CFS to Evaluate Florida Children’s Mental Health System of Care System of Care Expansion Planning Grant
CFS has been selected as the evaluator of a federally funded program that is intended to help Florida’s children diagnosed with serious emotional disturbance live at home, do well in school, and successfully live in the community. The Florida Children's Mental Health System of Care (CMHSOC) project, awarded to the Florida Department of Children and Families, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Program Office, is funded by the System Of Care (SOC) expansion grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
According to SAMHSA, “accumulating research and evaluation results from the Children’s Mental Health Institute over the last 15 years have demonstrated that, when a SOC approach is implemented and sustained, children, youth and families experience both short and long-term benefits.”
The SOC expansion grant supports a comprehensive strategic plan for improving, expanding and sustaining services provided through a SOC approach. Florida’s CMHSOC project will involve collaboration across government and private agencies, providers, families, and youth for the purpose of improving access and expanding the array of coordinated community-based, culturally and linguistically competent services and supports for children and youth with a serious emotional disturbance and their families. Each Florida region will determine their unique strengths and needs based on diverse cultures, ethnicities, languages, geography and socio-economic characteristics. A total of 4000 unduplicated children and youth are expected to be served during the four-year project.
The grant also calls for a provider to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the project. The CFS team was selected due to their advanced training and extensive experience in conducting research and evaluating data necessary for the evaluation opportunity. As CMHSOC project evaluator, CFS faculty and staff, under the direction of Mary Armstrong, PhD, will utilize grant-mandated instruments that include culturally and linguistically competent data collection methods for establishing baseline measurement of performance indicators and family outcomes at the beginning of service provision, at follow-up after six months of service, and at discharge from service. CFS will collaborate with a family organization (contracted to provide CMHSOC services) in the evaluation process and on all data collection instruments.
Their continuous feedback to the project leadership and management team will help to enhance and improve the Florida CMHSOC Expansion Project during its implementation.
“We are delighted to be chosen as the evaluator for the CMHSOC project. It is an opportunity to partner closely with Florida Department of Children and Families in the expansion of an effective system of care that will offer quality services and supports to Florida’s children with mental health problems and their families,” said Dr. Mary Armstrong. “One of our goals is to offer timely and useful feedback to the Department on implementation facilitators and challenges. We also will examine
changes in the quality of care that children and their families receive, as well as improvements in child functioning.”