FY 2007 Annual Report
For
Northwest Family Services, Inc.
620 Flynn Alva, OK 73717 – 580-327-2900

Emergency Youth Shelter

 Northwest Family Services provided shelter services through the Host Home System of Emergency Shelter Care.  Throughout  FY 07 two Host Home were available to provide shelter care.  Recruitment efforts are continuing. Two additional families have voiced an interest in becoming host families. Application packets have been provided for those families.

Several home studies were begun on host home applicants in FY 05. One of those homes was placed online in FY06. This brings our capacity up to two host homes currently. Two additional homes are nearing the completion of the application process.

NFS is licensed as a child placing agency and must meet numerous requirements in order to maintain this license.

 In FY 07 there were 17 children that received shelter care for a total of 355 days.  This is an increase of 127%  in the number of child care days provided. Referral sources for shelter care were as follows:

 The average length of stay in shelter care was 20.9days (as per JOLTS MIS).

 The race of 14 children receiving care was listed as white.  One child was of Hispanic origin and one child was African American. Ten children were male and seven were female. Seven children were attending school, while 10 were of preschool age.

 Satisfaction surveys completed by each youth, of appropriate age, upon discharge from shelter care indicate a total score of  4.92 out of a possible score of 5 (most satisfactory).

 There were two on site licensing visits conducted in FY 07.  There were no deficiencies noted.

 The Emergency Shelter Services are provided through a combination of funding from the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, the federal Administration for Children and Families (DHHS) and local gifts and contributions.

 Behavioral Health Outpatient Services

Target Population 

Behavior Health Outpatient Services (BHOP) target children under 18 years of age, their families, or their legal caregiver who are experiencing one or more problems that put them at risk of entering or further penetrating the juvenile justice system.

Admission Criteria

All clients served must have cognitive ability and short-term memory recall sufficient to derive a reasonable benefit from the services provided. All clients must demonstrate the ability to actively participate in their treatment process. Clients must not represent a danger to themselves or others.

Services Provided

Clients may receive one or more of the following services from the Northwest Family Services, Inc. Behavioral Health Outpatient services:

• Comprehensive Assessment

• Treatment Plan Development

• Individual, group, or  family counseling

• Clinical Evaluation

• Satisfaction Survey

• Transition Planning

• Discharge Planning

• Discharge Conference

• Follow-Up (if requested)

 The Behavioral Health Outpatient (BHOP) services at NFS are inclusive of several programs.  These include  Community Based Youth Services Outreach Counseling, First Time Offender, and the Community at Risk or CARS program.

 Funding for this service also comes from a variety of sources.  The Office of Juvenile Affairs, Federal Administration for Children and Families, local funding, and Title XIX or Medicaid all contribute to fund these services.

 The BHOP services at NFS are provided by two licensed professional counselors and one Masters Level counselor who is pursuing licensure. Considering all other responsibilities assigned to these staff members, our BHOP program has 2 full time equivalent counselors assigned. All BHOP standards and procedures adhere to the CARF accreditation criteria.  CARF is a national accrediting agency for BHOP and other social service programs.  NFS is in its Third, 3 year cycle of CARF accreditation.

 In FY 07 the NFS BHOP program provided services to 127 cases.  Those included First Time Offender participants, children receiving emergency shelter, outpatient counseling, and CARS cases.

 The children and families receiving counseling services were from Woods and Alfalfa counties.  The NFS outreach counselor spends three afternoons each week in our office at Cherokee providing services to clients from Alfalfa County.  Additionally, she also has regular contact with the schools in Alfalfa County in an effort to assist them with technical information, referral material, and other services which might be helpful.

 This year 100% of all counseling cases in which a treatment plan was initiated had successful dispositions.  Our counselor also received a satisfaction rating of 96% on the surveys completed by clients upon case closure.  These are truly outstanding results.

There were 20 referrals received in FY07 for the First Time Offender Program.

