Raising Standards & Improving Outcomes for

Independent Living Services

6/14/00

Raising Standards and Improving Outcomes for Independent

Living Services

What do I mean by standards?

What do I mean by outcomes?

Independent Living Standards of Practice

New IDL legislation sponsored by sen. Moynihan spurred a great deal of discussion and deliberation

CWLA convened a national IDL standards committee which met in 1987

Standards were developed in 1987, and adopted by CWLA membership in 1988

Independent Living Standards of Practice

IntroductionPreparation for self-sufficiencyThe context for IDL servicesIn the spirit of permanenceThe role of the familyThe role of communities and agencies

Independent Living Standards of Practice

FrameworkBasic assumptionsBasic definition of IDLIdentification of target groupGoals for IDL services

Independent Living Standards of Practice

Basic assumptions: that agencies do what a good parent would do for their adolescent child; a clearly stated written plan; a continuum of support services are needed; this is a process that takes place over time

Independent Living Standards of Practice

Basic definition of IDL: consists of a series of developmental activities that provide opportunities for young people to gain the skills required to live healthy, productive, and responsible lives as self-sufficient adults

Independent Living Standards of Practice

Target group: youth who are separated from their homes and are in need of the development of skills required to live healthy, productive, and responsible lives as self-sufficient adults: including youth who are: homeless; in out-of-home care; developmentally disabled; without family resources; and those living in temporary residence

Independent Living Standards of Practice

Goals for IDL services: the primary goal is to provide young people with developmental skills necessary for them to live healthy, productive, self-sufficient, and responsible adult lives

Coordinated Service Delivery System to Support Independent

Living Standards

Social work servicesEducational servicesEmployment servicesHealth services

Assessment & Development of a IDL Plan

Assessment of strengths and needsA written IDL planCase review

Building Skills for Independent Living

Self assessment of strengths and needsIdentifying and defining own problemsEstablishing goals and planning for the

future

Building Skills for Independent Living

Obtaining factual information about family’s medical, personal, medical, and social history

Understanding and coping with past losses, rejection, and anger

Understanding and coping with authority figures

Building Skills for Independent Living

Developing basic survival skillsDeveloping money management skillsResponsibility for sexual behaviorUnderstanding chemical dependencyDeveloping skills in personal decision-

making

Building Skills for Independent Living

Locating, obtaining, and maintaining a residence

Locating and using community resources to meet individual needs

Forming meaningful and growth-producing adult relationships with families, peers, and other persons

Continuum of Residential Services for Independent Living

Biological family/fictive kinLeast restrictive out-of-home placementKinship foster careEmergency shelter care

Continuum of Residential Services for Independent Living

Family foster careAgency operated boarding homes Group homes Supervised independent living programs

Continuum of Residential Services for Independent Living

Group residenceCongregate care campusResidential treatment centers - RTCResidential treatment facilities - RTFJuvenile detention/lock up/jail

What’s Missing?

Development of relationshipsInterpersonal skillsReality of costsReality of mental illness for some youthCore concepts of youth developmentWhat else?

Outcomes

Designs MethodsExploratory quantitativeDescriptive qualitativeExperimental mixed

Outcomes

Elements of ResearchThe research question

Data design

Expense/costs/time/personnel

Data collection strategy

Data analysis

Presentation of data

Findings

Outcomes

The 4 R’s1. Replicability

2. Rigor

2. Representativeness

3. Relative costs

Outcomes

Sample1. Size

2. Representativeness

3. Operational definitions

Outcomes

Sampling ProceduresRandomSnowballPurposefulConvenience

Outcomes

Instrumentation Questionnaires Interview schedules Observation Standardized tests (reliability/validity)

Outcomes

Time FramesWhat can you count?Can it be counted at multiple points in time?At baseline, beginning of serviceAfter intervention at six month intervalsAt follow-up

Outcomes

Data AnalysisWhat did you find?What does it mean?How is it useful to young people and

programs?

Outcomes

Data AnalysisHow do we know that we are doing works?How do we evaluate and monitor

outcomes?What the hell is C.Q.I.? What have you done and could it have been

done better?

Outcomes

Data AnalysisClient/customer satisfactionHow can you show that you have moved

youth toward self-sufficiency?How do you monitor the interpersonal/soft

skills?

Recommendations

Start simple; what can you do in your own program?

How can you solicit client input?How can you focus on continuous quality

improvement of IDL services?Ask yourself: are the youth in your

programs truly prepared for self-sufficiency?

Recommendations

Ask yourself:

What have we missed in working with our youth?

If this child was my child, what would I wish for him or her to have?

Conclusions

Standards are good, only if they are known and only if they can be achieved

Evaluation of programs and measuring outcomes is a necessary and essential part of IDL program planning and design

There are ways to do both and still provide a great program which helps to develop youth to their fullest potential