One of Family Support Services’ Quality Management (QM) team’s core jobs is to conduct performance improvement plan (PIP) reviews in each case. It’s part of an overall agency-wide quality improvement initiative.
Despite constraints of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, the team re-tooled their review process to ultimately benefit foster families and affiliated agencies responsible for their care. The process changes include:
- conducting all quality reviews using a “strength-based” approach
- expanding fact collection to capture relevant information that may support a strength
- following Federal Child & Family Services Review requirements rather than Florida Safety Practice requirements
- providing guidance to child welfare professionals on how best to document their continuing efforts in the Florida Safe Families Network
Using the revamped process, the QM team had four PIP cases achieve “All-Strength” status—meaning all 18 sub-items in the review landed in the “green” category. That’s good news for the people behind the cases and FSS. Quality Management team members are now exporting their process improvements, helping case management organizations adopt the same changes.
The result: the review process enhances the system of care, as it’s designed to do, and child welfare professionals see the reviews as a support to their work rather than as a punitive process.
