Defining the scope of systems of care: An ecological perspective (original) (raw)
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Impact of a System of Care on a Community's Children's Social Services System
Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2005
We examined the impact that the Dawn Project system of care had on children's services in Marion County, Indiana. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gain a broad understanding of stakeholder perspectives related to how system-level and other community leaders viewed system of care influences. Qualitative analyses uncovered several common themes including positive impact at the community level, challenges to implementation, and feelings of ambivalence related to program impact. Results were generally positive and suggested that most respondents saw core system of care principles beginning to emerge within the community related to the establishment of the care system. In addition, challenges to implementing the system of care also were uncovered, including some underlying resistance to system-level changes. Implications from our study highlight the importance of continuously working to enhance strengths and collaboration among systems, integrate and coordinate across systems and services, and authentically involve families at all levels.
Elsevier, 2022
This evaluation research looked at factors affecting collaboration across the various levels of implementation of early childhood support systems. An ecological conceptual framework was used to examine barriers and facilitators to implementing social and health care services from the perspective of the professionals involved at the national, state, and local level of government. A single case study following a qualitative research strategy was conducted with a total of 29 professionals from social development and health ministries, one municipality and a family health center responsible for implementing the Chile Grows with You system. The results show that at the national level, the main factors include socio-political aspects, funding, and the empathy that professional employees hold for peers who are at lower rungs in the hierarchy. At the state level workplace conditions play a key role. For the local level those factors include information system management and the political support of the local government. The discussion section emphasizes the relevance of considering the interdependence of such factors that influence implementation outcomes and the need to move away from a single program evaluation to a multilevel implementation analysis of public policy.
Children, Families, and Communities: Early Lessons from a New Approach to Social Services
1995
This paper reports on the progress of eight Chicago-based community initiatives designed to redefine social services and broaden social responsibility for the development of children and families. The paper has three sections describing: (1) general background on the children, youth, and families initiative; (2) early lessons from an initiative in progress; and (3) across communities: the roles of the sponsor, the evaluator, and learning. Specific topics covered in these sections include: (1) the purposes and possibilities of an infrastructure and creating a governance entity and process; (2) specific aspects of governance, developing and linking services, and access to services; and (3) the relationships and roles of sponsors within foundations, defining outcomes, balancing objectivity and engagement, process versus outcome evaluation, and the value of the learning process. The paper also includes information on related research from the University of Chicago's Chapin Hail Center for Children and on Chapin Hall's Comprehensive Strategies Forum on Handsnet. (JW) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Community supports for parents of young children: A needs assessment
2014
Statement of the problem: Supporting parents with young children has increasingly become an essential part of public policies. Manitoba Parent-Child Coalitions are tasked with identifying community needs and priorities related to community programs for families with young children and developing a sustainable plan for addressing community needs. The methods used to establish community needs and priorities vary considerably. Only a handful of the needs assessments (NA) related to community supports for parents found in the literature focused broadly on the needs of all parents at the community level. In addition, the nature and quality of the NA varied considerably, and parents were often not involved in the process. Use of a participatory NA process such as the Concerns Report Method (CRM) could provide communities with important information about the community support needs of parents with young children while involving parents in the decision-making process. Methods: The CRM uses a mixed methods exploratory sequential research design. Phase 1 of the CRM, reflection on values and issues of importance, involved the use of several qualitative methods: a document review of existing community data and community supports, interviews and focus groups with parents (N=29) and service providers (N=11). The results of Phase 1 were used to develop a Community Concerns Report Survey for parents (N=319) and service providers (N=47) that was used in Phase 2 of the CRM, identifying community concerns. Logistic regression was used to determine the child and family characteristics that were associated with parent perceived community support needs. v Dedication To my parents, Albert and Marlene Leclair, my first and greatest supporters To my children, Elia and Franco, my inspirations and raison d'etre vi Tables of Contents
Children and Youth Services Review, 2020
Early childhood (age zero to five) is a time when mental and behavioral health issues begin to emerge. Systems of care are often not structured to support the development of these young children, particularly those from low-income families or children of color. More research is needed to determine these families' risk and protective factors, as well as provider and system gaps and opportunities, in order to design a more responsive system of care. An in-depth needs assessment of one system of care was conducted with multiple stakeholders. Data were collected through original qualitative research methods (i.e. interviews and focus groups), secondary data sources, and a document review of notes from community meetings and published programmatic reports. A thematic analysis was then conducted, and findings were validated with a Needs Assessment Working Group. Results included unmet needs of families being served in this system of care, as well as gaps in services. A number of family, provider, and system level strengths were also identified, as well as opportunities to improve the early childhood SOC. While the generalizability of results may be limited, given the wide variability of SOCs across the US, this case study, through community-grounded methods and extensive community engagement, underlines the need to support the parents and caregivers of young children at-risk of experiencing social, emotional or behavioral issues in this study site. These findings indicate a need for multi-level approaches to redesign some systems of care in order to support children as they are nested within families, communities, and organizations, and the policy realm.
The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 2011
The children' s system of care framework has been extensively implemented in the U.S. Since its inception in 1993, the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program has invested in excess of $1 billion supporting the development of systems of care in 164 grantee sites across the country. Despite these efforts to implement children' s systems of care nationally, little is known about the extent to which the principles and values actually have been put into practice outside of the funded grantee sites. This paper describes the development of the Systems of Care Implementation Survey, a measure designed specifically for the first ever study assessing the level of implementation of factors contributing to effective children' s systems of care in a nationally representative sample of counties throughout the U.S.