Presentation to the State Legislators Representing Otter Tail County

1. November 20, 2006 Presentation to the State Legislators Representing Otter Tail County

2. VISION Statement It is the vision of the Otter Tail Family Services Collaborative that families, communities and service providing agencies work together for a responsive, flexible system of education, support and services that focus positively on the needs, strengths and potential of each child and family. 

3. MISSION Statement Working Together… Serving Families …Improving Lives

4. Why we work together The Story of Chang and Eng

5. We believe that together we can improve outcomes for children and families and reduce costs by: • Interagency collaboration to change systems and integrate services • Prevention and early intervention services • Holding ourselves accountable

6. Interagency Collaboration • Systems change – developing more effective and accessible service delivery systems • Seamless, integrated service delivery • Joint planning • Joint training • Implementation and evaluation of promising approaches which show evidence of effectiveness through the experience of key stakeholders

7. Prevention and Early Intervention Services Traditional categorical funding goes to ‘deep end’ services, but our priorities are: • School-aged Early Intervention • Early Childhood Early Intervention • Child Care Early Intervention • Truancy Early Intervention

8. Accountability • Children and families • are involved in a • variety of systems, • therefore: • We are mutually accountable for outcomes • We evaluate rigorously • We do joint planning

9. Collaborative Funding – 1999-2005 73.59% Local Collaborative Time Study 8.60% State Grants 7.22% Foundation Grants 6.90% 3rd Party Reimbursement 2.30% Interest 0.85% Miscellaneous 0.36% Partnership Payments 0.17% County

10. 1999 - Implementation phase in was extended to include the Otter Tail Family Services Collaborative July 1, 2005 – Implementation of Medicaid School-based Administrative Claiming Guide 2006 – Estimated $17.1M, based on assumption all Collaboratives would continue to participate in LCTS following the implementation of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

14. School-age Early Intervention:Family Outreach Program Family Outreach Facilitators provide early intervention services to at-risk children and their families, working with families in their homes and communities on issues raised by the family, in response to the referral from school-based screening teams.

15. Family Outreach Program: Changing Systems • Joint hiring • Joint staff training • Mental health providers working together • County-school screening teams • Common model used in all schools • Development of earlier interventions to reduce special education referrals

16. Family Outreach Program: Program Impact • 1353 children served by program from 2000-05 • 425 children from 300 families served in CY05 • Demand for program services are so high that FY06 ended with 124% utilization rate • Increased referrals have resulted in a waiting list to serve children and families • Dramatic increases in student functioning scores • Joint staff training • Mental health providers working together • County-school screening teams • Common model used in all schools • Development of earlier interventions to reduce special education referrals

18. Family Outreach Program: Effects of Lost Funding • Staff cut from 10.2 FTE and a fulltime director in FY06 to 6.3 FTE and half time director in FY07 • Maximum caseload was therefore reduced from an ability to serve 163 families in FY06 to101 families able to be served at one time in FY07 • 425 children were served in CY2005 to 259 projected to be served in CY2006

19. Family Outreach Program:Working together,Serving Families, Improving Lives "A lot of the things my daughter needed were met. The program was a welcomed event in my daughter's life and mine.“ "To put all this into words would take a long time. To make it short, this program has helped our son tremendously!"

20. Early Childhood Early Intervention: Caring Connections Home Visits Caring ConnectionsHome Visitors provide developmentally appropriate information and support to new parents in their homes at times convenient to their schedules.

21. Caring Connections Home Visits: Changing Systems • Joint training of Public Health, ECFE, ECSE, Head Start staff • Development of common program model and curriculum • Schools get connected with families much earlier • Co-located and integrated early services • Earlier identification of children with special education needs • Increased utilization of WIC for nutrition benefits • Communication between all early childhood programs and K-12 schools regarding what constitutes school readiness • Some school districts have changed from referring to themselves as K-12 to B-12

22. Caring Connections Home Visits: Program Impact • 1811 babies and their families served • 83% of enrolled families were reading to their children daily by age 3 • 78% of OTC family received at least one visit since 2001   • 65% of families for whom Caring Connections helped their family to become more connected schools/communities  • 100% of families served reported that they received new information which helped them better understand the needs of their family. • 16% of children were referred for special ed screening

