The National Council for Mental Wellbeing recently released a new vision paper for community-based provider organizations and states working to leverage the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model to expand access to high-quality care.

CCBHCs: A Vision for the Future of Community Behavioral Health Care outlines a national vision for excellence in community mental health and substance use care and describes how clinics can leverage their CCBHC status to transform the experience of accessing care.

“We must take steps today to improve the quality of health care that will strengthen communities, help people in need, and improve health outcomes – tomorrow is too late,” National Council for Mental Wellbeing president and CEO Chuck Ingoglia said. “The overwhelming need for mental health and substance use care demands that we embrace innovative ways of structuring, as well as delivering and paying for care. The CCBHC model represents the best solution to accomplish that goal.”

The new resource captures innovations and best practices being used by CCBHCs that improve health outcomes, facilitate access to care, and demonstrate the value of the model. For clinics, it provides ideas to help design programs and services, streamline operations to ensure same-day access and develop a workforce capable of meeting increased demand for services, promoting health equity and improving health care outcomes. For states, it includes recommendations to engage with CCBHCs to better inform policy solutions to reduce barriers to care and coordinate statewide efforts like implementing the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Operated and certified in 12 states, CCBHCs have seen widespread bipartisan support in the last decade. Just last year, the CCBHC demonstration program was expanded to add 10 new states every two years, starting in 2024. As the program expands and more states begin drafting their state certification processes many will require accreditation.

Through COA Accreditation, a service of Social Current, we can ensure CCBHCs meet that accreditation requirement and successfully implement and build upon SAMHSA’s 2023 CCBHC Certification Criteria.

Learn more about how COA Accreditation standards support best practices for CCBHCs by visiting our website or joining an upcoming webinar.

Visit the National Council’s website to download the vision paper.

Social Current and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) are excited to share progress on our effort to create a leadership framework for community-based and public sector human services leaders that will change the way we work together.

There is a need for a new operating paradigm that puts people at the center of the work, unlocking the power of community-led solutions. A change in how sector leaders work is foundational to advancing equitable, community-led outcomes.

Through focus groups, story gathering, a literature review, and the leadership experiences of both Social Current and APHSA, we have collected and synthesized a rich set of insights and impactful practices. From this collective input, we have been able to map the next generation of leadership competencies for human service leaders. By working from the traditional competencies that we seek to shift or amplify, we began to define/describe leadership competencies that are centered in people, community, and help make them actionable through specific examples.

We invite you and your community members with lived experience to participate in a virtual focus group in November or December. The sessions start Nov. 16. You can sign up here.

Initiative Update and Focus Groups for CEOs and Senior Leaders

Please join us to continue the dialogue. The focus groups will be 60 minutes long. During the session, facilitators will share an overview of the work and how the leadership competencies emerged. For the remainder of the session, participants will discuss how the competencies resonate with them; share their experiences, strategies, and innovations working in the human services sector; and identify how opportunities for improving services can be incorporated in the leadership behaviors or action.

View full details for CEOs and senior leaders and register here. Use this flier to share this opportunity with your team.

Focus Groups Community Members with Lived Experience

Please invite individuals in your communities to participate in these focus groups. We look to hear their perspectives around what makes them feel valued and heard, how to co-create practices and policies, how to improve service access, and how to address racial disparities. We will provide a stipend to individuals participating in these focus groups.

View full details for community members and register here. Use this flier to share this opportunity with your community.

Space is limited, so please register in advance. Only those who have registered in advance and received confirmation can attend.

If you have questions or need further details, contact Trinka Landry-Bourne of APHSA or Robena Spangler of Social Current.

By: Susana Mariscal and Bryan Victor 

One of the most challenging and complex responsibilities of the child welfare system is understanding and investigating the death of a child. As difficult as they are, these investigations are an essential part of a public health process that helps explain why child deaths occur and the strategies that can prevent future deaths.  

Child Fatality Review (CFR) teams are assigned the hard task of reviewing all deaths of children under the age of 18 that are sudden, unexpected, or unexplained, including children known to child protective services, and deaths that are determined to be the result of homicide, suicide, accident, or are undetermined. While many local CFR teams are comprised of individuals who are committed to protecting children and families in their local communities, for some states, including Indiana, CFR teams are volunteer positions and members are not compensated for their participation.  

When the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) was selected in 2019 by the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime as one of five sites in the nation to participate in a demonstration initiative to apply a public health approach to reducing child abuse and neglect fatalities and injuries, a focal area was the CFR process. The initiative, known as Child Safety Forward, gave us the opportunity to apply support from a national technical assistance team to our long-term aim of ensuring that processes, such as fatality review, are used consistently and effectively to generate data-informed recommendations to support prevention.  

For the first phase of Child Safety Forward Indiana, CFR teams undertook a five-year retrospective review of data corresponding to child deaths in four counties that experienced the highest number of child fatalities in the state, along comparison counties. We also conducted interviews with parents and child-serving professionals involved with CFR, such as child welfare, public health, education, mental health, criminal justice, and others to learn about barriers and facilitators related to identification and prevention. The findings were significant, both in what they revealed about causes of child death, and in what they revealed about gaps in the system. 

