Family First and Kansas Strong Present
The Interagency and Community Advisory Board (ICAB)
Purpose
The Interagency and Community Advisory Board (ICAB) is a Kansas cross-system multi-agency collaboration that was established to support the statewide implementation of Kansas Strong for Children and Families and Family First Prevention Services. Kansas Strong for Children and Families is federal project that aims to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to improve safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes for children and families by strengthening agency and court/legal practices and reducing systemic barriers. Family First, a new federal program, implemented October of 2019, prevents children from entering foster care by serving families with quality, evidence-based programs in the areas of parent skill-building, mental health, substance use disorders, and kinship navigation.
The ICAB’s overarching goal is to support and activate a comprehensive service array that spans a broad continuum of care for families by: (1) building cross-sector knowledge of needs, gaps, challenges, and best practices; (2) using data and continuous quality improvement to monitor processes and outcomes; and (3) developing and executing action plans to address service gaps.
The ICAB Structure
The ICAB is made up of a statewide board and six regional boards representing each of the six child welfare regions in Kansas with feedback loops between regions and between regional and statewide groups. The statewide group is comprised of statewide agency and service representatives across sectors (e.g. child welfare, corrections, public health, health, early childhood, behavioral health, courts and legal systems, etc.). Regional groups, co-led by community and child welfare leaders for each region, are comprised of regional stakeholders across child/family serving sectors.
Who We Are
The Interagency and Community Advisory Board is a strategy of Family First and Kansas Strong for Children and Families, two initiatives that aim to strengthen Kansas child welfare and prevention services promoting child, youth, and family well-being, safety, and permanency. Collaborators include the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) and stakeholders and partners across the state from child and family serving systems. The ICAB is supported by the evaluation team from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare and the University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships and Research.
ICAB Team Charter
The Charter provides information on purpose, assumptions, core elements, structure, scope of objectives, reporting, meetings, membership, responsibilities and decision making processes of the Interagency Advisory Board.
Team CharterICAB Points of Contact
Kaela Byers, Family First Principal Investigator, Kansas Strong Evaluator
Becci Akin, Kansas Strong Principal Investigator, Family First Co-Investigator
Meghan Cizek, Family First Evaluation Team
Julie Toplikar, Family First Research Project Coordinator
Priya Vanchy Kadavasal, Family First Data Analyst
Jennifer Bretsnyder, Family First Grants Manager
| Email Contact: |
| kaela@ku.edu |
| beccia@ku.edu |
| mcizek@ku.edu |
| jtoplikar@ku.edu |
| priyavanchy@ku.edu |
| Jennifer.Goodman@ks.gov |