Agency Development Services
Closer To Home Community Services (CTH) offers Agency Development Services to assist organizations in developing effective programs for serving children, youth and families. CTH is a Certified Sponsor Agency for the Teaching Family Association (TFA).
CTH's progressive and success based mentoring model allows each agency to develop at a pace that is comfortable, cost-effective and reasonable. Services are tailored completely to each organizations needs. The TFA standards invite flexibility and creativity.
For the past three years, Closer To Home Community Services has been actively involved in the development and dissemination of the Teaching Family Model with several child and family serving organizations in the United States. CTH is currently a consultant agency to a large school-based agency in Cincinnati, Ohio (mental health and extreme behaviourally-disordered youth), and two agencies working with dependent adults in both Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee.
We train agencies in all aspects of treatment practices, program components and organizational systems to support the professional development of practitioners and deliver effective outcomes for clients. Our goal is to work closely with an organization until they meet the rigorous practice standards of the Teaching Family Association and are certified as TFA Sponsor Site.
Development Process
For an agency to become a TFA Certified Sponsor Agency, it must be sponsored and supported through the development process by an existing Certified Sponsor Agency. Calgary-based Closer to Home Community Services is a TFA Certified Sponsor Agency that disseminates the Teaching Family Model of care development services across North America.
Agency development services include on-site consultations, and ongoing support through the entire development process. These services include but are not limited to:
- Skill-based training and assistance with the development of training workshops that demonstrate inclusion of all principals of the Teaching Family Model.
- Training and consultation around the implementation of the four TFA systems: training, consultation, evaluation and facilitative administration.
- Assessment and consultation around the integration of the four TFA systems.
- Development and implementation of outcomes measures and reporting systems.
- Preparation for the initial on-site review.
The development process is unique to each agency and dependent on several factors including size, service delivery, skill and commitment to development. Therefore, there is not a set timeframe from the initiation of development to the certification of an agency. For more information, please see the TFA Development Timeline.
Agencies reaching the status of Certified Sponsor Site can provide and sponsor other agencies into the organization under the same conditions outlined in this document.
Development Fees
Closer To Home fees are individually negotiated and based on the size and the complexity of the applicant organization. Costs typically range from $20,000-$50,000 per year, plus associated travel expenses. Actual cost can vary depending on how quickly an agency installs the model. Agencies generally spend up to three years in development with the goal of becoming a Certified Sponsor Site with TFA.
For more information please contact Karen Olivier at (403) 543-0550
or by e-mail at
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