Reforming Family & Child Care

Boys Town recognizes the urgent need for greater efficiency in America’s child and family care systems. We are boldly charting a new course, one community, one state and one region at a time. We’re sharing the research-proven results of our Integrated Continuum of Care so other agencies – both governmental and private – can understand its value in helping children and families.

Most importantly, Boys Town is urging others to embrace the Integrated Continuum as a way to repair the current system that often is dysfunctional and ineffective.

Historically, child care has been delivered through a system that makes it difficult to provide consistent services to children and families. This is usually because providers don’t communicate well with each other and have different philosophies of care. Often, this system makes kids worse rather than better because of its clumsiness and lack of coordination.

Across America, there also are many organizations that provide care using what they refer to as a “continuum” of services. Typically, though, these “continuums” are an array of different services with little integration or linkage.

Through the Eyes of a Child

In the eyes of administrators, these services may appear to be meeting the needs of children and families. But when viewed through the eyes of a child or a family – the primary consumers – help is delivered in so many different ways, consistency and real effectiveness is nearly impossible.

An analogy would be a student who graduates seventh grade after learning everything in English, only to find out his entire eight grade schedule will be taught in Spanish. That student would have to start over and relearn a new system. This is what happens in a child-care system that doesn’t have a true integrated continuum of services.

Add to this the sheer numbers of children and families in need, which overwhelm and overload care providers; funding shortages; and a fragmented child-care system. Inevitably, the quality and availability of care suffers at the local, state and national level.

An Obligation to Lead

As one of the nation’s largest and most respected care organizations, Boys Town enthusiastically accepts its leadership role in reforming child and family care. Our organization has an obligation to help fix what is broken, to improve what works well and to share our expertise, experience and knowledge so that more children and families will benefit.

Currently, Boys Town is making inroads with state and national legislators, promoting the effectiveness of the Integrated Continuum of Care and demonstrating through solid research why child-care systems should implement it.

Boys Town is leading an effort to obtain a federal appropriation from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to help agencies expand the use of an Integrated Continuum. In the past year, Boys Town leadership has made presentations to nearly 100 members of Congress and state legislatures, and some 25 state and national agencies. Boys Town also has hosted a symposium of Nebraska government and child-care officials to stimulate cooperation that can lead to reform in the state's child-care system.

A Leading-Edge Partnership

At the local and state levels, Boys Town has helped form the Nebraska Families Collaborative. This non-profit partnership of five Omaha-area organizations connects families to the vast array of services provided by the NFC partners and manages the delivery of these services. This partnership eventually will enable Boys Town to initiate our Integrated Continuum of Care with the state of Nebraska.

Negotiations also are underway to establish a similar partnership with the state of Rhode Island through Boys Town New England. Nationally, Boys Town is increasing awareness of its research-proven work with children and families, and continues to build its Integrated Continuum of Care at sites across the country.

As it continues to strongly advocate for reform, Boys Town will position itself as a provider and promoter of programs that deliver clinically effective and cost-efficient care to children and families.  Just as we help children and families heal, Boys Town is developing ways to mend and revitalize the current system of care so more children and families in need can experience quality treatment and life-changing results.

To learn more about how Boys Town is changing the way America cares for its children and families, request an overview of our strategic plan.