Outcomes and Measures 2010
We take great pride in the fact that KidsPeace has helped more than 150,000 children since 1882, modifying our levels of care and programs as situations require and always providing the most appropriate services to the children in our care. We work very hard to ensure that our programs are adapted and updated to meet the evolving needs of our children. Our programs are always innovative and at the forefront of mental health issues. This past year, we expanded our Residential Autism Program in New England, opening more beds to autistic youth in need of residential treatment. We also opened new foster care offices in Baltimore, MD, and Alexandria, VA. Our outcomes and measures for 2008 are summarized below. The entire Outcomes and Annual Report document can be downloaded by clicking the link below:
Outcomes 2010 Download entire pdf
The KidsPeace mission is to give hope, help and healing to children, families and communities, and we work very hard to accomplish this from nearly 50 sites in 11 states and the District of Columbia. We serve children at all levels of acuity from our one-of-a-kind Psychiatric Hospital, specialized care for boys with sexual issues, intensive and therapeutic residential programs, juvenile justice facilities, foster care and community programs offices and accredited schools. Through our large Continuum of Care, we are able to smoothly transition children among our various programs as they heal, maintaining consistent surroundings and program structures that allow continuing progress with minimal disruption or adjustment to new rules and environments. Our successes are well documented, and we are proud of our ability to reach children who have been considered unreachable elsewhere. Indeed, our admissions statistics indicate that the majority of our clients have experienced an average of three to four placements before being referred to KidsPeace. We carefully measure and evaluate client outcomes, helping us successfully contribute to the long-term healing of the children we serve in all of our settings.
There were 6,325 new admissions to KidsPeace programs in 2009:
• 23% to our Psychiatric Hospital
• 6% to Residential Programs
• 1% to Juvenile Justice Programs
• 17% to Foster Care
• 53% to Community Programs
• 44% were under 12 years old
• 49% were ages 12-17
• 21 states and the District of Columbia made referrals to KidsPeace
Millions more were helped by KidsPeace Prevention, Informational and Intervention Materials:
• 30,593 children’s professionals received 1,900 hours of training from the KidsPeace Institute
• 165,000 readers of Healing Magazine® since 1995
• Millions of families participated in National Family Month® www.familyday.net
• Millions of families celebrated National KidsDay®; www.kidsday.net
• Millions of hits on www.kidspeace.org
• 494,000 registered members on www.TeenCentral.Net®
• More than 16,000 newspaper articles, TV and radio stories and Web sites carried positive coverage of KidsPeace to nearly 160 million
People trust KidsPeace to help kids get better
Customer satisfaction is an integral measure of the success of any organization. In order to determine our customers’ satisfaction, we conduct a yearly survey to ask general questions about how pleased our customers are with our service. When asked about their overall satisfaction with KidsPeace, more than 96% of our customer respondents said they were satisfied with the services KidsPeace provided.
Kids get better at KidsPeace
Using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale for Children (BPRS-C), KidsPeace measures client symptom levels at admission and discharge. In 2009, in every category, the children we treated showed significant improvement in symptom severity. Statistically and according to parents and referral agencies that send kids to our programs, kids get better at KidsPeace.
Model of Care
The KidsPeace Model of Care contains the principles that form the foundation of our treatment and care of children, teens and families. The elements of this model are so important to us as an organization that we survey kids each year to determine if they believe that we are measuring up to our core beliefs. In 2009, the answers were very positive, with respondents indicating that we succeed in following these principles more than 83% of the time in all 6 categories.
Academically
Education is crucial to all children’s development, and KidsPeace provides a variety of accredited educational opportunities to the children in our care. Before coming to KidsPeace, kids were averaging 3-4 years behind their peers in annual academic progress, but, while at KidsPeace, our students begin to progress at the average 1 academic year per school year rate achieved by “average” students.
Additionally, a one-year follow-up survey of kids who had left our care showed that, of those who responded, 67% had graduated or were pursuing some form of education, while those not enrolled in school decreased from 7% to 6%.
