1. No Child Left Without Services
Medical Assistance:
No Child Left Without Services

2. Are boxes finite objects or….?
Can they take on new shapes
Have soft, flexible sides
Maybe have no structure other than a general outline
Besides, who really defines the shape of the box that we may feel we work in
Do all answers have to be yes or no, eligible or ineligible, etc……
Or, are there other possible options

3. Do we service clients or customers?
Changing face of Public Child Welfare
21st Century families are much more mobile than ever before
State lines and country boundaries no longer limit mobility
All these changes place more stress on a Public Child Welfare system already stretched to the limit
Decreased staff and budget complexities

4. So who are our customers?
State, government agency, and private agency we work for
Our supervisor
General population
Other agencies we interact with
Relative, foster and adoptive families
But first and foremost….THE CHILDREN WE SERVE

5. We must always remember that what we do is for the children!!!
Think of how the decision affects the child.
How does it affect the family?

6. How would you feel if you were the family asking for service?
Would your message satisfy you?
In a crisis would you feel your needs had been met?
When asked by others what would you tell them about the service you received?
Does a bureaucratic answer really work to do anything but make you angry?

7. Is this the image you want portrayed?
In business the axiom is that it costs ten to one hundred times more to get a customer back than it did to lose or maintain the customer
Now multiply that by the fact that we only need to make a few contacts to access everyone in the world
All of this at a time when Public Child Welfare agencies should be focused on customer friendly services

8. Does this make sense when:
We are customer focused service agencies;
We are charged with helping people in need;
We serve children and families that are brought together under very difficult circumstances; and
Every day and situation can be a crisis that we may have been able to help alleviate.

9. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”
If we applied this to our respective programs how would we look?
Have these families not provided a HUGE service to our State and Country?
Do they not have a right to expect some support for the service that they provide?

10. This in mind - Then
What can we do to make our services more customer friendly?
If our laws and regulations prevent us from providing the service that our customers need are there other ways we can help?
Is it too much to ask that we take the time to listen even when we cannot provide direct help?
How would you feel to hear NO when in crisis?

11. So are you someone that… customers try to avoid?

12. Or someone that your customers see as friendly, understanding, a good listener, an advocate, and always trying to find ways to help out even when the answer is “your not eligible for services”?

13. Conclusion
The nature of our work has changed dramatically over the past 30 years
Our resources will continue to diminish during a time of increasing need
Perception and image are far more important than they ever were
We need to look at our profession more as a business
Focus on options, alternatives, and what if’s