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USING SELF-ASSESSMENT TO IMPROVE PREVENTION SERVICES
SKILLS SEMINAR A
David Diehl, Ph.D.
FRIENDS National Resource Center for CBFRS
Family Support America
328 Wagner Road
Morgantown, WV 26501
USING SELF-ASSESSMENT TO IMPROVE PREVENTION SERVICES
A growing number of practitioners in child welfare are practicing family support. More and more programs are recognizing the value of practicing the principles of family support--utilizing a strengths-based approach, building partnerships with parents and the community, and creating programs that are flexible and responsive to participant needs.
But many programs struggle with how to evaluate how well they are practicing those principles. How do you know if your program is being culturally respectful? How do you know if parents feel they are being treated with respect? Program self-assessment is one method for answering such questions, and ultimately contributing to better program planning and development.
How Are We Doing?, a self-assessment tool kit published by Family Support America, offers a step-by-step guide for examining daily operations, identifying program strengths, clarifying areas for improvement, and developing a plan to enhance specific program practices. Based on Guidelines for Family Support Practice, which highlights the family support principles and how they are translated into practice, How Are We Doing? has been used by programs across the country for reflection on program practices and policies.
This workshop will present the How Are We Doing? self-assessment tool and discuss how it can be used by individual programs or networks of programs to assess operations in ten areas: Governance, Outreach/Engaging Families, Programs and Activities, Parent Education and Child Development, Working One-on-One with Families, Relationships with the Community, Center Environment, Home Visiting, Staff Roles and Capacities, and Monitoring and Evaluation.
Participants will walk through the process of determining which aspects of the program to assess, gathering the needed information, completing the assessment, and analyzing and utilizing the results to make a plan for program improvement. To facilitate a concrete understanding of the toolkit, discussion will be based on an exploration of specific sections of the self-assessment.