Brevard Family Partnership receives lead agency accreditation
MELBOURNE, FL – September 29, 2009 – Brevard Family Partnership recently received accreditation from the Council on Accreditation (COA), identifying Brevard County’s lead child welfare agency as an organization that has set high performance standards for itself and has made a commitment to their constituents to deliver the highest quality services.
COA accreditation is an objective and reliable verification that provides confidence and support to an organization’s service recipients, board members, staff and community partners. The accreditation process involves a detailed review and analysis of both an organization’s administrative operations and its service delivery practices. All are “measured” against national standards of best practice. These standards emphasize services that are accessible, appropriate, culturally responsive, evidence based, and outcomes-oriented, In addition, they confirm that the services are provided by a skilled and supported workforce and that all individuals are treated with dignity and respect.
“It is an incredible honor to receive COA accreditation and a testament to the high level of commitment our staff has to excellence in both operations and service delivery to our clients,” said BFP CEO Dr. Patricia Nellius-Guthrie. “We are proud to be recognized on both a national and international level as an outstanding lead agency and will continue to provide the children and families of Brevard with the best services and programs in our mission to protect children, strengthen families and change lives.”
“We’re also very proud that our accreditation was expedited, with no exceptions, meaning COA found no deficiencies in any of the areas they measured,” Nellius-Guthrie said. “We met or exceeded all qualifying standards and therefore received notice of our accomplishment in less than half the time than it normally takes for the accreditation process to be completed.”
The process to achieve accreditation took nearly two years of strategic effort and commitment and included BFP self-assessing and reporting on its operations, programs and services, and policies and procedures. It also included site visits by COA personnel who reviewed and validated all of BFP’s data and interviewed several staff members.
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About COA
COA is an international, independent, not-for-profit, child and family-service, and behavioral healthcare accrediting organization. It was founded in 1977 by the Child Welfare League of America and Family Service America (now the Alliance for Children and Families). Originally known as an accrediting body for family and children’s agencies, COA currently accredits 38 different service areas and over 60 types of programs. Among the service areas are substance abuse treatment, adult day care, services for the homeless, foster care, and inter-country adoption.
In addition to standards for private social service and behavioral health care organizations, COA has developed separate business lines for public agencies, networks and lead management entities, opioid treatment programs, employee assistance programs, and financial management/debt counseling services.
COA views accreditation as a catalyst for change that builds on an organization’s strengths and helps it achieve better results in all areas. The accreditation process is designed to meet the needs of diverse organizations. An organization is evaluated against best-practice standards, which are developed using a consensus model with input from a wide range of service providers, funders, experts, policymakers and consumers. The accreditation process is designed to meet the needs of diverse organizations–voluntary, public and proprietary, local and statewide, large and small.
About Brevard Family Partnership
Established in 2004 by a Legislative mandate to privatize foster care and related services in Florida (Section 409.1617, Florida Statutes), Brevard Family Partnership, a nationally COA accredited organization is Brevard County’s lead child welfare agency. Working in partnership with over 70 community organizations, its mission is to protect children, strengthen families and change lives through the prevention of child abuse and the operation and management of a comprehensive, integrated, community-based system of care for abused, abandoned and neglected children, and their families.
Contact
Geo A. Ropert, APR
Communications Consultant
Community Based Care of Brevard, Inc.
Dba Brevard Family Partnership
760 North Dr., Ste. E
Melbourne, FL 32934
Phone: 321-752-4650 ext. 2084
Cell: 321-205-3155 (preferred)
Email: Geo.Ropert@fpocf.org
