MCH

Professional Development: In the past year, with support from an MCHB TA request, MCH and NHFV have been working to increase state level family partnerships and engagement within MCH. The first objective was the facilitation of an environmental scan. MCH and NHFV staff implemented a series of one-on-one interviews using the following questions (adapted from the National FV Family Engagement in Systems Assessment Tool):

• How do you define what family engagement means?
• In what capacity do you partner with families?
• Where in your program do you have examples of family engagement? What influences have families had in the operations of your program?
• In what ways have you tried to engage families in the past?
• What would an increase in family engagement look like in your program?
• What kinds of engagement would you like to have from families?
• Where/how, would you reach out to families to involve them in any aspect of your work?
• Do you issue any contracts that require family engagement? 
  • How do you monitor that engagement?
  • Do your funders require the engagement?
• If you do not require family engagement of your contractors do you know if their other funding sources require it?

Based on the scan and feedback from the MCH team, NHFV provided the following recommendations to work on within the context of the forthcoming five year plan:

• Develop the readiness of staff for family engagement will need to be advanced simultaneously with an increase in the roles of families within the work. Come to consensus on the following:
  • Identify what is meant by “family engagement.”
  • Identify visible goals, chart success and measure progress.
• Assess what family engagement currently exists within MCH sub-contracts. Develop a list and rating scale for completion by subcontractors that can be collated at the state level.
• Include family engagement in all contracts. After completing the second recommendation, there may be examples of family engagement efforts that are already identified and that state staff can support in collaboration with subcontractors.
• Capitalize on opportunities for family engagement, such as that presented by the newly formed early hearing family organization, Hands and Voices.
• Establish expectations for those currently sitting on committees. It is important to consider if families are expected to have a passive role or are routinely asked to critique policies, program operations and/or give advice. Providing any member of a committee with a realistic description of their role will help ensure participation, value for the role and finding appropriate representation.

These recommendations will be reviewed and the process updated at every MCH management team meeting, twice a month, and then relayed to all staff. Almost all family serving contracts under the auspices of MCH will be going through either an amendment process or a request for proposals, which will be facilitated within the next year. This is an opportune time for MCH to align family engagement protocol across programming and embed it within every contract that serves families and even those that do not serve directly, such as those providing technical assistance or even perhaps data management.

Advisory Committees: MCH is most likely to involve families within their programmatic advisory committees including ones for Injury Prevention, Newborn Screening, Newborn Hearing Screening, Birth Conditions and PRAMS.

All of the Title V funded CHCs have a mandate for 51% of their advisory committees to be community members and/or clients. There are also best practice standards for Healthy Family America home visiting family satisfaction surveys and advisory committees. Yearly, family satisfaction surveys are completed and all have varying levels of family engagement in oversight over daily operations.

QI: The Early Hearing Screening Program involves several parents in their QI process, reviewing data for hospital and diagnostic centers in regards to performance on screening and diagnostic evaluations, documentation in the data system and referral to diagnostics and early intervention.

The Home Visiting Program is having a “Family Engagement” session at its virtual spring learning exchange (twice yearly professional development, which is mandatary for all contract staff), particular focusing on involvement in the QI process.

Materials Development: When the Home Visiting/MIECHV Program facilitated its needs assessment this past year, recruitment issues were addressed. In response, the use of social media, particularly a sponsored post, was suggested as a potential strategy. MCH staff are currently in collaboration with a University of NH Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) intern, using a PDSA cycle for family feedback. Draft posts have been created and distributed to families in a survey format seeking feedback on images, messages and identification of which posts resonated the most (families volunteered for participation). Feedback will be used to develop the final sponsored post with the intent of informing families and destigmatizing home visiting creating a positive image.

The Early Hearing Detection Program is working with their contractor for deaf mentorship activities, Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing, on a resource book for families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Families are actively being sought for their input.

