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Accreditation Support Services
As one of the two founding members of the Council on Accreditation of
Family and Children Services (COA), the Child Welfare League of America
(CWLA) works with hundreds of agencies each year as they pursue accreditation.
Through its consultation division, the National Center for Field
Consultation (NCFC), CWLA provides technical assistance, consultation and
training regarding compliance with Council on Accreditation standards.
CWLA may become involved at any point in the accreditation process, and
can assist organizations to sustain and incorporate the quality improvement
aspects of accreditation into the cultural of the organization. CWLA provides
consultation and support to the agency regarding those organizational and/or
programmatic changes that may be needed to achieve compliance with accreditation
standards. In addition, the CWLA can assist in the development of
policies and procedures that meet the test of best practice. Organizations can
purchase accreditation support services; CWLA member organizations that
are either Provisional or Full Members can apply their member benefit time,
or any combination of member benefit time and purchase of services can be
arranged.
The CWLA also provides consultation, support and technical assistance
regarding Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care
Organizations (JCAHO) using many of the same procedures outlined below.
While there is a suggested sequence of accreditation related services, the reality
is that organizations will customize our services to meet their needs. The
goal of NCFC is to help organizations access the package of accreditation consultation
that will best meet their needs and provide them with assistance that
will be helpful to their accreditation efforts. Any of the accreditation support
services offered by NCFC can be customized to individual organizational
needs and budgets. The following are examples of our most widely used
accreditation support services.
Introduction to Accreditation
This activity primarily focuses on the broad issue of accreditation, in general,
the benefits of accreditation, key aspects of most national accrediting
organizations, with an emphasis on the Council on Accreditation process,
and critical issues to be considered by organizations considering accreditation.
The presentation also includes accreditation-related support and consultation
services offered by CWLA, in general, and the NCFC, in particular.
It can be presented either as a conference workshop, an individual organization
presentation or a presentation for a group of organizations.
Assessment of Organizational Readiness to Proceed with the Accreditation Process
This consultation focuses on the review and assessment of specific key Generic
Administrative and Generic Service Delivery standards, as well as the organization's
current management of the accreditation process. This consultation
also includes a review of a small sample of case records for all of the services
delivered by the organization, and a matching of services delivered by the
organization to the appropriate Council on Accreditation Service Section.
Accreditation Orientation, Work Plan and Work Group Development
This consultation focuses on a comprehensive orientation to the accreditation
process, including a review of the organization, format and value base of
the Council on Accreditation standards, and a review of the COA Weighting
System. The activity also includes assistance matching the organization's service
delivery system with the most appropriate Service Section; assistance with
the development and implementation of the organization's accreditation
action plan; and assistance with the organization of internal work groups necessary
to address the different aspects of accreditation. Optimally, this consultation
should be delivered before the submission of an application to
Council on Accreditation.
Accreditation Readiness Assessment
This consultation focuses on a standard-by-standard review and assessment of
any or all of the Generic and/or Service Sections that are applicable to the
organization, and a detailed report including specific recommendations for
change.
Ongoing Consultation Related to Accreditation
We anticipate that organizations that decide to engage the NCFC in delivering
any or all of the accreditation support services will do so before their formal
application to the Council on Accreditation. Our consultation and technical
assistance will provide the organization with information related to their
readiness to proceed with accreditation and/or with information related to an
assessment of all of the standards applicable to their accreditation process.
Once this information has been assessed and analyzed, organizations may decide
to contract with NCFC for ongoing assessment, development, implementation,
and/or redesign of any system, or related focus areas, that may be necessary for
accreditation compliance. For example, areas of effort could include continuous
quality improvement, outcomes and measures, management information
systems, Board governance, human resources, service planning, design of service
delivery systems, and case recordkeeping practices and content.
Two examples of NCFC activities that focus on compliance with Council on
Accreditation standards and provide for a transfer of knowledge and skill
could be designed as follows:
- Internal Case Record Review and Internal Reviewer Training
This consultation focuses on a review of a random sample of case records
across all services to assess the degree to which the organization meets accreditation
standards and to establish a baseline for improvement. Also included
would be the training of a small group of organization staff to enable them to
act as internal peer reviewers for the purpose of assessing organizational compliance
and improvement regarding accreditation standards relating to case
assessment, service planning, service implementation, aftercare planning,
and case recording. In conjunction with the training, would be the conducting
of one or more case record reviews.
- Consultation Regarding the Organization's Self-Study
This activity would provide periodic review and written comment on the
agency-generated self-study material, including on-going teleconsultation
regarding the development of the self-study, the implementation of the
accreditation work plan, the application of specific Council on Accreditation
standards and the identification of specific areas of compliance and noncompliance.
This activity could be enhanced if the organization wanted the
NCFC to act as the coordinator of their accreditation efforts.
The duration, staffing, and costs of any on-going technical assistance would
depend on the scope of the focus area and the complexity of the organization.
To learn more about accreditation support and other consultation services
that are available through NCFC, contact the NCFC Intake and Project
Development Manager at 978/365-5068 or e-mail ncfc@cwla.org.
 Private Agency Accreditation Support Services
- Public Agency Accreditation Support Services
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