Values
Family-driven
Families want the best for their children, and have the primary decision-making role in their care and development.
Youth-guided
Youth are supported in becoming advocates for themselves and having a voice that is heard. Youth's perspective is solicited, valued, and incorporated into their care.
Accessible and High-quality Services
There is equitable and easy access to high-quality services and supports.
Culturally and Linguistically Competent Services
Cultural and linguistic competence is developed by supporting behaviors, attitudes, and policies that help system of care partners work effectively in order to treat families and youth with dignity and respect.
Individualized Care
Services and supports are driven by and responsive to the strengths and needs of each child and family.
Coordinated Care
Goals, roles, and responsibilities of each partner, provider, and organization are clearly defined, information is exchanged, and services and activities are enhanced for effectiveness. Services and activities are coordinated in a manner that reduces unnecessary duplication. All are working from the same plan and in the same direction
Collaborative Care
Together, partner agencies, providers, and organizations provide a seamless system of services and supports for children and families by exchanging information, jointly altering activities, sharing resources, and enhancing the capacity of each other for mutual benefit and to achieve a common purpose. Values, goals, and resources are shared.
Values Applied to Key Contexts
Although the values drive the system of care, they have specific meaning depending on the context (child and family; practice/intervention; and the system of care infrastructure), as described below:
Child and Family
Family-driven
Families in their many forms want the best for their children, and have the primary decision-making role in their care and development. This requires
| • | viewing and working with families as equal partners ("Are we committed to giving each and every family a voice?"); | |
| • | recognition that families parent better than systems, especially families with sufficient supports and resources; | |
| • | understanding that families are the strongest force for effective growth and change; | |
| • | acknowledgement that human beings need a sense of belonging and that this is realized over the course of a lifetime from their family; | |
| • | response to the strengths and needs that families bring into the system, not placing families in the position of responding to the system; | |
| • | acknowledgement of assumptions and biases ("Where families start is not where they end"); | |
| • | recognition, respect, and acceptance of ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic differences; and | |
| • | assurance that families are fully informed of what can be done (the range of services and supports available) and what cannot be done (there are restrictions and constraints for everyone). |
Youth-guided
| • | Youth are supported in becoming advocates for themselves and have a voice that is heard. Their perspective is solicited, valued, and incorporated into their care. |
Practice/Intervention
Accessible
There is equitable and easy access to high-quality services and supports. This requires
| • | intervention at the earliest need, | |
| • | provision of multiple pathways and entry points to service and supports that help to eliminate the need for children and families to experience multiple failures and crises before they seek help, and | |
| • | provision of services to children within the least restrictive, most normative environment that is appropriate for their needs—all efforts will be made to provide services in the home and community. |
Scope of service
Services and practices that are chosen will meet the following community standards:
| • | Cultural and linguistic relevance | |
| • | Intensity, duration, and scope commensurate with family need | |
| • | Proven to improve outcomes for youth and family |
Individualized care
Services and supports are driven by and responsive to the strengths and needs of each child and family ("The right services to the right people"). This requires
| • | provision of high-quality services and supports in a flexible, personalized, customized, and creative way—not "cookie-cutter," | |
| • | recognition of assets and strengths, as well as needs, including cultural and linguistic characteristics, | |
| • | recognition that resistance and ambivalence toward change are normal, and | |
| • | recognition that progress is marked by a series of forward and backward steps. |
System of Care Infrastructure
Coordinated
Goals, roles, and responsibilities of each partner agency, provider, and organization are clearly defined, information is exchanged, and activities are altered for mutual benefit and to achieve a common purpose, cognizant of legal and regulatory authority. All are working from the same plan and in the same direction. The needs of children and families are best met when agency boundaries do not create barriers to care and each agency is informed of the roles and responsibilities of others.
Collaborative
Together, partner agencies, providers, and organizations provide a seamless system of services and supports for children and families by exchanging information, jointly altering activites, sharing resources, and enhancing the capacity of each other for mutual benefit and to achieve a common purpose. Values, goals, and resources are shared. The needs of children and families are best met when all the resources of the community are organized to respond.
Culturally competent
Cultural competence is an evolving relationship among Impact system of care partners, families, and youth. Cultural competence is developed by supporting behaviors, attitudes, and policies that help Impact system of care partners work effectively in cross-cultural situations in order to treat families and youth with dignity and respect. Family and youth histories, experiences, and beliefs will be utilized in the treatment process to establish individualized family-centered goals.
Removing barriers
Partner agencies, providers, organizations, families, and youth work together to identify and remove barriers that impact access to and quality of services. This involves advocacy at both micro and macro practice levels.