American Children’s Home receives national recertification
American Children’s Home (ACH) has achieved national reaccreditation through the New York-based Council on Accreditation (COA). American Children’s Home, first accredited in 1999, provides the following services: On-campus Cottage Care, Family Foster Care and Early Childhood Education. It took fourteen (14) months of hard work to achieve reaccreditation. In addition, American Children’s Home was expedited through the Pre-Commission Review Report because of not receiving any out of compliance ratings in any of the fundamental practice standards. Organizations pursue accreditation to demonstrate the implementation of best practice standards in the field of human services. COA evaluated all aspects of ACH’s programs, services, management, and administration. “Congratulations to our board, staff, and clients on this amazing achievement!
COA accreditation is an objective, independent, and reliable validation of an agency’s performance. The COA accreditation process involves a detailed review and analysis of an organization’s administration, management, and service delivery functions against international standards of best practice. The standards driving accreditation ensure that services are well-coordinated, culturally competent, evidence- based, outcomes-oriented, and provided by a skilled and supported workforce. COA accreditation demonstrates accountability in the management of resources, sets standardized best practice thresholds for service and administration, and increases organizational capacity and accountability by creating a framework for ongoing quality improvement.
To achieve COA accreditation, American Children’s Home first provided written evidence of compliance with the COA standards. Thereafter, a group of specially trained volunteer Peer Reviewers confirmed adherence to these standards during a series of on-site interviews with trustees, staff and clients. Based on their findings, COA’s volunteer-based Accreditation Commission voted that American Children’s Home had successfully met the criteria for accreditation.
An endorsement of COA and the value of its accreditation process is reflected in it being named by the US State Department as the sole national independent accrediting body under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption to accredit intercountry adoption service providers. In addition, COA is the only national accreditor designated by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop accreditation standards and processes for human service programs provided to military personnel and their families.
Founded in 1977, COA is an independent, not-for-profit accreditor of the full continuum of community- based behavioral health care and social service organizations in the United States and Canada. Over 2,000 organizations — voluntary, public, and proprietary; local and statewide; large and small — have either successfully achieved COA accreditation or are currently engaged in the process. Presently, COA has a total of 47 service standards that are applicable to over 125 different types of programs. To learnmore about COA, please visit www.coanet.org.
American Children’s Home offers residential and foster care homes for children in the custody of Department of Social Services from all 100 counties in North Carolina. ACH has been providing services to Children, and Families since established in 1925.
