Presentation to the

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November 20, 2006

• Presentation to the
• State Legislators
• Representing
• Otter Tail County

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VISION Statement

• It is the vision of the Otter Tail Family
  Services Collaborative that families, communities
  and service providing agencies work together for
  a responsive, flexible system of education,
  support and services that focus positively on the
  needs, strengths and potential of each child and
  family. 

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MISSION Statement

• Working Together
• Serving Families
• Improving Lives

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Why we work together

• The Story of
• Chang and Eng

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We believe that together we can improve outcomes
for children and families and reduce costs by

1. Interagency collaboration to change systems
   and integrate services
2. Prevention and early intervention services
3. Holding ourselves accountable

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Interagency Collaboration

• Systems change developing more effective and
  accessible service delivery systems
• Seamless, integrated service delivery
• Joint planning
• Joint training
• Implementation and evaluation of promising
  approaches which show evidence of effectiveness
  through the experience of key stakeholders

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Prevention and Early Intervention Services

• Traditional categorical funding goes to deep
  end
• services, but our priorities are
• School-aged Early Intervention
• Early Childhood Early Intervention
• Child Care Early Intervention
• Truancy Early Intervention

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Accountability

• Children and families
• are involved in a
• variety of systems,
• therefore
• We are mutually accountable for outcomes
• We evaluate rigorously
• We do joint planning

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Collaborative Funding 1999-2005

• 73.59 Local Collaborative Time Study
• 8.60 State Grants
• 7.22 Foundation Grants
• 6.90 3rd Party Reimbursement
• 2.30 Interest
• 0.85 Miscellaneous
• 0.36 Partnership Payments
• 0.17 County

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1999 - Implementation phase in was extended to
include the Otter Tail Family Services
Collaborative July 1, 2005 Implementation of
Medicaid School-based Administrative Claiming
Guide 2006 Estimated 17.1M, based on
assumption all Collaboratives would continue to
participate in LCTS following the implementation
of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
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School-age Early Intervention Family Outreach
Program

• Family Outreach Facilitators provide early
• intervention services to at-risk children and
• their families, working with families in their
• homes and communities on issues raised by
• the family, in response to the referral from
• school-based screening teams.

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Family Outreach Program Changing Systems

• Joint hiring
• Joint staff training
• Mental health providers working together
• County-school screening teams
• Common model used in all schools
• Development of earlier interventions to reduce
  special education referrals

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Family Outreach Program Program Impact

• 1353 children served by program from 2000-05
• 425 children from 300 families served in CY05
• Demand for program services are so high that FY06
  ended with 124 utilization rate
• Increased referrals have resulted in a waiting
  list to serve children and families
• Dramatic increases in student functioning scores
• Joint staff training
• Mental health providers working together
• County-school screening teams
• Common model used in all schools
• Development of earlier interventions to reduce
  special education referrals

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Family Outreach Program Effects of Lost Funding

• Staff cut from 10.2 FTE and a fulltime director
  in FY06 to 6.3 FTE and half time director in FY07
• Maximum caseload was therefore reduced from an
  ability to serve 163 families in FY06 to101
  families able to be served at one time in FY07
• 425 children were served in CY2005 to 259
  projected to be served in CY2006

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Family Outreach ProgramWorking
together,Serving Families, Improving Lives

• "A lot of the things my daughter needed
• were met. The program was a welcomed
• event in my daughter's life and mine.
• "To put all this into words would take a long
• time. To make it short, this program has
• helped our son tremendously!"

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Early Childhood Early Intervention Caring
Connections Home Visits

• Caring Connections Home Visitors provide
  developmentally appropriate information and
  support to new parents in their homes at times
  convenient to their schedules.

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Caring Connections Home Visits Changing Systems

• Joint training of Public Health, ECFE, ECSE, Head
  Start staff
• Development of common program model and
  curriculum
• Schools get connected with families much earlier
• Co-located and integrated early services
• Earlier identification of children with special
  education needs
• Increased utilization of WIC for nutrition
  benefits
• Communication between all early childhood
  programs and K-12 schools regarding what
  constitutes school readiness
• Some school districts have changed from referring
  to themselves as K-12 to B-12

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Caring Connections Home Visits Program Impact

• 1811 babies and their families served
• 83 of enrolled families were reading to their
  children daily by age 3
• 78 of OTC family received at least one visit
  since 2001  
• 65 of families for whom Caring Connections
  helped their family to become more connected
  schools/communities 
• 100 of families served reported that they
  received new information which helped them better
  understand the needs of their family.
• 16 of children were referred for special ed
  screening

