The Indiana Strengthening Our Communities (IN-SOC) project focuses on the development, implementation efforts, and evolution of systems of care in Indiana, specifically. This report describes a study of the development, implementation, and evolution of a statewide level system of care (SOC) structure within the Indiana System of Care initiative to sustain state and local SOCs. The project used a case study design to uncover and examine systematically gathered information from the program and some of its key stakeholders. This report describes some of the attributes of Indiana’s unique contexts and offers insights that may be helpful to other communities and groups engaging in similar types of system change and growth, both locally and nationally. It should be noted that this is not the first attempt to implement SOCs across Indiana but it is the first to develop a state level SOC structure.

To follow up the IN-SOC Phase I study, the Phase II study will focus on the gaps IN-SOC encountered in the initial phase. It will also focus on anything that was initiated midway through Phase I, including new or enhanced partnerships, unconventional SOCs, etc.

Phase II will highlight the following:

• Funding and sustainability
• New partners – Department of Education (DOE), Juvenile and Corrections agency, Department of Health, Medicaid
• Natural supports – neighbors, faith based organizations, etc.
• Unconventional local SOCs – foundations, hospitals.
• Better access to care in rural communities

The purpose of the Community Impact Study (CIS) is to examine the influence that One Community One Family (OCOF), a southeastern Indiana system of care, has had on its surrounding community since its was established in 2008. The study serves as an investigation to analytically evaluate the perspective of stakeholders within OCOF, implementation efforts, sustainability strategies, and any long-term impact that OCOF has had on its community. Information was collected through a mixed methodology, collecting both qualitative and quantitative data through surveys, in-depth telephone interviews, and other various sources of assembling data. The goals of the CIS Study are to:

1. Understand the perceived impact that the OCOF SOC has had on the broader communities it serves over time,
2. Gain a deeper understanding of the population, agencies, and regions served by One Community, One Family,
3. Assess remaining needs of the population, agencies, and regions served by One Community, One Family. What are the service gaps and barriers services and supports that remain,
4. Gauge how community attitudes (conscious and unconscious) towards children with emotional and behavioral challenges and their families, including beliefs about the best ways to serve/support them have changed over time,
5. Identify the various contributing factors, which set the stage for the success of the OCOF SOC in southeast Indiana, and finally,
6. Develop a clear picture of the existing visions and future direction for OCOF SOC.

OCOF phase I study revealed that OCOF has had an impact on the community. However, we explored the impact from the stakeholder perspectives. In Phase II of the study, we will focus on the community itself. In this respect, we will use Collective Impact Model as our framework and determine to what degree OCOF meets the 5 Conditions of Collective Impact. This will be a more forward-looking approach to see how OCOF has developmentally evolved from Phase I.

Collective Impact: 5 Conditions

1. Common Agenda
   • Common understanding of the problem
   • Shared vision for change
2. Shared Measurement
   • Collecting data and measuring results
   • Focus on performance management
   • Shared accountability
3. Mutually reinforcing Activities
   • Differentiated approaches
   • Coordination through joint plan of action
4. Continuous Communication
   • Consistent and Open Communication
   • Focus on Building Trust
5. Backbone Support
   • Separate organization(s) with staff
   • Resources and skills to convene and coordinate participating organizations
6. Backbone Support
   • Separate organization(s) with staff
   • Resources and skills to convene and coordinate participating organizations

Important pre-conditions for CI

• Inspirational and intentional leadership
• Agreement on an urgent need to change
• Resourcing to sustain it
• Trusted relationships among collaborators

The Systems of Care Comparison Study is a study conducted on four different SOC service providers: One Community One Family, Madison Cares, Fast Trac, and the Marion County SOC Collaborative. The focus of the study is to compare the ways in which each SOC contributes to its community and its efforts to create and sustain interagency collaboration both in the local and state arena. The study utilized surveys to solicit voluntary information from administrators from the four SOCs and used the respondent’s information to contrast and compare the similarities and differences among them.