BFCS

Professional Development: BFCS funds parent consultation and support through NHFV. This partnership includes the provision of office space, allowing NHFV and BFCS to be co-located. NHFV’s role has evolved to incorporate leadership and policy development, including informing administrative rule changes, interviewing BFCS candidates for hiring, and assuring the family perspective is always included as central to decision-making. NHFV staff participated as the Family Leader representative in the Workforce training that took place in the summer of 2018 and then in the cohort that took place from Fall of 2018 to Spring of 2019. The goal of the cohort was to work on the Developmental Screening System in NH. NHFV continue their commitment to this initiative.

As primary parent partners, NHFV continues to re-evaluate strategies for trainings, workshops and print materials. When looking at the data generated through all media sources it is becoming more and more apparent that parents and professionals are looking for trainings and information via the internet. The website, NHFV.org, has had a tremendous increase in usage this past year with the weblog analysis giving rich data for use in developing and enhancing this mode of information sharing. NHFV is exploring training modules and video formats that can then enhance training outreach. NHFV also supported staff development opportunities including one entitled Special Education Process and Effective Communication. In this full-day training, 29 health care and family support coordinators learned about NH’s Specialist Education system and families’ experiences with navigating challenges.

Training opportunities are maximized via partnership activities with state agencies and community based organizations. The Parent Information Center and NHFV have collaborated on an annual conference for the past four years. This collaboration has offered parents and professionals a broader selection of workshops, meeting their needs with health and educational topics.

NHFV developed an online training center on its website called “Around the Clock Learning Hub.” In 2019, two podcasts were developed, one on the eligibility of Medicaid and home care for children with severe disabilities and the other an introduction to the medical home concept. The first podcast was listened to 495 times, a 93% increase from the previous year. The second on medical homes was accessed 290 times, a 135% increase from the previous year. This year, NHFV developed three new podcasts. One on guardianship (78 downloads), one on STABLE NH in collaboration with the Governor’s Commission on Disability (80 downloads) and a podcast entitled “Take a Road Trip” that showcases borrowers and how the Lending Library is being used and what people think of this special resource.

Advisory Committees: BFCS staff provides leadership to a variety of advisories and councils with strong family participation. These include the Autism Council, regional family support councils for the Partners in Health Program and BDS Family Support programs, the NH Family Support Advisory Council, the Council for Youth with Chronic Conditions, and the Interagency Coordinating Council. Through continued support of Title V activities, NHFV has assured genuine parent participation to the Title V Federal Block Grant Review, AMCHP Family Delegate, HRSA/MCHB Family Leadership, and as Family Liaison to National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. BFCS continues to support the NH Leadership Series and proposed an action group project for FY2020, to help determine promotional methods to increase awareness of programs for CYSHCN and intellectual disabilities. The project team will be completing their work in the spring of 2020.

QI: NHFV participates with BFCS in the development, implementation and revision of QI activities. This includes working with program coordinators to identify training needs pursuant to interventions to employ with youth and families related to transition activities; providing support to the Bureau in measuring family needs regarding coordination and integration of care; and conducting an examination of available tools for potential use. With Title V and Social Services Block Grant Support, NHFV has been able to provide technical support and assistance to facilitate the development of strong, vibrant family advisory councils and advisory councils.   

Materials Development: Through its contract with BFCS, NHFV supports the educational and informative newsletter “Pass It On.” The newsletter printed copy is sent via post to 2,320 subscribers. It is also sent via an e-mail list of 2,300. A bulk mailing list was updated to include an additional 350 health care providers’ offices and service providers who now receive the newsletter. In 2019, NHFV completed an update of the guide book “Maneuvering through the Maze.” This guidebook is the only listing of statewide resources available in NH. This year, it was translated into Spanish. Both versions are available in hard copy and on the website.

NHFV created materials to supplement trainings on topics including becoming more organized and an effective participant in the decision-making process (including IFSP meetings, IEP team meetings, Section 504 meetings, working with school nurses and consultation with health providers. These materials were well received and a satisfaction survey indicated that “materials are accurate and provide insight into the family perspective.” The organization also took on a new role of disseminating materials for the Watch Me Grow developmental screening system and NH’s CDC Act Early Ambassador. With continuous emphasis on transition, project staff continued to support BFCS’ programs through the provision of transition skills building materials when requested.