Episcopal Social Services of New York

ESS Wins Coveted COA Accreditation

“It is with great pride and joy that I share with you some wonderful news.”

With these words, ESS’ Executive Director Robert H. Gutheil announced to the staff that the agency had realized a long-sought goal: ESS and its programs were now accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA)—a coveted status that attests to the quality of its outreach and certifies its adherence to industry best practices. Accreditation assures all stakeholders in ESS’ work—clients, funders, government agencies, and the general public—that the agency successfully strives for excellence in its performance standards and is committed to the highest quality of service.

The COA application process is arduous, demanding intense self-scrutiny at all levels of the applying organization. For ESS, this process began in the fall of 2008 with a remarkably detailed examination of the agency: literally every aspect of how ESS operates was compared against established comparable industry “best practices” that foster effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and integrity. As it prepared to submit its self-study in February 2009, ESS worked to bring all aspects of its operations into compliance with those standards.

With COA’s positive and encouraging response to the self-study, attention then turned to the last major requirement: the site inspection. A team of expert practitioners in the field of human services provision and administration spent a week touring a majority of ESS’ program facilities, reviewing documents and records, and interviewing program leadership, staff members, and consenting clients to ensure that actual practice matched policy. And it appeared at the visit’s conclusion that they had been impressed with what they had seen, citing several programs for particular effectiveness and achievements. Yet although everyone “left smiling broadly,” as Mr. Gutheil put it then, the process was not over. The findings of the site inspectors, along with all the self-study and documentation, would be reviewed blindly by the COA Board itself for a final determination. Past history has shown that even very strong organizations may fail in their initial application because of areas needing strengthening or correction; all ESS could do now was wait.

And on November 18, 2009, the waiting was over as COA issued a press release announcing ESS’ accreditation. In announcing the good news, Mr. Gutheil congratulated the entire staff for what had a been a remarkable common achievement: “This is a solid, objective endorsement of the quality of our governance and the quality of the work we do in behalf of those we serve.” But there will be no resting on laurels; through its Quality Improvement Program, ESS continues daily to not only maintain today’s level of performance, but to improve upon it day by day, and thus ensure that it is doing the best it can for its clients—and to be ready for 2016, the year ESS comes up for re-accreditation by COA.

COA is an independent, nonprofit accrediting organization, primarily for agencies that provide services for children and families, as well as those offering behavioral healthcare. Since its founding in 1977 by the Child Welfare League of America and Family Service America (now the Alliance for Children and Families), COA’s accreditation areas have expanded from child- and family-service outreach to encompass 39 different human service areas covering over 60 types of programs such as foster care, substance abuse treatment, and adult day care. With separate business lines for such fields as public agencies, opioid treatment programs, and financial management services, in 2007 COA had accredited, or was examining for accreditation, more than 1,800 private and public organizations serving more than 7 million individuals and families in the US, Canada, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, England, and the Philippines.