The Madison Cares and One Community One Family Comparison Study concentrates on the systems of care in the two different rural communities: southeastern Indiana and Madison County, in Rexburg, Idaho. The intention of the study is to compare the differences and similarities between the two systems of care and to provide the community stakeholders with information regarding service implementation, family involvement, impact that the services have on the community, and interagency collaboration. By comparing the two systems of care, the results of the study will help those involved - whether they are stakeholders, board members, or community members - to evaluate their service quality and make improvements based on the assessments provided by the FoCuS evaluation team.

The purpose of this study is to better understand Child Advocates, Inc. of Indianapolis. Initially, we will document and diagram how Child Advocates, Inc. of Indianapolis and similar types of Court Appointed Child Advocacy (CASA) organizations operate on local, state, and national levels, including the similarities and differences in who they serve and descriptions of the services and supports they provide. We also want to fully understand the role of the recently created School Advocates within Child Advocates, Inc. of Indianapolis. This study will specifically focus on how CASAs and specifically Child Advocates, Inc. of Indianapolis support young people who are in foster care to succeed in P-12 education. The longer term goal of this study will be to support Child Advocates, Inc. in its efforts to improve social and educational outcomes of the young people in Child Advocates, Inc. of Indianapolis who are at risk for or experiencing social, behavioral and academic challenges related to high mobility or frequent transitions in schools and home residences, and/or unstable living environments. By partnering with Child Advocates, Inc. of Indianapolis, the research team anticipates assisting the community with developing and evaluating social and educational practices and policies that support young people involved with CASAs to enroll in, attend, and succeed in school. This study will use a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data to achieve these goals. Researchers will not gather information from vulnerable populations, instead relying on interviews and focus groups with practitioners and volunteers, and using only de-identified data when referring to young people and families involved with Child Advocates, Inc. of Indianapolis.

The ultimate goal of this study will be to understand the evolution and current status of Choices Coordinated Care Solutions (formerly known as the Dawn Project) since its inception in 1997. The study will provide the opportunity to critically examine the perspectives of various community stakeholders on its mission, implementation strategies, current functioning, sustainability efforts, and long-term impacts. Using interviews and documents review, study outcomes will focus on synthesizing stakeholder ideas and advice to help Choices CCS administration reach its intended goals.

This project will use the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data to better understand the educational experiences of students who have been labeled by schools as having an emotional disturbance (ED). The academic performance of students with ED will be compared to students with other types of disabilities and students without disabilities. Also, the factors that would influence students’ outcomes will be investigated by multilevel modeling and other related statistical methods.

Important information about reading and math achievement will be gleaned and used to guide researchers and practitioners in designing academic interventions to improve the traditionally poor outcomes of students with ED. This project will also help the field to better understand the potential of the NAEP datasets to support federal grant proposal development.

Our team has been awarded New Frontiers funding to conduct this study. The study uses national dataset of NAEP and focuses on three main research questions:

1. An overview and description of students with disabilities in the NAEP data.
2. An overview and description of students with very specific mental health challenges (ED).
3. An investigation on what the relationships are between teachers’ educational background, professional development, teaching strategy and students outcomes.

Structural equation modeling will be used to answer these research questions.

This study uses the National SOC data which is a large dataset that includes national information on systems of care. The dataset includes measures of clinical and functional outcomes for children and families served in federally funded SOCs throughout the United States. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact that involvement in SOCs has on school functioning. Specifically, the study focuses on examining factors that predict special education identification for young people who enrolled in a SOC.

Logistic regression method and other related statistical methods will be applied in this study.

This study was conducted with the Madison CARES SOC in southeastern Idaho. Madison CARES is a federally funded SOC that offers a variety of services to children from birth to 21 years of age. Two major variables are investigated in this study:

• EQ: The Education Questionnaire, revision 2 (EQ–R2), which was developed to collect information on children’s and youth’s education status and experiences in school.
• GPA: GPA was collected from each child’s school files. GPA data were extracted from the school district’s data system

The purpose of this study is to:

• Examine and compare how caregivers and teachers perceived the academic achievement of young people participating in a rural system of care (SOC).
• Investigate student’s changes in academic achievement after enrolling in SOC.