An Evaluation Report from the Field:

Child Crisis Center Collaboration Enhances Efficiency 

Reduction of Duplicative Services Means Less Stress for Already Traumatized Children

The process of entering emergency care for possible abuse or neglect can be overwhelming for an already traumatized child. While appropriate treatment depends on a battery of tests
including a physical exam, administration of up-to-date vaccinations, hearing and vision testing, and administration of screenings for psychological problems and developmental delays, these tests cause children additional stress.

Unfortunately, many children aren’t first-time visitors to child crisis centers; often they leave one facility, return home and are brought to a different facility by a social worker with little or no knowledge of what medical treatment, medical problems or past assessments were previously completed. With no central database connecting the Valley’s three child crisis facilities, it wasn’t uncommon for children to undergo the same examinations, including vaccinations, over and over again.

Hoping to eradicate the duplication of services, Crisis Nursery, the Child Crisis Center of the East Valley and the Child Crisis Center of the West Valley came to the Trust for a grant to create the first child welfare assessment protocol in Arizona. In 2002, the agencies worked collaboratively to develop the Portable Assessment for Kids (PAK), a secure Web database that any of the three crisis nurseries can access to determine what services a child has received and the results of prior assessments.

The Portable Assessments for Kids are administered by multidisciplinary teams at each center consisting of pediatric nurse practitioners, speech therapists, early childhood educators and behavioral health practitioners.

Dr. Wayne Parker, the Trust’s director of research and evaluation, conducted a formal evaluation employing record reviews prior to and since the launch of the PAK. Because the PAK was able to target needed services and dispense with duplicate services, it increased the number of children receiving complete vision exams, hearing exams, medical lab reports, developmental screenings, psychological screenings and academic assessments in a timely manner.
 
“Separate from the specific short-term results of the evaluation, this intense collaboration helped develop much more effective forms of cooperation between the three agencies as well,” Parker said. “Having previously operated in their own silos, they now share knowledge, programming and staff.”

He notes that the PAK project has proven so successful in crisis situations that the Arizona Department of Economic Security adopted the system for other child welfare agencies across the state. “When agencies such as these three crisis nurseries come together and approach the Trust with a project that will benefit multiple agencies and produce systemic change benefiting children in the community, it makes a compelling case that is difficult for the Trust to ignore.”