COA - Council On Accreditation

	Child and Family Development and Support Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

Definition

Child and Family Development and Support Services address the needs of the family as a whole and are based in the homes, neighborhoods, and communities of families who need help promoting positive development, meeting challenges, and preventing adverse outcomes.

Note: This section is designed to accommodate a variety of supportive programs for families and their children, including, but not limited to: (1) home visiting programs that deliver support services in families’ homes; (2) early intervention programs for children who have or are at risk for developmental delays; and (3) parent education groups.

Agencies providing only parent education groups will complete: PA-CFD 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 11, and 15.

Agencies providing all other services will complete the following core concept standards relating to general service delivery: PA-CFD 1-8, and PA-CFD 14-15. They will also complete one or more of the following core concept standards, based on the services their programs provide: PA-CFD 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. For example, a home visiting program that provides education and support services would complete PA-CFD 10 and 11, whereas a home visiting program that provides health services would complete PA-CFD 9. These standards can be used by agencies regardless of the mode of service delivery they employ.

Although agencies are only required to implement standards relevant for their program, it is important to: (1) recognize when families have needs or concerns the program is not prepared to address, and (2) connect those families with appropriate resources, services, and supports.

Note: Please see Self-Paced_Training: Child and Family Development and Support Services (CFD) in the Tools Index for additional assistance with this standard.


	PURPOSE: Families participating in Child and Family Development and Support Services delivered through strong community partnerships gain new competencies, improve child health and well-being, improve family functioning, and make family-community connections.

RELATED FILES


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY A condition in which a child has an ongoing, major delay in the achievement of one or more developmental milestones in the areas of language, cognitive, motor, and/or and social skills. A doctor usually diagnoses a developmental delay based on strict guidelines.