Quality Standards for Residential Interventions

Why Implement Quality Standards?

Children and families deserve access to high-quality services across the continuum of care, including therapeutic residential interventions. Establishing quality practice standards with measurable performance indicators is a useful means for promoting and evaluating the quality of care in residential programs and informing a process of continuous quality improvement and accountability. Contact any of the quality experts below to learn more about how you can bring the Quality Standards to your agency or state.

Stakeholders in Florida, supported by researchers at the Boys Town Child and Family Translational Research Center and the Florida Institute for Child Welfare, initiated the identification of quality standards in 2015. In 2017, Florida statute was amended to mandate a statewide accountability system for residential providers based on measurable quality standards. There is now a fully-validated assessment tool and the accountability system is being utilized across the state. Learn more about how Florida paved the way.

RESOURCES

International Consensus Statement

Journal article defining therapeutic residential care

Quality Care Booklet

Detailed standards for residential interventions

Florida Accountability System

2021 Residential Group Care Annual Report

Quality Standards & Family First

Research brief re-envisioning residential care

Spotlight on Quality

At the 65^th Annual ACRC Conference, Dr. Shamra Boel-Studt explained how implementing quality standards can measure and improve the effectiveness of residential interventions. Watch this quick 20-minute video to learn more.