One of the findings identified inconsistencies around the implementation and operation of CFR teams around the state. For instance, instead of focusing on determining factors that could help identify prevention strategies, local review teams were often oriented toward assigning responsibility for death in individual cases—which reinforced the notion that CFR is a punitive process. To improve policy, IDOH developed data-driven recommendations that informed two state legislative changes. The first proposed policy change was to eliminate restrictions on who could initiate a CFR team, opening the door to a broader set of practitioners and community members to take the lead. The second proposed policy change was to mandate certain types of evidence and data to be collected during a death scene investigation in Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) cases–often related to unsafe sleep conditions. 

Since the passage of these bills, the Child Safety Forward Indiana team has continued to implement several other changes that strengthened the CFR infrastructure across the state. The biggest change is the increase in the number of CFR teams, which for the first time in the history of the program, now cover all 92 counties in the state. The Department of Child Services (DCS) has taken on the responsibility of initiating teams in many of these areas. With this rapid expansion, training and resources for teams were needed, and Child Safety Forward Indiana has created a hub and toolkit for this purpose, along with coordinators to provide support at the regional level. 

Over the course of the initiative, the improvement in the quality of the CFR process was one aspect of a multi-dimensional effort, including multidisciplinary team training.  The team also worked to improve cross-system collaboration in partnership with Strengthening Indiana Families (SIF), a primary child maltreatment project that is implementing Family Resource Centers in central Indiana to provide support and build on families’ protective factors through community collaboration. SIF also convened a Parent Advisory Group to emphasize the voices and representation of parents in shaping prevention programs, advancing racial equity and inclusion, and improving children and family outcomes.  

Community Action Teams, consisting of a group of stakeholders, were established to implement CFR team recommendations. IDOH also developed and launched a data-informed statewide infant safe sleep campaign, including videos which have garnered over 1.5 million views. 

While no direct causal inferences can be made, all of these and other prevention efforts have had a meaningful collective impact in the four target counties, which has seen decreases in SUID rates and in the rates of child fatalities due to external injury.  

These efforts demonstrate that, while difficult, the work of those who conduct child fatality reviews are a vital and necessary tool in a public health approach that is geared toward providing the resources and knowledge that can prevent future tragedies, so that all children fulfill their promise. 

______________________ 

Susana Mariscal is an associate professor at the Indiana University School of Social Work. She is the lead evaluator of Child Safety Forward Indiana and project director of Strengthening Indiana Families, a strengths-based primary child maltreatment prevention program funded by the U.S. Children’s Bureau. Mariscal is a community-engaged scholar focused on violence prevention and resilience promotion among children and families. 

Bryan Victor is an assistant professor at Wayne State University School of Social Work. His research examines community-based approaches to violence prevention with a particular focus on child maltreatment. Victor is a co-investigator on the Child Safety Forward Indiana evaluation team and co-leads the Strengthening Indiana Families project with Dr. Susana Mariscal. 

Disclaimer: This product was supported by cooperative agreement number 2019-V3-GX-K005, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.  

By: Sheila Boxley  

When the federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities released its groundbreaking report in 2018, one of the key concepts that informed its recommendations was the need for multi-disciplinary support for families. In other words, keeping children safe is a job that child welfare systems and child protective services (CPS) cannot do alone. 

On the heels of the release of the Commission’s report, the U.S. Department of Justice funded a demonstration initiative to develop and test multidisciplinary strategies and responses to address fatalities or near-death injuries as a result of child abuse and neglect. Known as Child Safety Forward, the initiative has spent the subsequent four years developing strategies to support a public health approach to reducing abuse and neglect fatalities. 

The Child Abuse Prevention Council of Sacramento (CAPC) was one of five demonstration sites in the nation chosen for this grant. Systems partners across Sacramento County began the work with an understanding that child safety and well-being was not solely a “child welfare responsibility,” and recognized the need for all child- and family-serving agencies and organizations to partner together. While collaboration across systems in Sacramento County was already strong, the initiative furthered a sense of shared responsibility and accountability for child safety to fully implement a public health approach to prevent child maltreatment through systems change.  

Through the development of a Prevention Cabinet comprised of local system and community leaders, the Sacramento Child Safety Forward team leaned into  the collective impact approach, which is often utilized to support and engage multi-disciplinary players to work together to solve complex problems. 

What is collective impact? Practitioners define it as “a network of community members, organizations, and institutions that advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems-level change.” It involves a structured process that integrates the following: a common agenda; shared measurement; mutually reinforcing activities; continuous communication; and a backbone team.  

Engaging community and centering equity are essential elements to the success of collective impact. The Sacramento team approached the work by elevating families into relationships of equal power in the development of a strategic plan with the goal of aligning with community needs.  

