Children's Policy Councils

Children's Policy Councils

Downloads - Click on any of the following to download:
Download 2010 Needs Assessment

Access 2010 Needs Assessment Update to submit online
Download 2010 Needs Assessment Forms for Printing - PDF format

Download Needs Assessment Update 2009 - County Pages
Download Needs Assessment Update 2009 (introduction, summary of Needs Assessment, and county accomplishments only)
Download CPC Newsletter - April 2010
Download Parent Talk Newsletter - Summer 2010
Download CPC Newsletter - July 2010

History

In 1999, recognizing that state and county level agencies or organizations are often unaware of the activities of other agencies, the Alabama legislature revised a 1975 law that mandated local juvenile judges to form local Juvenile Justice Coordinating Councils. The revised law replaced the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Councils with local county Children’s Policy Councils. Each of the councils is also given fiscal and programmatic responsibilities for the local council. The law also specifies fifteen categories of mandated members of the councils while giving each council the responsibility for selecting an additional seven at-large members. By purposely bringing together agency, organization and community members, children’s services are more likely to be delivered as a collaborative effort rather than taking place in isolation, often resulting in duplication of efforts or missed opportunities to provide services. The same law created a state children’s policy council. The state council members include the head of every state agency that affects children, the state’s leading children’s advocates, and political figures.

County Children's Policy Councils

The law requires the county Children’s Policy Councils to do the following:

Hold quarterly meetings, although councils may meet as often as they wish
Create and submit a Needs Assessment by July 1^st of each year
Submit an Annual Resource Directory
Maintain the mandated membership as follows:
Juvenile Judge (chairperson)
Department of Human Resources
Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation
Department of Youth Services
Department of Rehabilitation Services
Medicaid Agency
Department of Public Safety
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board
Superintendent(s) of Education
Chief Juvenile Probation Officer
County Health Department
District Attorney
Local Legislators
Chairperson of the County Commission
Appoint at least seven members at large who are from the community and interested in children’s issues

The duties of the county Children’s Policy Council include:

Reviewing the needs of children ages 0 to 19
Reviewing the responsibilities assigned each agency by lay
Determining areas of responsibility and identifying area of duplication and/or conflict between agencies
Identifying local resources
Developing a local resource guide to services available to children which shall include procedural information concerning how to access such local services
Articulating and communicating to the local community the needs of children
Submitting an annual report and needs assessment

The county Children’s Policy Councils are assisted by staff from the Department of Children’s Affairs.

Needs Assessment

Each of the sixty-seven county Children’s Policy Councils is required to submit a Needs Assessment by July 1^st of each year.

In 2007, the Alabama Children's Policy Council began utilizing Results Based Accountability to establish the desired results for Alabama’s children. This work produced a set of ten results for Alabama’s children which include:

Children Are Safe
Children Are Healthy
Children Are Ready for School
Children Are Successful in School
Children Transition Successfully to Adulthood
Children Stay Out of Trouble
Families Are Strong and Stable
Families Are Hopeful and Positively Engaged in Their Children’s Development
Communities Are Safe, Engaged, and Supportive
Communities Are Thriving

Using these same ten results, beginning in 2008, each County Children’s Policy Council was asked to follow a new procedure in completing its 2008 Needs Assessment. Each county was asked to

Choose three of the ten results which were most important to that particular county,
Select one indicator for each result to measure progress toward that result,
Plot the data for the selected indicator beginning with the year 2000 and projecting through 2010,
Determine the “story behind the curve” by relating why the trend looks the way it does,
Make a list of partners who need to have input in achieving the desired result,
Determine an action plan based on what would work to get the trend moving in the right direction,
Utilize the Needs Assessment as a planning tool for work during the coming year

Beginning with the 2009 Needs Assessment, each county Children's Policy Council was asked to submit an update of the previous year's Needs Assessment, utilizing the same results and indicators.