Sixteen youth and eight parents completed the curriculum while three clients declined services. Fifteen of the First Time Offender participants also received other services from NFS during FY07.

 Funding for the BHOP services comes from the Office of Juvenile Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, Medicaid, and local contributions.

 All counseling services are provided by licensed professional counselors or master level counselors under supervision for licensing.  The NFS BHOP services are nationally accredited through the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

 The referrals for FY 07 were received from the following sources:

Family	22
JSU	26
Self/Voluntary	13
Child Welfare	18
Parent	3
School	13
Physician	2
Sheriff	3
Other Agencies	2

 There were 102 total new referrals for FY 07 and 25 cases carried over from FY06. This is a 32% increase in referrals over FY06.

NFS has been pursuing development of a play therapy component for young children. Play Therapy of young children was scheduled to begin early in FY07 following several hours of core training that was completed in FY06. Fourteen cases were provided with play therapy during FY07.

During FY07 a total of 31clients were placed on a waiting list for counseling services. Seventeen of these cases remained on the waiting list beyond the initial 2 week period.

The waiting list for this year was quite large and was due in part to two factors. The first was the lack of counselors on staff, even though a half time counselor was added in FY07. Our additional staffing was offset by a 32% increase in referrals. The second was the inability to schedule more client sessions during the day time hours from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Our 3:00 p.m. to 5:00p.m. counseling slots are always full during the school year.

 Family Building Blocks (FBB)

 The Family Building Blocks program is an intensive home visitation Family Resource/Child Development program for families with one or more social, financial, Medicaid, or behavioral risk factors.  This program provides services to the parents of young children and focus on child development issues, child safety information, parenting information, and resource awareness and usage.

 The FBB services are provided by trained parent educators who are also trained as Family Support Workers.

 This year our staff completed 53 screenings and 28 assessments.  Forty-seven families and 51 children participated in home visitation services while monthly and weekly support groups had 379 participants.  There were 579 home visits completed this year.

There was 1 parent education group that held 4 sessions with a total of 27 participants. 

There were 35 individual Family Service plans developed for participants in FY07. Additionally, 42 Denver Childhood Screenings were completed. Our staff also completed approximately 68 Ages and Stages questionnaires. The Denver Screenings and the Ages and Stages Questionnaires are tools that are used to help monitor child development and also initially screen for possible delays in development.

There were 2 referrals made to  Sooner Start regarding suspected delays this year and no referrals to the Cooperative Education Project.

 The funding for the FBB program is provided by the Oklahoma State Department of Health and local contributions.

 Parenting through Separation and Divorce (PTSD)

 Parenting through Separation and Divorce is an educational skill building program designed to help separated or divorcing parents develop or maintain a united approach to parenting issues.

 This service was developed at the request of the area judges.  Services are provided in Alva, Fairview, and Cherokee on a rotating basis.  The class meets once each month for a 3 hour session.  The class covers skills for relating to divorce issues, children’s responses to divorce, and communication skills and guidelines for cooperative parenting.

 Referrals for the class are received through the person requesting the service.  Information about the service is made available to all area attorneys, judges, and court clerks.

 There is a $30.00 charge for this service.  Twenty-one people participated in these classes in FY07.

 Summer Arts and Crafts

 This program was provided as a networking activity with the Alva Youth Council.  Twenty-five youth meet once a week for 2 hours during a 6 week period.  The meetings were held at NFS and a variety of take home crafts were created by the children.

Within My Reach

The "Within My Reach" program is a 14 hour curriculum based psycho-educational program designed to teach positive relationship building to single people. Two of our staff members were trained as presenters of this curriculum in FY07. Two groups representing 22 total participants were served this year.

 Assisting Families through the Holidays

 This year NFS received many gifts from individuals, churches, and other groups to be delivered to needy families during the holiday season. NFS staff members also provided needed items for several families. Sixty-Four people received food baskets and/or gifts during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

 Building Endowment

In FY07, Northwest Family Services began an effort to start a program endowment of $500,000. Various potential contributors were contacted with Chesapeake Energy being the only donor to step forward this year. Chesapeake's commitment to NFS is to contribute $10,000 per year for five years. The effort to pursue additional contributions for the NFS program endowment will continue throughout FY08 and beyond.