They achieved this by appointing Community Representatives to infuse the initiative with the stories, voices, and life experiences of those who have had contact with any child- and family- serving system or agency in Sacramento County. Seven community listening sessions, developed in partnership with the Community Representatives, provided additional community feedback. 

Shifting the way people think and understand the connection between prevention and child safety takes time. It requires moving decision makers and practitioners from focusing on how to work within the constraints of their current system to envisioning a new way for the system to operate. There were core elements of the Child Safety Forward design that helped accelerate some of the necessary transformations. These included: 

• Creation of an operational structure to prioritize and facilitate collaborative co-creation of the plan and implementation. 
• Centering community voice to create shared power. 
• Leveraging and integrating countywide collaborative efforts to reduce duplication of efforts. 
• Use of an external evaluator as a neutral partner for technical assistance to inform strategic decision-making. 

Child Safety Forward enabled Sacramento County to create a robust governing structure through its Prevention Cabinet for this work. This entity now consists of more than 30 cross-systems leaders from public systems, private nonprofits, and the community who have come together to co-create a strategic plan focused on systems change that promotes positive outcomes for children and families. 

The demonstration initiative has afforded Sacramento County the opportunity to participate in peer-to-peer learning and connect with subject-matter experts to support planning and implementation of a cross-systems strategic plan using a public health 21st century child welfare system approach. This has included the development of strategic ten-year plan to eliminate child abuse and neglect fatalities by 2030 that the team will be presenting to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. 

Child Safety Forward Sacramento’s Prevention Cabinet has become the advisory body and collaborative partner for other child safety initiatives in the county. Because the Prevention Cabinet has such a widespread reach across county agencies and organizations, the Prevention Cabinet has been selected as the governing body of the county’s efforts to implement the Family First Sacramento Comprehensive Prevention Plan.   

This approach to collective impact is uniting cross-sector and community leaders under a common cause and will ultimately help leaders engage and collaborate across systems that touch families with a common goal and collective responsibility for keeping children safe.  

___________________ 

Sheila Boxley is the President & CEO of the Child Abuse Prevention Center, a local and state organization which provides services, training, research, and advocacy and serves as the association for the 500 family resource centers in California. 

Disclaimer: This product was supported by cooperative agreement number 2019-V3-GX-K005, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.  

The Streamlining Federal Grants Act was recently introduced in the Senate and House (S. 2286/H.R. 5934) and seeks to improve the effectiveness and performance of federal grants and cooperative agreements, simplify application and reporting requirements, and facilitate greater coordination among federal agencies responsible for delivering services to the public. Notable for nonprofits, the bill promotes consultation with charitable organizations and governments and calls for improving services delivered to communities and organizations that historically have been unable to access federal grants or cooperative agreements.

Read the nonprofit coalition letter in support of the Streamlining Federal Grants Act. The due date to sign on has now passed. We still encourage you to take action and reach out to your members of Congress today.

Budget Proposals Still Lack Necessary Funds for WIC

As the Nov. 17 deadline nears, lawmakers are still negotiating the federal budget, with many expecting another continuing resolution that will fund the government temporarily while compromises are hashed out. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the current proposals under consideration in both the House and Senate fall significantly below the necessary funding levels for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC stands as a remarkably effective program, providing nutrition aid, educational resources, and assistance to families with limited incomes. Absent supplementary funding, an estimated 600,000 eligible new parents and young children may be denied access to WIC, potentially resulting in waitlists and decreased enrollment. This funding shortfall could also dissuade eligible families from seeking program benefits.

Insufficient funding for WIC would mark an extraordinary situation, predominantly impacting recent parents, young children, and preschoolers, potentially resulting in heightened food insecurity and enduring health ramifications. The Senate bill allocates $6.3 billion for WIC, but this sum falls short due to the increasing levels of participation and rising food costs. Estimates suggest that Congress must allocate a total of $7.1 billion for WIC in 2024 to ensure that every eligible family can access the complete benefit. Congress is strongly encouraged to honor its commitment and supply the requisite funding for WIC as the appropriations process unfolds.

Youth Prevention and Recovery Reauthorization Act Introduced

On Oct. 18, Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the bipartisan Youth Prevention and Recovery Reauthorization Act to reauthorize funding for the Youth Prevention and Recovery Initiative. This initiative was established as part of the 2018 SUPPORT Act, focusing on expanding access to opioid addiction treatment for adolescents. It aims to secure ongoing funding for this critical resource within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, benefiting youth, families, care providers, and communities.

The backdrop for this legislation is a troubling rise in opioid use among American adolescents, with over 695,000 using opioids for nonmedical purposes in 2018, marking a substantial increase since 2015. Additionally, during the initial two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, monthly drug overdose deaths among adolescents aged 10 to 19 nearly tripled, according to the CDC. The legislation aims to address these difficulties by allocating funds to broaden the availability of medications for treating opioid addiction among adolescents and young adults. It also intends to raise awareness of the hazards linked to opioids and provide training to healthcare professionals, families, and school staff in effective strategies to support adolescents dealing with opioid use disorders.

