The State of New Hampshire’s Family Involvement with the Child Outcomes Process

Cornerstone Project October 2004-September 2006 GSEG Grant

Cornerstone Project staff Director, Coordinator, Finance Administrator, Administrative Assistant,TA contractors, Data Consultants, Evaluation Team, Subcommittees Representation from the following agencies: Family Organizations: PIC (NH PTI) NH Family Voices NH Connections NAMI NH Granite State Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health ECO, NECTAC, WestEd Part B 619 & Part C

Cornerstone Subcommittee’s Family Outcomes Long distance participants Infant Toddler Outcomes Preschool Outcomes Data TA resources –NECTAC & ECO

June 2006 OH MY! Child Outcome Data system limitations NH’s plan of action

October 2006 ECO Center Saves the day! Kathleen Hebbeler and Lynn Kahn journey to NH to assist FCESS directors and management team from the family outcomes subcommittee in creating a plan for NH’s COSF and data collection process.

Pilot programs begin South Central South Eastern Western

March 2007 ECO project staff train programs not participating in the pilot Entire state begins collecting child outcomes.

NH’s guidelines in CO collection Outcomes to be measured: Children have positive social relationships Children acquire and use knowledge and skills Children take appropriate action to meet their needs Data collected at entry and exit

Guidelines continued Child outcomes are collected on the model form developed by ECO project. Providers/families are given a choice of using COSF with or without the numbers listed on the 7 point scale Assessment tools used are the HELP and IDA

Guidelines continued Information from evaluations, on-going assessment, IFSP development activities are used along with family and ESS input on the three outcomes. Optional for families to fully participate Policy and procedure document created for ESS providers. Suggestion to create a brochure that will assist in explaining the process with families.

Families create Child Outcomes Brochure BDS asks management staff of the family outcomes subcommittee to draft brochure that providers could use in explaining the child outcomes process Draft reviewed by all stakeholders and ECO staff Brochure is now used statewide

Entry level data Entry level data is collected within 6 weeks of eligibility determination for Children who are at least 6 months of age Expected to be in the program for at least 6 months For children who are less than 6 months of age entry level data will be collected when the child becomes 6 months of age.

Exit data For children exiting at age 3 yrs, exit data is collected within 90 days of the child’s third birthday. For children exiting prior to their 3 rd birthday service coordinators are responsible for ensuring exit data is collected prior to the child’s departure from ESS.

Initial challenges Data collection system Excel spreadsheet Entry and exit collection what about progress? NHSEIS

Success Child Outcomes data collection possible through NH’s NHSEIS.