On-Site Evaluations

Fy07 was a major year for no-site evaluations at Northwest Family Services. Our 3 year CARF evaluation was held in late winter and lasted for 3 full days. Over 850 standards were reviewed and NFS passed the review without any difficulty. Our reviewer was very complimentary of the quality of work exhibited by our counseling staff.

In April a two year on-site evaluation was conducted by DHHS - Administration for Children and Families. Northwest Family Services passed this review with high marks also. The reviewers again commented on the high quality of our services. They also were complimentary on the breadth of our services and the successful conclusions on so many difficult cases.

The Oklahoma Association of Youth Services also conducted an on-site review. No deficiencies were noted on this review either. Additionally, Department of  Human Services Licensing made 2 visits during the year. The Oklahoma Department of Health completed a program review and the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs held 6 financial reviews during the year. In addition, Northwest Family Services has an independent financial audit each year.

All of these audits and on-site evaluations have been confirmations of the quality work performed at Northwest Family Services.

Evaluation Committee Report for FY 2007

The Evaluation Committee consisting of Karen Koehn and Betty Benson met at the Northwest Family Services office on October 16, 2007. The purpose of this meeting was to review and  evaluate the achievement rate for the agency's FY 2007 goal, to review any corporate compliance issues, and to evaluate the performance of the Executive Director.

John R. Jones, Executive Director for NFS, Inc. presented a comparison of FY2007 goals, objectives, and achievement rates for each goal. The rationale used to determine achievement rates were explained and discussed for each goal.

Corporate compliance was discussed in general. The agency has had three lengthy on-site reviews in FY2007, all of which looked at corporate compliance, as does the yearly audit. There were no issues to report concerning corporate compliance, however, John Jones presented a list of procedures used to monitor corporate compliance and prevent any negative issues from arising.

The committee also evaluated the performance of John Jones, Executive Director, and listed his performance for FY2007 as being satisfactory.

The committee agreed that the Northwest Family Services, Inc. evaluation process was appropriate. No changes in the process were recommended.

Northwest Family Services, Inc.

Strategic Plan for

FY08

Goal 1.  Continue to build public awareness of agency services.

          Objective 1: Continue on-going training and orientation for other supporting agencies in the area.

                Responsibility: Executive Director and Staff

                Timeline: Throughout FY08

          Objective 2: Submit at least six articles to local media highlighting agency activities.

                   Responsibility: Executive Director or assigned staff.

                   Timeline: Throughout FY08

       Objective 3: Attempt to build Board strength and membership.

                   Responsibility: Board Members and Executive Director.

                   Timeline: Ongoing

Goal 2.  Continue to meet all licensing and accreditation standards as required for all agency programs.       

          Objective 1: Continue implementation of Quality Assurance Plan, Agency Evaluation Process, and Standards Review procedure.

                    Responsibility: Executive Director and Staff

                   Timeline: Throughout FY08

          Objective 2: Implement Technology Plan as per CARF suggestions.

                   Responsibility: Executive Director and Assigned Staff.

                   Timeline: Ongoing

Goal 3: Utilize contracted and part time staff to provide a wider range of psycho-educational and community development services.          

          Objective 1: Advertise for, interview, and select appropriate personnel to fill available employment position.                  

                   Responsibility: Executive Director / Clinical Director

                    Timeline: By January 1, 2008

           Objective 2: Orient and train new staff.

                   Responsibility: Executive Director / Clinical Director

                   Timeline: By January 15, 2008

          Objective 3: Plan and implement the identified services.      

                   Responsibility: Executive Director / Clinical Director

                   Timeline: On going

                               Projected Levels of Services    Actual Level of Services

      Projected Levels of Services for FY 2008

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