New Funding for Community Development Projects

On Oct. 10, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the allocation of $16.7 million in new grants to support 39 Community Economic Development (CED) projects. The CED initiative aims to broaden the scope of employment prospects in regions grappling with long-standing poverty and elevated joblessness, all while eradicating hindrances to secure employment. These grants empower beneficiaries to furnish crucial supports, such as childcare, transportation, and financial education.

These grants aim to create over 575 new, sustainable full-time jobs for individuals residing in low-income communities across 26 states. Three-quarters of the job opportunities originating from each CED grant will be set aside for individuals with low incomes, and awardees will provide assistance services to tackle the employment obstacles faced by this group.

Notably, many of the awarded grants align with the Justice40 Initiative, benefitting disadvantaged communities and furthering the goal of fostering sustainable economies in areas that need it most. The CED initiative is managed by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Community Services, which administers multiple anti-poverty programs to address poverty’s root causes, enhance economic security, and revitalize communities.

HHS and HUD Tackle Housing and Homelessness Together

On Nov. 1, Secretary Xavier Becerra was named the chair of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), which coordinates the federal homelessness strategy, supporting state and local efforts to address homelessness. To combat homelessness and enhance housing accessibility, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced several initiatives, including nine new grants worth $2.1 million to strengthen wrap around services for families living in affordable housing and 11 grants totaling nearly $4 million for preventing youth homelessness.

Furthermore, HHS and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have launched the Housing and Services Partnership Accelerator (Accelerator). This initiative aids states in enhancing pioneering housing-related assistance and services for individuals with disabilities and older adults facing homelessness risks. The Accelerator assembles cross-disciplinary teams from four states to confront shared challenges and enhance cooperation and coordination. Its primary objectives are to optimize resource utilization, harmonize policies, and provide comprehensive services.

Subscribe to the Policy and Advocacy Radar to receive our biweekly policy roundup, which includes commentary on issues in Social Current’s federal policy agenda, opportunities to take action, and curated news and opportunities.

Last Wednesday, Social Current held its first-ever Hill Day in Washington, D.C., as part of our larger SPARK 2023 conference. During this event, 40 participants from dozens of our network organizations participated in over 50 meetings with members of Congress and staff to build support for the bipartisan Streamlining Federal Grants Act. Each of our advocates crisscrossed Capitol Hill throughout the day, speaking with numerous offices on both sides of the aisle about the necessity to pass this crucial legislation, which would simplify the grant application process so that all nonprofits, large and small, can access federal grants.

Based on initial reports from the participants, our delegation was received warmly with curiosity and growing support.

Prior to Hill Day, participants joined the Igniting Advocacy Training at SPARK 2023 to prepare for their conversations ahead. Led by Social Current’s Senior Director of Government Relations Blair Abelle-Kiser, the training covered the fundamentals of Congress, details on the Streamlining Federal Grants Act, and ways to effectively tell your organization’s story and build a compelling message. Participants left the trainings confident and prepared to advocate to their senators and representatives on behalf of their organizations and local communities.

All in all, the advocacy training and Hill Day was a success. Social Current plans to host future advocacy days in Washington, D.C., as we, in concert with our network, flex our advocacy muscles to amplify the power of the social sector!

And save the date for SPARK 2024, Oct. 21-22, in Denver, Colorado.

Subscribe to the Policy and Advocacy Radar to receive our biweekly policy roundup, which includes commentary on issues in Social Current’s federal policy agenda, opportunities to take action, and curated news and opportunities.

The Biden-Harris Administration has proposed significant changes to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Uniform Grants Guidance aiming to benefit nonprofit organizations, particularly addressing concerns related to indirect costs. These reforms are set to streamline service delivery, enhance equity, and improve the administration of federal financial assistance. Key provisions include bolstering federal reimbursement for nonprofits’ indirect costs, simplifying the federal grant process, and advancing equity.

Bolstering Federal Reimbursement for Nonprofits’ Indirect Costs

The proposed OMB Uniform Grants Guidance seeks to increase reimbursement rates for indirect costs carried by nonprofit organizations, currently set at ten percent. The new plan raises the de minimis rate to 15 percent, providing better recovery of indirect costs, especially for newer organizations without formal rate negotiation capabilities.

• De Minimis Rate Increase: The proposal aims to raise the guaranteed de minimis rate for indirect costs from ten percent to 15 percent, benefiting new or inexperienced nonprofits.
• No Forced Lower Rates: Federal agencies cannot compel nonprofits to use rates lower than 15 percent unless required by law, preserving organizations’ autonomy.
• Dispute Resolution: Nonprofits can notify OMB about disputes with federal agencies concerning indirect cost rates, seeking resolution and protection of their rights.
• Stronger Mandate: Pass-through entities like state and local governments must adhere to federally negotiated indirect cost rates for subrecipients, ensuring consistency across agencies.