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Early Childhood Early Intervention Caring
Connections Home Visits

• Caring Connections was designed to provide 10
  visits to all children from birth through the
  second half of kindergarten
• In 2004 program was redefined to provide 7
  visits to all children through age 3
• In 2005 program was narrowed to provide 4 visits
  to only first time parents from birth to 12
  months

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Caring Connections Home VisitsWorking
together,Serving Families, Improving Lives

• A program like this is really beneficial to
• new and seasoned parents to answer
• questions that you do not feel comfortable
• asking anyone else. They also give you
• information and ideas that you would not
• think of. As a new mom, it really helped give
• me good ideas and reassurance on raising
• my son."

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Child Care Early Intervention Child Care
Provider Visiting

• Child care providers receive a series of
• visits providing them with information and
• support based on nationally recognized
• curriculum to improve the quality of the
• care they provide.

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Child Care Provider Visiting Changing Systems

• Multi-sector partners focused on quality of child
  care in the County
• Increased awareness of the role of child care in
  the early care and education system
• Increased communication and coordination between
  Child Care Resource and Referral and other early
  childhood programs

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Child Care Provider Visiting Program Impact

• 442 visits to 88 providers in 15 OTC communities
• 78 of participants that had been providers 5
  years and less have continued to provide care
• 98 of participants reported that the visits
  helped to meet their needs as a child care
  provider
• Pilot showed cost effective way to deliver
  national curriculum Average cost - 667 per
  provider, 94 per family impacted by improved
  quality child care

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Child Care Provider Visits Working together,
Serving Families, Improving Lives

• "Caring Connections helped me in many
• ways. It opened my eyes to ways of caring
• for children. It gave me new and safe
• ideas!
• -Child Care
  Provider

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School-age Early Intervention Truancy Prevention
Initiatives

1. School-based Attendance Interventions
2. Community-based Attendance Interventions
3. Individualized Direct Services for Early
   Intervention

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School-based Attendance InterventionsChanging
Systems

• Adoption of county-wide attendance policy
• Consistent attendance tracking and record keeping
• Development of standard range of interventions
  and documentation when attendance is an issue
• Development of consistent communication with
  families and communities about the importance of
  attendance

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School-based Attendance InterventionsEffects
of Lost Funding

• Schools absorbed functions of attendance
• clerks and continue to track attendance and
• interventions at a time of reduced school
• funding.

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School-age Early Intervention Community-based
Attendance Interventions

• Students with attendance issues and their
  families are invited by the County Attorney to a
  meeting with his staff, school personnel and OTC
  Human Services staff.

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Community-based Attendance InterventionsChangi
ng Systems

• Brought together schools, County and judges for
  common understanding and to better meet the
  individual needs of each child and family
• Increased partnership with families to address
  attendance issues
• Provided students knowledge of consequences of
  truancy

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Community-based Attendance InterventionsEffect
s of Lost Funding

• No impact as community-based programs have
  always been provided by in-kind services provided
  by Collaborative partners

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School-age Early Intervention Individualized
Direct Services

• Individualized direct services provided in a
  school setting designed to meet specific needs of
  students identified as at-risk for truancy and
  dropping out of school.

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Individualized Direct ServicesChanging Systems

• Program was developed with school, county and
  non-profit partners
• Students were identified as in need of earlier
  intervention services
• A broad array of entirely individual services
  were provided

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Community-based Attendance InterventionsEffect
s of Lost Funding

• Program was discontinued after
• serving 238 at risk students
• during the 15 months the
• program was funded.

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Truancy Prevention Direct Services Working
together,Serving Families, Improving Lives

• "Our son needed the extra help in school
• and there was someone there every step of
• the way. Today he will graduate and will
• now go onto College this fall and continue
• his education."

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Why Prevention and Early Intervention?
The Prevalence Triangle
IntensiveServices 60 of
Accessiblehigh-quality services and supports
35 of
More Complex Needs
2 - 5
Prevention and Universal Health Promotion 5 of

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Less Complex Needs
80 of population
Pires, S. 2006. Human Service Collaborative.
Washington, D.C.
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We are asking

• Support for interagency collaboration
• Funding for the continuum of early childhood and
  child care prevention and early intervention
  programs
• Funding for school-aged early intervention
  services

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Thank you!

• We appreciate your time
• and interest in the
• Otter Tail Family Services Collaborative!