Foster Care Concept Paper

Submitted to Erie County Department of Social Services

Care Management Coalition of Western New York, Inc.
Concept Paper to Erie County

March 24, 2010

Subject

Improving effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of services to children and families throughout Erie County.

The Care Management Coalition of Western New York, Inc. (CMC) requests an opportunity to work with Erie County so that, together, we can continue to improve the overall system of care supporting the needs of the area’s families and children.

The CMC, through its membership, is aware of the rich and diverse provider system that has been delivering preventive services to the children and families of Erie County since 1983.  As the County moves towards an RFP process, we believe that CMC can act as a significant resource in the development of the conditions of participation in helping to even further enrich an already very successful system.  We are very interested in discussing your thoughts and ideas on the RFP.  We feel working side-by-side with the County, we could assist in the development of some standardized metrics in an effort to truly capture the progress achieved by participants and recipients of these services.   The existing reporting system, we believe, is not effective in capturing useful data for ascertaining progress in creating standards that will further the achievements and outcomes of the provider groups.  We believe, together, we could look at promising practices and existing research models that would offer options for both existing and new providers.  Driven by our vision of being the unified voice supporting the needs of families and children, the CMC has consistently demonstrated the ability to work together on strategic system solutions.

We are currently facing a reduction in resources brought about by the deepest recession in eighty years.  We are deeply committed to being a resource that is responsive to community needs to provide the best possible and most cost-effective use of resources to insure the safety and well-bring of children and families.  We believe that working with the County and utilizing the resources and expertise of the CMC and in our role as convener with the Preventive Services Coalition, we could be of great assistance to the County in bringing these community resources together and developing a model for a Request For Proposal that is substantive, fair and transparent.

With this coordinated strategy for change, we could work side-by-side with the County and the provider group to affect a lasting impact on the quality and standard of services to the children and families of Western New York.  These improvements will affect the quality of life for the preventive services clients and create a more effective assessment and metric systems to insure better outcomes.

We hope you will agree that this collaboration of the CMC provider committee and the County will prove to be a resource for the development of better and more realistic outcomes for our Western New York community.  We would like to discuss this concept paper with you at your earliest convenience.