Epworth Children’s Home, located on 32 serene acres in Columbia, SC, has been nationally accredited for a period of four years by the Council on Accreditation (COA) for its outstanding children’s resident group home programs and services. This accreditation reflects Epworth’s long history of excellence and accordance with the highest levels of quality standards, as well as the agency’s sound organizational infrastructure.
The Council on Accreditation (COA) is an international, independent, nonprofit, human service accrediting organization. Founded in 1977, its mission is to work with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting high accreditation standards. Earning national accreditation from an agency like COA is essential for nonprofits that strive to be the best in a given service area. Accreditation offers a unique distinction and attests that an agency has met the highest possible national standards for quality management and service delivery. According to Jennifer Flowers, founder and president of Accreditation Guru, Inc., “Earning accreditation demonstrates that a nonprofit is effectively managing its resources and providing the highest level of services to all stakeholders, including clients, staff and board of directors, donors, funders and regulators.”
In order to earn a four-year accreditation, Epworth worked with Accreditation Guru, Inc. to prepare the agency to successfully participate in a rigorous COA peer review process that demonstrated the agency’s commitment to offering programs and services that are measurable, accountable and of the highest quality. COA peer reviewers are trained and experienced individuals who volunteer their time to conduct site visits and assess the accurate implementation of the accreditation standards. They provide each organization with an objective, professional and quality review of their programs and services.
This latest recognition by COA adds to the list of indicators that Epworth Children’s Home provides high quality service to its children and families.
Epworth was one of the first institutions in the nation that adopted, and whose staff members were trained in the CARE model of Creating Conditions for Change developed by the faculty of the Residential Child Care Project of Cornell University.
The Residential Child Care Project at Cornell University has long been a leader in child and youth care training. The Project has brought together in a unified manner the best practices derived from the work and wisdom of the fields best practitioners, with the latest knowledge and framework derived from residential research. Epworth Children’s Home continues to be a CARE agency.
Epworth has also received Charity Navigator’s Four Star rating which is the highest rating an institution can receive. Charity Navigator is by far the nation’s largest financial rating service for non-profit organizations. It awards four stars to institutions that meet exceptionally high standards for financial responsibility and transparency.
Epworth is a long time member of the United Methodist Association (UMA) which represents over 380 health and welfare ministries in the US that provide loving care in the name of Christ and the church. The UMA family of institutions provides over two billion dollars in charitable care each year through 1,555 locations. UMA promotes, inspires, empowers, and recognizes excellence in healing and caring ministries.
Epworth’s Performance and Quality Improvement program funded by The Duke Endowment is continuing to help Epworth reach its goal of becoming the recognized leader in the region in providing excellent care and achieving positive outcomes for children and families in its care.
These recognitions, standards, and codes of ethics associated with the organizations listed above reflect the philosophy that meeting standards and earning accreditation is not an end, but a means to an end. The endpoint to all of this is Epworth’s stability, enhanced growth, and ability to measure results with an unwavering commitment to the rights, health, and safety of the people it serves.
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About Epworth Children’s Home
Founded in 1896, Epworth Children’s Home provides group residential care for children and youth from all of South Carolina. Services include child care, counseling and related services to families and children without regard to race, religion, national origin or ability to pay. The mission of Epworth Children’s Home is to serve children, youth and families through a caring, accepting and safe Christian community, where hurts are healed, hope is nurtured, and faith in God, self and others is developed. For the past four years Epworth residents have achieved a 100% high school graduation rate and a 58% academic honor roll rate at the schools they attend. For more on Epworth, please visit http://www.epworthchildrenshome.org.
About COA
The Council on Accreditation (COA) is an international, independent, nonprofit, human service accrediting organization. Founded in 1977 by the Child Welfare League of America and Family Service America (now the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities), their mission is to partner with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting accreditation standards. For more information about the accreditation process, please visit http://www.coanet.org.