Child Welfare Transformation at The Childrens Aid Society of Brant

1
Child Welfare Transformation at The Childrens
Aid Society of Brant

• Examining Child and Performance Outcomes
• July 8, 2008

2
Overview

• The Ontario Child Welfare Model
• The Ontario Accountability Framework
• Outcomes Statements
• The Process

3
The Ontario Child Welfare Model
4
The Ontario Accountability Framework

• Strategic Direction
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Leadership and Resource Capacity
• Public Accountability
• Plans and Budgets
• Ethical Management
• Risk Management
• Relationships with System Partners
• Information and Reporting on Performance

5
The Brant CAS Framework

• Six Goals include
• Safety
• Permanency and Stability
• Childrens Well Being
• Timely Mandated Service Intervention
• Community Involvement and Integration
• Collaborative Child Focused Approach to Resolving
  Risk to Children

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Outcomes Statements

• Child Outcomes
• Safety
• Children are protected from abuse and neglect
• Permanency and Stability
• 1. Children have stability and permanence in
  their living situations and these are consistent
  with their plans of care
• 2. Children have permanence in their birth family
  and there are no subsequent recurrences of
  maltreatment

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Outcomes Statements

• Permanency and Stability (contd)
• 3. Childrens matched appropriately with
  placements
• 4. Children and youth are placed in Family Based
  Care where appropriate
• Children have continuity of culture and
  relationships
• Childrens Wellbeing
• There is evidence of children in care attaining
  developmental milestones
• Youth will transition to independence
  successfully
• Childrens significant ties to family, community,
  culture ,heritage and kin are preserved

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Outcomes Statements (contd)

• Service Delivery Outcomes
• Timely Mandated Service Intervention
• Children and families receive appropriate service
  in an manner, and in compliance with Ministry
  Standards and Regulations
• Community Involvement and Integration
• Childrens families and communities are
  encouraged to participate and provide solutions
  when children at risk
• Collaborative Child Focused Approach to
  Resolving Risk to Children
• 1. Supportive case work by workers that build
  relationships and collaboration are preferred to
  adversarial approaches

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Implementing Collaborative Accountable Outcomes
Reporting

• Identified from beginning that this is a journey
  and requires several years
• To be successful there needs to be buy in and
  commitment from front line staff to Directors
• Collaborative approach

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The Process

• Outcomes framework developed by Child Welfare
  Secretariat
• Senior Management agreed on outcomes and
  identified specific Indicators
• Board approved the Mission Critical Outcomes to
  be reported Year 1
• 19 Indicators

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The Process (contd)

• Service Managers reviewed and identified data
  sources and methods for gathering base line data
• Data collection and reporting on various
  indicators assigned to managers according to
  their service responsibility
• Centralized analysis and reporting with Quality
  Assurance Manager

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The Process (contd)

• Eight Indicators reported to the Board of
  Directors Fall 2007
• 11 indicators remaining to be reported in 2008
• Review and revision of indicators and data
  collection methods to be conducted after the
  first report card is completed

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Challenges and Barriers

• New language, terms and framework that at first,
  is foreign to staff
• Work and time demands are great and cannot be
  under estimated
• Capacity of automated data collection system
  negatively impacts data gathering, analysis and
  reporting
• Paper and pencil systems are time consuming

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Challenges and Barriers (contd)

• Lack confidence in the data
• Unanticipated operational demands have taken
  priorities at times
• Methods to delivery comprehensive reporting
• Communication plan to include staff and key
  stakeholders

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Most Significant Learning

• The Process is more valuable than the final
  product
• Implementing the Outcomes Framework in a
  collaborative manner, involving participation at
  all levels and sectors in the organization, has
  resulted in continuous quality improvement

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Questions and Answers
Contact Information Margaret J. Barr / Rhonda
Hallberg The Childrens Aid Society of Brant,
Brantford, ON CANADA Email marg.barr_at_casbrant.ca
/ rhonda.hallberg_at_casbrant.ca Telephone (519)
753-8681 ext. 230