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Walter
R. McDonald & Associates Inc.(WRMA)'s
greatest strength is the extensive hands-on, nationwide experience
of its senior professional staff, and the resulting, exceptionally
high quality managerial and technical consulting services that these
professionals are able to provide.
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Families for Kids Initiative Policy Analysis and Cluster Evaluation |
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Families for Kids (FFK) was a $45,000,000 W.K. Kellogg Foundation initiative that was designed to permanently reduce, and possibly eliminate, the large backlog of children who, unable to return to their birth families, linger in State and local child welfare systems for years without alternative permanent families. The initiative was also designed to change the culture and the practices of the entities, both public and private, on which these children's well-being and futures depended. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation chose WRMA to evaluate both the initial "Community Visioning" phase and the subsequent implementation activities. WRMA was thus integrally involved in the FFK initiative from its earliest stages, both as formal evaluator and as informal catalyst.
During the "Community Visioning" phase, local FFK staff from 19 communities in 15 States worked with 14,000 stakeholders, who gave voice to the ideas and concerns of groups and individuals affected by the child welfare system. WRMA followed, documented, supported, and analyzed this visioning and strategic planning process at all 19 sites. In each, it met with principals and a variety of stakeholders; documented the legal, organizational, political, and demographic environments; and collected data, evaluated progress, and made recommendations. WRMA also developed the conceptual framework and evaluative infrastructure used to evaluate both the planning and implementation stages of the FFK initiative.
Following the "Community Visioning" phase, 11 of the grantees were awarded multiyear implementation grants, based on the strategic plans and implementation proposals they developed. WRMA was selected to provide programmatic and evaluative technical assistance as the cluster evaluator during the implementation phase. To that end, WRMA examined the initiative across all sites and identified those common themes that unified the initiative and served as a foundation for change. WRMA also helped the involved communities to overcome barriers to implementing their strategic plans for permanent change to the local social service and judicial systems. Policies and practices that could be powerful tools for meeting the needs for permanency of children in communities across the United States were also identified during the evaluation. |
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