Making the Federal Grant Process Simpler and More Equitable

The OMB Grant Guidance proposes several changes to simplify and make the federal financial assistance management process more transparent and equitable:

• Clear Communication: The proposal emphasizes clear and plain language in notices of funding opportunities, requiring executive summaries and comprehensive explanations of program requirements.
• Eligibility Clarity: Agencies must specify eligibility criteria for each funding opportunity, facilitating access for new organizations.
• Simplified Notices: Reforms aim to simplify and clarify Notices of Funding Opportunities, benefiting applicants with less experience and those from underserved communities.

Advancing Equity and Overcoming Barriers

The proposed revisions aim to reduce complexity and lower barriers for recipients of federal financial assistance, particularly those in underserved communities:

• Multilingual Approach: The exclusive use of English in notices, applications, and reporting would not be required.
• Diversity Consideration: Federal agencies should consider diversity when developing policies and procedures for merit review panels.
• Community Engagement: Encouragement for agencies and recipients to engage, in both the planning and implementation stages, with community members benefiting from federal assistance programs.

Additional Significant Reforms

In addition to the above, the proposed reforms include:

• Complete Revision of Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) for clarity and brevity.
• Raising the Single Audit Threshold from $750,000 to $1 million.
• Proposal to focus only on measuring relevant program performance metrics to eliminate unnecessary reporting.

These proposed reforms represent a significant shift towards a more accessible, equitable, and efficient federal grant process, mainly supporting nonprofit organizations and addressing longstanding concerns related to indirect costs. Public comments on these reforms are invited until Dec. 4, 2023, offering an opportunity for further input and refinement.

Resources

• Dollars Delivering Results: Biden-Harris Administration Publishes Proposed Updates to the Uniform Grants Guidance to Improve Impact of Federal Grants and Other Financial Assistance, White House News Release, Sept. 22, 2023.
• Guidance for Grants and Agreements, published in the Federal Register, Oct. 5, 2023.

HHS Announces Major Step Forward for Kinship Caregivers

The Department of Health and Human Services released a new rule to help relatives become licensed or approved foster caregivers. Research has clearly demonstrated children are served better by living with kinship caregivers. Kinship families, however, have faced unnecessary barriers to becoming licensed, including requirements to participate in trainings that are geared toward non-relative foster parents. Under the new rule, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other kin will have more expedient access to licensing or approval. They will also receive services and foster care maintenance payments equal to other foster families. The rule includes provisions to address other unique aspects of kinship caregiving, such as raising the age limit for kinship foster care providers and allowing foster children to share sleeping spaces with kin. HHS has pledged to work closely with states, tribes, community-based organizations, and families as they integrate these new policies.

HHS Introduces New Initiatives on Maternal Health Day of Action

On Sept. 27, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Maternal Health Day of Action, Secretary Xavier Becerra announced $103 million in awards to address gaps in maternal health across the nation, as well as a new task force on the issue and a new national public education campaign called “Talking Postpartum Depression.” To combat the maternal mortality crisis, the secretary said at the announcement ceremony, “HHS is taking action to improve maternal care, help new moms, and ensure their children have the healthiest start in life.” The Human Resources and Services Administration will disperse the vast majority of the funds to efforts such as expanding the perinatal workforce, increasing access to maternal health in underprivileged and rural communities, funding wrap around services like OB/GYNs and midwives, and developing maternal health research. A newly announced task force on maternal mental health will convene experts and those with lived experience to identify best practices and evidence-based interventions to improve health equity and incorporate trauma-informed practices. Finally, the “Talking Postpartum Depression” campaign will exhibit personal stories from women who have experienced postpartum depression and increase awareness of symptoms and resources.

The House of Representatives Loses Its Speaker

Last week, for the first time in the country’s history, the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), was toppled, leaving the House of Representatives without a leader and the federal budget negotiations in turmoil. McCarthy joined with moderate Republicans and the Democrats the week before to pass a continuing resolution, which would fund the government at current levels for forty-five days, buying more time for Congress to negotiate the budget. This caused backlash from far-right members of the GOP caucus, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.), who initiated a motion to vacate the Speakership, ultimately overthrowing McCarthy.

It is unclear where the House goes from here. The first step is for the GOP to elect a new Speaker. So far, two members, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Steve Scalise (R-La.), have thrown their hats in the ring of what will undoubtedly be a tendentious fight for leadership. The new Speaker, whoever it may be, will have to steer a challenging negotiation in the House over the federal budget, with two issues taking center stage: border security and Ukraine aid.

Subscribe to the Policy and Advocacy Radar to receive our biweekly policy roundup, which includes commentary on issues in Social Current’s federal policy agenda, opportunities to take action, and curated news and opportunities.

Social Current has always emphasized that together, we can create a greater impact. By working across systems, community-based organizations can establish a web of services that maximize their strengths and address their needs to better serve their staff and communities.

