This strategic plan is the culmination of an intensive, collaborative effort by the Maryland Children's Cabinet in partnership with families, communities, and providers to improve the child-family serving delivery system to better anticipate and respond to the needs of children, youth, and families.
The Secretaries from the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS), Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), and the Department of Human Resources (DHR), and the State Superintendent of the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), along with the Executive Director of the Governor's Office for Children (GOC), embarked upon an interagency child and family services strategic planning process as part of the O'Malley-Brown Administration's commitment to improving collaboration across organizations and services for children and families. They were joined in this process with the other members of the Children's Cabinet (the Department of Budget and Management [DBM] and the Maryland Department of Disabilities [MDOD]) and the Governor's Office for Crime Control and Prevention (GOCCP).
In November 2007, the Children's Cabinet contracted with The Maryland Child and Adolescent Innovations Institute at the University of Maryland, Baltimore to provide the technical assistance and support for the strategic planning process. The planning process was structured in a format that: (1) solicited opportunities for community input through various Listening Forums, Discussion Groups, and surveys; (2) created a Partners Council of approximately thirty individuals who broke into three workgroups ( Communication and Collaboration; Opportunities, Interventions and Protection; and Access and Continuum of Care), representing a broad spectrum of stakeholders that informed the planning process and made recommendations to the Children's Cabinet; and (3) synthesized the voluminous work already created by various agencies, taskforces, and workgroups over the past two decades.
Using five indicators of well-being to focus the work, a series of thoughtful and carefully constructed recommendations and strategies were generated under eight different themes:
- Family and Youth Partnership
- Interagency Structures
- Workforce Development and Training
- Information-Sharing
- Improving Access to Opportunities and Care
- Continuum of Opportunities, Supports and Care
- Financing
- Education
This is an ambitious strategic plan but one that relies heavily on the work that
has been done over the past twenty years to improve the well-being
of Maryland's children and families. Beginning in FY09, the
Children's Cabinet will embark on the implementation phase
of this plan, starting first with the creation of a companion
implementation plan for the Children's Cabinet and the incorporation
of this plan into Agency strategic plans. The Children's Cabinet
firmly believes that children and families can be supported
effectively in their homes and communities and should be afforded
opportunities for healthy development to be successful. This
plan services as a basis for the strengthening of Maryland's
systems of care and a renewed commitment to the provision
of opportunities, services and supports that are family-and-youth
driven, individualized, effective and culturally competent
and community based.
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