Much of the Title V program’s focus on Family Partnership is addressed through grant funding to external community-based organizations, local health departments, and through internal initiatives.

During SFY 2020, Title V  continued to support several grantees focused on family engagement / family professional partnership, including The Parents' Place of Maryland (PPMD), a non-profit, family-directed and staffed center serving parents of CYSHCN, which is also the Maryland Chapter of Family Voices and Family-to-Family Health Information Centers  (F2F). The Office for Genetics and People with Special Health Care Needs (OGPSHCN) has taken the lead in these efforts. Among other family-focused initiatives, PPMD coordinated quarterly Community of Care Consortium (CoC) meetings. The CoC is supported with Title V funds.  CoC meetings focus on engaging diverse partners in shared planning, implementation, and evaluation of strategies to achieve all six core outcomes for CYSHCN.  Consortium partners include families of CYSHCN, representatives from advocacy groups, physicians, other health care providers, health care facilities, academic institutions, government and professional organizations, public payers, MCOs, policy analysts and state governmental agencies. The CoC has proven to be vital in increasing family partnerships and is the best mechanism to achieve the task of integrating components of existing community based services since all stakeholders are involved. In SFY 2020, there were three separate Community of Care Consortia (statewide, Southern Maryland, and Eastern Shore). While the statewide COC was coordinated by PPMD, the Southern Maryland and Eastern Shore COCs were coordinated by local health departments within the applicable geographic region, also supported by Title V funds. 

Title V continues to strengthen family partnerships through relationships with professional organizations, academic tertiary/specialty care centers and community based organizations on a state and national level. Title V utilizes these partnerships to identify opportunities and to plan activities to engage families and improve family professional partnerships within the state. Staff have presented and served as faculty representing the “family voice” at a national level, frequently attend professional development opportunities focused on family partnership and engagement, and maintain administrative responsibility for the coordination of several state-wide advisory committees, and serve as members on other committees; all of which mandate some form of lived experience within their member rolls

Through the Title V and OGPSHCN grants program, family partnership activities are an identified focus area and vital criteria for receiving funding.  In SFY 2020, Title V in partnership with the State’s procurement team assessed the internal process for awarding grants and at the so-called “legacy” grantees that had been recipients of Title V funds for many years. In conjunction with a greater focus on competitive procurement processes for all state agencies from the State overall and an effort to maintain fidelity to MCH Block Grant Program goals, OGPSHCN leadership took a significant portion of the year to analyze and edit the Request for Applications (RFA) for Systems Development grants. This included multiple “brainstorming” meetings with staff at all levels, consultation with the Administration's Office of Procurement and countless drafts and revisions. While the final RFA was not ultimately posted until FY2021 and will be discussed in detail in the next narrative report, the bulk of the work in crafting the RFA took place in SFY 20. In their applications, applicants were required to propose projects ensuring that  family members would have a meaningful role in grant-funded activities.

Title V ’s Parent Resource Coordinator position that was within the OGPSHCN was staffed from July to mid-December 2019. During that time the Parent Resource Coordinator, who is also a parent of CYSHCN, worked closely with grantees to provide support and training on Family Professional Partnership and incorporating the family’s perspective into services and activities. In the absence of dedicated parent resource support, OGPSHCN has taken a broader approach to family partnership, expecting that all staff will engage in and encourage family partnership.

Local Health Departments have worked to develop family and community partnerships. As an example, B’more for Healthy Babies is an initiative to reduce infant mortality in Baltimore City through policy, programs, service improvements, community mobilization, and behavior change. They have developed a community advisory board to work closely with families and community representatives to improve infant health across the city and in neighborhoods most impacted by premature birth, low birth weight, and unsafe infant sleep.

The Maryland Family Planning Program (MFPP) requires Information and Education initiatives in program promotion, community outreach, advisory committees that include family partnerships.  Examples of initiatives include engaging with families at health fairs, church fairs, and at farmers markets. However, in SFY 2020, due to COVID-19, many of the MFPP staff were redirected to COVID activities.