At Social Current, we provide multiple pathways toward purposeful partnership. From Strategic Industry Partners to Network Champions to Corporations and Philanthropy, we bolster our network’s impact by sharing their business solutions and opportunities.

Our President and CEO Jody Levison-Johnson would like to introduce our Gold Strategic Industry Partners in this video. These four partners offer specialized products and services that benefit the sector:

Meet Social Current’s Gold Strategic Industry Partners

CCNY, Inc: There’s always a human side to analytics, and that’s where CCNY comes in. With consultative services that encompass data collection, evaluation, analytics, predictive modeling, and quality improvement, it’s their job to facilitate data-driven decisionmaking for those who work in health and human services.

DCM Associates (DCM): DCM’s nationally recognized and experienced leadership search consultants and coaches provide affordable expertise to help CEOs and leadership teams perform better as well as provide education, assessments, and surveys to help the entire organization, board, and leadership team develop best practices.

DCM offers a special executive search rate for Social Current’s COA-accredited organizations or Engagement Package holders year-round. They also invite you to participate in this nationwide CEO and Board Chair survey through Oct. 23.

Mutual of America Financial Group: Mutual of America offers a wide variety of pension and savings retirement plans for organizations of all sizes. They provide full services for 401(k), 403(b), Profit-Sharing, and 457 Deferred Comp plans and deliver the cost-efficiency of a full-service provider. Mutual of America can help you meet your investment, communication, and administrative responsibilities. No brokers, third-party administrators, firms, or individuals in the middle to drive up costs and delay plan-related services. They work directly with their clients.

Your Part-Time Controller (YPTC): For over 30 years, YPTC has helped to build stronger nonprofits. With over 1,400 nonprofit clients from coast to coast, YPTC assists with their financial management needs. These services include:

• Internal, grant, and board reporting
• Forecasting, budgeting, and cash flow management
• Bookkeeping and monthly financial statements
• Development of customized dashboards

Learn more about YPTC in this Partner Highlight.

Our Strategic Industry Partners support our annual SPARK Conference. Register today for SPARK 2023, Oct. 16-17 in Bethesda, Maryland.

Interested in partnering with Social Current? Contact Marisa Collins, director of strategic partnerships and partner communications, or visit our partnerships page online.

Through COA Accreditation, a service of Social Current, we seek to empower organizations to implement best practice standards to improve service delivery and achieve better outcomes for individuals and communities. COA Accreditation provides a framework to help organizations manage resources, incorporate best practices, and strive for continuous improvement.

We believe there is rich expertise in our field, so we ground the COA Accreditation process in our human and social services community. Our volunteer peer reviewers conduct our site visits and finalize accreditation decisions.

We are proud to spotlight the latest Volunteer of the Quarter: Shelley Huseman.

About Shelley Huseman

Shelley Huseman began her social service career in juvenile probation and corrections. After a difficult internship, however, she realized her calling was not with the probation department, but rather working with children and families. After the internship concluded, she accepted a position supervising visitation between parents and their children who were living in foster care.

While this work was more fulfilling to her, Shelley wanted more influence over outcomes. She became a child welfare specialist with a large agency and worked for several years assisting children, parents, and foster parents. Reunification was always desired when safe, and she worked diligently with parents to achieve this goal. Shortly after, Shelley was offered a supervisory position to assist other child welfare specialists in attaining reunification when possible.

Although graduate school was not on her radar, a degree was required for this supervisory role. As a new mother and full-time employee, Shelley went back to school to achieve her master’s in human services. She reflects on this time in her life saying, “while this was the most difficult time in my career, I would not change it.”

During this challenging time, Shelley attended a Family Focused Treatment Association (FFTA) Conference in Orlando, Fla., and it was there she became acquainted with COA Accreditation. She was inspired by the message and vision of COA Accreditation and knew she wanted to be a part of it.

After obtaining her master’s degree, she applied to become a peer reviewer and attended the training. She completed as many site visits as she could while working full time and became familiar with the standards for the social sector. Later, she was asked to become a team leader and commissioner and says, “it was an easy decision.”

She worked as a regional director with a state-wide agency until 2022, and she now serves as a public service administrator for the State of Illinois.

Q&A

What are your strongest beliefs about the value of COA Accreditation?

Every social service agency should be accredited with the highest possible standards, within a process that assists the agency and staff in becoming the best possible resource they can be.

What advice would you give someone interested in being a COA Accreditation volunteer?

Make sure you have the desire and ability to work with other professionals who are doing things differently than you. Remain open to learning different ways of addressing social services and embrace those differences. This is not an adversarial process and should never be entered into as one. We are here to assist agencies in providing the best possible services and it is our duty to provide the framework for them. Being a COA Accreditation peer reviewer is a very rewarding experience that allows the reviewer to learn and grow while providing a critical service to other professionals.

Share a memorable place, person, or experience from a site visit.