Kids stay better after KidsPeace
At KidsPeace, kids are taught skills to improve their school performance, they’re given guidance for changing their problem behaviors, and they are provided with training in independent living and job-acquisition skills. KidsPeace strives to give kids the confidence and skills they need to overcome crisis. Our kids’ success is our most important goal.
In terms of social adaptability, our surveys indicated that 76% of kids had not abused drugs or alcohol during the year after discharge from KidsPeace, and 75% did not engage in unlawful activities during that important post-discharge year.
Our Juvenile Justice programs provide 6 months of aftercare to many of the youth discharged from our Mesabi Academy facility. The success of our aftercare efforts can be seen in the new adjudications of youth who participated in the program: A very strong 90% required no new adjudications.
Kids thrive in KidsPeace Foster Care settings
With nearly 1,000 children in foster care through KidsPeace at any given time, we focus on the degree of permanency our foster children achieve as a result of our program. We tracked 642 children who were discharged from one of our foster care programs after at least 30 days of care during 2009, and we found that at least 88% went to equal or less restrictive settings.
KidsPeace staff are committed to helping kids get better
KidsPeace is extremely proud of the commitment and professionalism of our incredible staff who work extraordinarily hard to bring peace to the kids in our care. We provide frequent and ongoing training and educational opportunities to our staff to ensure that they have the most up-to-date tools and techniques to help our clients heal, and we offer respectful management and many opportunities for advancement to our dedicated staff. In an industry that traditionally experiences high turnover rates, we are unusually successful in retaining superior staff members. Indeed, in 2009, 26% of KidsPeace employees had worked here for 10 years or more.
KidsPeace helps kids and families all around the world get better
The scope of KidsPeace’s services reaches far beyond the walls of our residential houses and foster homes. In our effort to help kids everywhere gain the confidence to overcome crisis, KidsPeace offers numerous parenting resources, a FREE magazine for children’s professionals, and dozens of training and continuing education opportunities throughout the year. KidsPeace also maintains an innovative Web site, TeenCentral.Net, focused specifically on providing help to teens in a safe, anonymous and welcoming environment.
National KidsDay ® is a KidsPeace-created celebration of spending meaningful time with America’s children. The celebrations honor the inherent worth of children and bring families together in events across our nation annually on the first Sunday in August. Hundreds of thousands of families have participated in National KidsDay events since its founding.
National Family Month ® is a congressionally recognized celebration created by KidsPeace to raise awareness and underscore the importance of family – kids, mothers, fathers, relatives and caregivers – and to encourage supporting one another. National Family Month, which runs from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day each year, provides an opportunity for families to share special time together, to develop or renew relationships, to identify or rediscover needs, and to remind everyone of the importance of family involvement in raising healthy, confident kids for America’s future. KidsPeace works with individuals, grass-roots organizations and enlightened corporate partners to develop ideas and campaigns that reach Americans nationwide with information that builds stronger families.
KidsPeace helps other professionals help kids get better
Helping kids in need requires continuing training, education and development for those who would endeavor to help. To that end, KidsPeace has taken on a proactive role: Under the auspices of a special division called the KidsPeace Institute, KidsPeace plays host to a variety of educational seminars, conferences and workshops, made available not only to KidsPeace staff, but to anyone who works with our nation’s children.
KidsPeace helps kids get better: A summary
KidsPeace is one of the nation’s oldest children’s charities and brings hope, help and healing to kids in crisis. For more than 128 years, our services have met kids at their point of greatest need. Today, our full range of hospital, residential, diagnostic, educational, community-based, foster care, adoption and juvenile justice services helps kids and families heal and stay strong.
With more numerous locations in 11 states and the District of Columbia, a nationally respected staff of experienced children’s professionals and a steadfast commitment to children’s well-being, KidsPeace continuously strives to improve our current programs and to create new opportunities for kids in crisis to find healing.