Thursday w November 20, 2008

General Overview
The Best Practices Institute (BPI) was established in 2002 and is funded by the City of Philadelphia, through the Department of Human Services. BPI is a project of PMHCC.

Rationale
There has been a significant shift in expectations of the services, actors and accomplishments of the child welfare system. Meeting quantitative standards, i.e., process goals, will no longer suffice. Society now holds the child welfare system to a new standard; namely, to demonstrate that it is making a qualitative, long-term difference in the lives of vulnerable children, their families and the communities in which they live. This represents a profound shift in how the child welfare system operates. Success in meeting these new expectations will require support, guidance and a change in how the system conducts its business. To assist in this effort, BPI focuses on the provision of three core services:

• Research and evaluation
• Program planning and development
• Training and technical assistance
  

Services

Research and Evaluation
To harness the most current knowledge available locally and nationally regarding effective programming, BPI maintains the ability to identify and inform key actors in the child welfare system about promising practices that have applicability to needs in Philadelphia. BPI also has the capacity to evaluate specific approaches and programs currently being utilized in Philadelphia to determine their effectiveness, how they can be enhanced and their potential for replication. The emphasis is on identifying practical solutions to challenges identified by the BPI Governing Board (please see below).

Program Planning and Development
BPI will provide direct support to re-engineering existing programs or designing new initiatives of public and private actors in the child welfare system.

Training and Technical Assistance
To assure that public and private sector agencies are ready and able to implement new and re-engineered programs, BPI provides training and technical assistance focused on activities directly related to the execution of BPI program planning and development activities.

Advisory Board:
An advisory group, known as the Advisory Board, oversees BPI. The purpose of this group is to: a) set priorities regarding the issues on which BPI will focus; b) review, comment and approve upon BPI activities prior to their release or adoption; and c) link BPI to other resources that will enable it to perform better. The Board is chaired, ex officio, by the Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. It has four additional members, one of whom will be the Executive Director of PMHCC, ex officio. The other three have been/will be appointed by the Chair and serve at his/her discretion. The group meets at the call of the Chair.

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