My most memorable experience on a site visit was when I got to meet and work with Social Current’s Director of Volunteer Engagement, Darrell Woodliff, for the first time. This experience even overshadows my visit to Hawaii, if you can believe that. I was instantly drawn to his kindness, knowledge, intensity, and humor. He gave me the standard of reviewer that I wanted to someday become, and I am still working on it 14 years later. I have had the pleasure of working with him since then and reach out to him often; he has never let me down.

What excites, surprises, and/or challenges you the most about the work you do as a COA Accreditation volunteer?

I love working with professionals from other agencies and states. I learn so much from each visit and utilize much of what I learn in my own management. I have also made many friends within the COA Accreditation peer team. I find it challenging when an agency does not agree with the standards. While this has only occurred on a few occasions, I believe in the standards COA Accreditation has established and know they assure the best possible practice from accredited agencies.

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Reports highlight findings in multi-year effort to develop strategies to reduce child abuse and neglect.

WASHINGTON, DC – Child Safety Forward (CSF) today released the final evaluation report of its four-year demonstration initiative funded by the Department of Justice (DOJ) with technical assistance led by Social Current. CSF, which was launched in October 2019 by the DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime, engaged five sites across the U.S. in the demonstration initiative, which included research, planning and implementation around strategies aimed at reducing child injury and fatality from abuse and neglect.

The CSF demonstration sites include: The Indiana Department of Health; St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut; Cook County Health in Illinois; the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; and the Sacramento County Child Abuse Prevention Council. Final reports from the sites are available here.

Through CSF, the five demonstration sites received technical assistance from a team of national experts to help plan and implement an all-systems approach to respond to and reduce child maltreatment fatalities and child crime victimization. Technical assistance focused on collecting and analyzing data using a safety science approach; developing strong community collaboratives; engaging persons with lived experience; developing and implementing a communications strategy; addressing systemic bias, racism, and issues of power; and using a developmental evaluation approach.

“Each of the strategies identified and implemented by the five sites were unique and specific to their communities,” commented Amy Templeman, director of Within Our Reach and senior director of child and family well-being at Social Current. “However, they all shared a common trait – they all pivoted away from an approach that only took into account risk factors and broadened their focus to protective factors, which is ultimately at the heart of a public health approach that engages voices of those with lived experience as experts in finding the solutions that will make all lives better.”

Demonstration sites conducted retrospective reviews of child fatality data and/or collected additional community-level and system-level data to inform their implementation plans. The following summarizes the key strategies and learnings from each site:

• Cook County Health in Illinois: Cook County Health launched a collaborative that engaged representatives from children’s advocacy centers, youth and family services, hospitals, local and state government, local school districts, and family-serving nonprofits. The strategy was developed from a retrospective review and a needs assessment by Cook County Health with key actors in the child welfare system in Cook, Peoria, and Vermillion Counties. Findings revealed gaps in the child welfare system and highlighted the need for better coordination and collaboration around identifying and managing child abuse cases, improved parenting education, and greater access to prevention services. The resulting project strategies included the use of simulation training to improve skills of child welfare investigators and law enforcement; multidisciplinary team training around collaborative skills and improved decision making; the use of geospatial risk analysis mapping to identify neighborhoods for targeted planning of service implementation, participation in a safe sleep campaign; and the development of a parent education curriculum focused on protective factors.  

• Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut: The Hartford team launched a Parent Engagement Work Group, made up of individuals with lived experience with child- and family-serving systems. Challenges with accessing data from state agencies led them to focus on qualitative interviews with child protective agencies, law enforcement, educators, community members, impacted parents, and youth. They also used publicly available data about child fatalities. The resulting data revealed several issues with current practices, including a lack of trust by underserved communities of providers, especially of CPS, and their recommendations; cultural practices in the community that reflect global perspectives on child-rearing; and the punitive framing and lack of preventive supports, such as parenting classes and car seats. The resulting project strategies emphasized grassroots organizing to connect with parents, others with lived experience, and community groups to learn about the risks for child maltreatment. They also identified cultural strengths and protective factors in underserved populations and parent and community perceptions of both Child Protective Services (CPS), which led to the development of a new parent curriculum.

• The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH): IDOH launched a five-year data retrospective of child deaths in the four counties that experienced the highest number of child fatalities in the state. They also conducted interviews with practitioners and families in the systems involved with child death, including child welfare, public health, education, criminal justice, and others to learn about barriers and enablers that relate to identification and prevention. Findings from this review highlighted the fact that 27% of child deaths were sleep-related infant deaths (SUIDs) and children of color were overrepresented in 38% of these deaths. This led to a focus on improving processes around the child fatality review (CFR) process, greater cross-system information sharing, policy changes, and development and implementation of improved data. Over the course of the initiative, IDOH was able to improve the quality of the CFR process, increase cross-system collaboration, and develop and launch a data-informed statewide infant safe sleep campaign. The impact of these changes has been significant, with a 60% decrease in SUID rates, a 28% decrease in child fatalities due to external injury, passage of two new state laws to reduce child fatalities, and more than 1.5 million views for the statewide infant safe sleep campaign videos.

• Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS): In partnership with the Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI), MDHHS utilized a broad and diverse advisory body comprised of nontraditional partners including those with lived experience to guide data inquiry and development of their initiative. Using this novel approach, the results of the data inquiry led to the conclusion that 20% of cases had been classified as Category III (evidence of child abuse or neglect but low risk of future harm to the child) and that more could be done to follow up with families to prevent a future fatality. A retrospective review of these cases revealed that support provided to families during Child Protective Services (CPS) investigations was varied and inconsistent. In response to this finding, the site’s strategies leveraged aspects of collective impact to improve strategic communication and build learning capacity and information-driven decision making with critical partners. Efforts focused on improving safety planning across the child welfare systems by building capacity to engage families and support immediate safety needs and expanding access to a Family Resource Center network across Michigan. 

• The Sacramento County Prevention Council in Sacramento, California: Sacramento County had an existing foundation for successful multisystem partnerships, and this served as a springboard for the CSF project. CSF helped grow the CSF Sacramento County Prevention Cabinet and developed strategies to support their overarching vision to eliminate child abuse and neglect deaths and critical injuries by 2030. The Prevention Cabinet leveraged the collective impact model for this collaborative, as well as partnership experiences from other projects and initiatives in Sacramento County. As a critical step in the work to more intentionally and authentically center community voice and share power, the community engagement subcommittee instituted the recruitment of community representatives to contribute to the work and add lived experience to the Cabinet. The Prevention Cabinet now consists of more than 30 cross-systems leaders that come from public systems, private nonprofits, and the community who are developing and implementing a strategic plan focused on systems change. In July 2023, the Sacramento Child Safety Forward team secured a grant from California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI) to continue to support their work and share their findings with the field through December 2025.

Some of the key lessons learned and takeaways from the initiative include:

• Importance of communications: Sustained communications strategies that widen the media’s reporting lens and shift traditional ways of thinking about child abuse and neglect are critical for achieving positive outcomes for children and families. Effective communications break down existing siloes and helps all system actors work together to unify their messaging and outreach efforts. Sustained communications are built on strong, collaborative relationships between agency leaders, funders, media, and community. 

• Access to better data: Across the country, data infrastructure to identify child fatalities and understand its causes is insufficient. While states collect relevant data, in many cases, information is broken up and isolated in different systems that don’t share it with other providers, creating gaps in our understanding of the challenges, potential solutions, and even the systems that work to address them. To reach a stronger child and family well-being system, we need a strong data culture, where all practitioners involved have a sense of stewardship of the data, and a shared accountability for collecting good data and using it in their decision making.

• Use of Developmental Evaluation: Developmental evaluation is an evaluation approach that supports innovation and guides adaptation to emergent and dynamic realities in complex environments. Developmental evaluation was used in the CSF initiative as a method to help sites understand the landscape and context in which they were working, collect and make sense of data, and test possible approaches to address community needs and system gaps. As sites ran into barriers, the full technical assistance team offered tools to help reflect on what they were learning, shift their thinking, realign existing partners, and bring in new ones, and explore innovative approaches. This flexibility to learn and incorporate new partners was fundamental and served as a pathway to child safety through the approaches sites took, which were novel, responsive, and systems-focused. 

• Equity, Power Shifting, and Parent Engagement: While data shows that child fatality rates are disproportionately experienced by people of color, many of these deaths could be prevented by addressing unjust conditions rooted in systemic bias, racism, and intersectional inequities. Fostering a system that successfully promotes family and child well-being across populations requires eliminating the adversarial relationship between systems and parents that is largely attributed to inequitable power dynamics. 

Parent engagement strategies often end up being transactional and unidirectional. To address this, we must unlearn, test new infrastructures and ways to building partnerships with parents, and relearn as a system how to effectively address the existing power imbalance that makes it difficult for the system and parents to be united in their commitment to keeping children safe and at home.

“Child Safety Forward’s ability to evolve over time is one of the keys to its success,” noted Stacy Phillips, Victim Justice Program Specialist with the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) within the U.S. Department of Justice. “The technical assistance team worked to create a culture of learning around the many strategies developed by the sites and were able to support sites in building flexibility into their approach. OVC was proud to support this work and contribute toward an extensive community of learning across the field with regard to reducing child maltreatment and fatalities.”

About the Within Our Reach Office 

Within Our Reach is an office established within Social Current to further the recommendations of the federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities. The goal of Within Our Reach is to equip policymakers, practitioners, and advocates with the tools they need to fundamentally reform child welfare. Based on the commission’s national strategy, desired reform includes a proactive public health approach—a shared family and community responsibility to keep children safe. Within Our Reach is made possible through collaboration with Casey Family Programs, whose mission is to provide, improve, and prevent the need for foster care.   

Disclaimer: This product was supported by cooperative agreement number 2019-V3-GX-K005, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.