under its public standards and 23 organizations under its child and youth development programs. Coa conducted 111 site visits including 76 8th edition reviews, 2 public reviews, 32 child and youth development reviews and 1 military review.

Standard development & research - coa makes its standards of best practice available at no cost to any organization. These standards reflect evolving practices and trends and serve as a roadmap for organizations to use to build capacity. In quarter 1 of 2022, updates were made to tools and other supportive resources to support standard implementation. Additionally, a literature review of best practice in residential treatment commenced to inform standards updates to the residential treatment Services (rtx) standards. All of this work was completed to enable coa to review, analyze, and improve Accreditation requirements.