23. Early Childhood Early Intervention: Caring Connections Home Visits • Caring Connections was designed to provide 10 visits to all children from birth through the second half of kindergarten • In 2004 program was redefined to provide 7 visits to all children through age 3 • In 2005 program was narrowed to provide 4 visits to only first time parents from birth to 12 months

24. Caring Connections Home Visits:Working together,Serving Families, Improving Lives “A program like this is really beneficial to new and seasoned parents to answer questions that you do not feel comfortable asking anyone else. They also give you information and ideas that you would not think of. As a new mom, it really helped give me good ideas and reassurance on raising my son."

25. Child Care Early Intervention: Child Care Provider Visiting Child care providers receive a series of visits providing them with information and support based on nationally recognized curriculum to improve the quality of the care they provide.

26. Child Care Provider Visiting: Changing Systems • Multi-sector partners focused on quality of child care in the County • Increased awareness of the role of child care in the early care and education system • Increased communication and coordination between Child Care Resource and Referral and other early childhood programs

27. Child Care Provider Visiting: Program Impact • 442 visitsto 88 providers in 15 OTC communities • 78% of participants that had been providers 5 years and less have continued to provide care • 98% of participants reported that the visits helped to meet their needs as a child care provider • Pilot showed cost effective way to deliver national curriculum: Average cost - $667 per provider, $94 per family impacted by improved quality child care

28. Child Care Provider Visits: Working together, Serving Families, Improving Lives "Caring Connections helped me in many ways. It opened my eyes to ways of caring for children. It gave me new and safe ideas!“ -Child Care Provider

29. School-age Early Intervention: Truancy Prevention Initiatives • School-based Attendance Interventions • Community-based Attendance Interventions • Individualized Direct Services for Early Intervention

30. School-based Attendance Interventions:Changing Systems • Adoption of county-wide attendance policy • Consistent attendance tracking and record keeping • Development of standard range of interventions and documentation when attendance is an issue • Development of consistent communication with families and communities about the importance of attendance

32. School-based Attendance Interventions:Effects of Lost Funding Schools absorbed functions of attendance clerks and continue to track attendance and interventions at a time of reduced school funding.

33. School-age Early Intervention:Community-based Attendance Interventions Students with attendance issues and their families are invited by the County Attorney to a meeting with his staff, school personnel and OTC Human Services staff.

34. Community-based Attendance Interventions:Changing Systems • Brought together schools, County and judges for common understanding and to better meet the individual needs of each child and family • Increased partnership with families to address attendance issues • Provided students knowledge of consequences of truancy

35. Community-based Attendance Interventions:Effects of Lost Funding No impact as community-based programs have always been provided by in-kind services provided by Collaborative partners

36. School-age Early Intervention:Individualized Direct Services Individualized direct services provided in a school setting designed to meet specific needs of students identified as at-risk for truancy and dropping out of school.

37. Individualized Direct Services:Changing Systems • Program was developed with school, county and non-profit partners • Students were identified as in need of earlier intervention services • A broad array of entirely individual services were provided

38. Community-based Attendance Interventions:Effects of Lost Funding Program was discontinued after serving 238 at risk students during the 15 months the program was funded.

39. Truancy Prevention Direct Services: Working together,Serving Families, Improving Lives "Our son needed the extra help in school and there was someone there every step of the way. Today he will graduate and will now go onto College this fall and continue his education."

40. Why Prevention and Early Intervention? The Prevalence Triangle More Complex Needs IntensiveServices – 60% of $$ Accessiblehigh-quality services and supports –35% of $$ 2 - 5% Prevention and Universal Health Promotion – 5% of $$ 15% Less Complex Needs 80% of population Pires, S. 2006. Human Service Collaborative. Washington, D.C.

41. We are asking • Support for interagency collaboration • Funding for the continuum of early childhood and child care prevention and early intervention programs • Funding for school-aged early intervention services

42. Thank you! We appreciate your time and interest in the Otter Tail Family Services Collaborative!