Evaluation Overview
The federal grant that partly funds Family Voices Network of Erie County requires an evaluation to help determine the effectiveness of services for children and families, and whether they experience improvement over time. Information from the evaluation will be used continually to improve services and service delivery. The University at Buffalo Department of Family Medicine is conducting this evaluation. Additionally, representative from the Evaluation Team attend regularly scheduled meetings and are actively involved and participating in the activities surrounding Family Voices Network of Erie County.
Family Voices Network of Erie County accepts referrals from various sources. Since January 2005, 737 youth have been enrolled and receiving care coordination services through the wraparound process. Referrals have come from Mental Health agencies (41%), Juvenile Justice (21%), Social Services (27%), Schools (3%), and to a lesser degree from Families, Community based Organizations, and Health Care Providers.
At enrollment, 18% of the youths were ages 5-10, 36% were ages 11-14, and 46% were ages 15 and up. Sixty-three percent are male and 37% are female. Of enrolled youth, 32% are African American, 53% are White, 7% are Biracial, 7% are Hispanic, and .7% are American Indian.
Our youth attend many different school districts throughout Erie County, including the Buffalo City School District (31%), Amherst, Cheektowaga, Clarence, Cleveland Hill, Depew, Frontier, Grand Island, Iroquois, Kenmore-Tonawanda, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Orchard Park, Sweet Home, Springville-Griffith, West Seneca, and Williamsville.
Our enrolled youth live in many different settings: single-parent families (48%), residential treatment centers or facilities (11%), detention (2%), foster care or group home (7%), relative’s home (9%), psychiatric inpatient (3%), and two-parent families (20%). The average length of enrollment in wraparound services is 292 days, or approximately 10 months.
