Kansas University School of Social Welfare (KIPP) Chooses FAS Outcomes Management as their Foster Care Screening Solution

January 19, 2012

(ANN ARBOR, MI) – The University of Kansas (KU) School of Social Welfare, in partnership with Kansas’ four private foster care agencies, was awarded a grant to test a child welfare initiative aimed at reducing the time children spend in foster care. Nationally, HHS awarded six grants. The grant to the KU School of Social Welfare is the only such grant awarded to a university. KU School of Social Welfare’s new initiative—Kansas Intensive Permanency Project (KIPP)— has selected Functional Assessment Systems for use of its Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale® (CAFAS®) to screen children in foster care to determine the presence of severe emotional disturbances. 
The chief goal of the KIPP initiative is to help families of children with serious emotional disturbances reunify earlier and more stably, and to provide the child welfare field with replicable evidence of effectiveness.  The CAFAS will assist Kansas’s four private foster care providers in making informed decisions about children’s symptom presentation, level of care, type and intensity of treatment, placement and referral needs.”

The CAFAS’ more than 20 years of research supporting validity and sensitivity to change in behavior was a major factor in the selection of Functional Assessment Systems for KIPP.

“Programs like KIPP are choosing FAS Outcomes Management Solution to provide thorough, comprehensive assessments that can show youth progress over time,” said Functional Assessment Systems Founder and CAFAS creator, Kay Hodges, Ph.D. “KIPP is a new initiative that shows admirable dedication to the children in the families they serve.”

About KIPP (Kansas Intensive Permanency Project)
Over five years, KIPP will serve 2,160 Kansas families of children with the most severe mental health and behavioral problems. KIPP will provide in-home therapy and resources to these families while their children are in foster care, with the aim of supporting permanent reunification of those families.

About Functional Assessment Systems
Functional Assessment Systems is the leader in web-based outcome management systems for youth and adolescents.

Their outcomes management systems are the CAFAS®, PECFAS®, JIFF Interviewer® and CWL®. These solutions are HIPAA compliant and used by groups like community mental health organizations, youth outreach programs, juvenile justice, child welfare, school systems, primary care facilities and more.

Their goal is to positively impact the lives of children and adolescents by providing empirically-based tools that:

• Determine the youth's needs upon entry into services
• Guide treatment/service planning
• Track progress over time

Functional Assessment Systems aims to offer assessments that can be used across various child-serving agencies as objective measures of day-to-day functioning.

For more information on Functional Assessment Systems, please call 734-769-9725, visit FASoutcomes.com or email us at [email protected].

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