July 13, 2007 - United Methodist Children's Home has just received notification that it has been reaccredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA), according to an announcement made to Clete Winkelmann, President/CEO of the organization, which is located at 2023 Richview Road, Mt. Vernon, IL.
COA accreditation attests that an organization meets the highest national standards and is delivering the best quality services to the community it serves. United Methodist Children's Home is proud to join COA's Community of Excellence that includes more than 1,000 private and public organizations that serve over 6,000,000 children, individuals, and families in the United States and Canada.
Although this is not the first time that UMCH has gone through the accreditation process, it was the first time for review of 2 new programs Professional Foster Care & YouthBuild of Jefferson County . According to Winkelmann, “We are very proud of work our staff did in preparation for this review. UMCH received an accreditation report that was free of any noted deficiencies or areas of improvement, which is very rare. This recognition confirms that we have been providing quality care to children & families throughout Southern Illinois , in addition to building new programs. We will continue to seek new opportunities to help meet the needs of our communities by living our vision "Healing Today for a Brighter Tomorrow."
COA is an international, independent, not-for-profit accrediting body that was incorporated as a separate legal entity in August 1977, as an accrediting body of social and behavioral healthcare services. COA’s mission "promotes best-practice standards; champions quality services for children, youth, and families; and advocates for the value of accreditation".
The COA accreditation process involves an in-depth examination of the organization's compliance with best practice standards. The process includes a review of organizational standards including human resources, financial and risk management and continuous quality improvement as well as thirty-nine service standards. The service standards address a full array of child, family and behavioral healthcare services including financial and debt management, employee assistance program, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, foster care, health service areas and a host of other service areas.