Regional Coordinator Practice Profile

Purpose
The Regional Coordinator supports their regional team’s ability to deliver OhioKAN services with consistency. The Regional Coordinator is dedicated to coordinating implementation needs for their regional, county, and community-level partnerships and supports for the OhioKAN program in their region. Our dedication is rooted in community and family engagement as partners and allies when identifying challenges and shaping solutions to actively disrupt the perpetuation of institutional discrimination and oppression.

The work of engaging and supporting families is rooted in the six key principles of the Inclusion, Equity, Diversity, and Access (IDEA) Framework, which includes the continued analysis of historical factors and inequities; prioritization of solutions that balance power and promote social justice for families; elevation of inclusion and community voice; confrontation of all forms of discrimination and exclusion; understanding intersectionality and the sustained commitment to advance equitable practices with families, partners and colleagues.

As Regional Coordinators, we provide administrative and communication support, data and records management, and event coordination to our regional team to facilitate their ability to assist kinship caregivers and adoptive parents with accessing the services, resources, and social support they need to care for themselves and the children in their homes. This practice profile reflects the core practice skills and behaviors for Regional Coordinators of OhioKAN.

Core Practice Skills

Engagement	Engagement begins at first encounter and is established through an honest, respectful, and empathetic approach. We establish trusting relationships with our regional team, the kinship and adoptive families we serve, public agencies, and community-based organizations, and providers. We respond to inquiries about OhioKAN by providing accurate information, and actively seek out information when we are not sure of the answer, so that families, partners, and colleagues receive the support, connections, or expertise they need. We foster regional team and Regional Advisory Council cohesion by scheduling, organizing, and staffing meetings. We coordinate our team’s participation in community events to support program outreach and engagement with families and community members. We maintain regular communication and engagement with our community and state partners to support effective implementation.
Inclusion	Inclusive practice begins in partnership with children, families, community members and our team. The families we serve are the experts of their own circumstances and the decision-makers about which services and supports they need. We actively center their voice, experience, and needs throughout service delivery. When working with families, partners, and our team, we acknowledge, validate, and respond to discrimination and experiences with oppressive systems and oppressive practice. We support our team, partners, and Regional Advisory Councils to examine how our own identities and biases shape our behaviors, beliefs, and opportunities and affect service delivery. We use humility to be the bridge of awareness and accountability to one another and the families we work with. We continually learn about intersectional identities and the ways in which people with marginalized identities are affected by social service systems. We explicitly name and discuss power dynamics and the complexity of the network of relationships within OhioKAN staff. We contribute to an inclusive space for all team members to be successful. This is done by believing our team members when they share with or confide in us, exploring ways to improve inclusion, holding welcoming spaces to have open dialogue, and naming and confronting discrimination and exclusion of any kind within our team or throughout OhioKAN.
Interpretation	We monitor CQI dashboards, regional performance reports, and other program-specific trackers to build understanding of OhioKAN’s reach, service population, fidelity and service quality, and outcomes to illuminate practice and implementation areas to further enhance. We gather, synthesize, and make meaning of information to understand family's strengths, needs, perspectives, and wishes by reviewing Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) data. We track and observe program performance and site performance data with our regional teams to ensure consistent implementation of the OhioKAN program model. We help our teams make connections across trends in performance data and elevate common themes between CQI and Regional Advisory Council discussions to inform strategic decision-making. At a regional level, we gather and interpret information related to the strengths and needs of communities where the OhioKAN families reside. This assessment of community needs and strengths assists us to identify gaps in services and drives our outreach and relationship-building efforts with human service organizations, community providers, and stakeholders across our respective regions. We elevate common themes across counties within our region to support efforts to enhance service arrays.
Intervention	We ensure our team has the initial training and ongoing support needed to implement OhioKAN with consistency to actively assist kinship and adoptive families to achieve their identified goals. Meeting the needs identified and driven by the family and community is our priority. We actively monitor when community services are not available or accessible in our regions and elevate common themes in service gaps and barriers to Regional Advisory Councils to strengthen efforts to enhance service arrays. We recognize that communities of color and other populations marginalized by systems are often met with discrimination and experience barriers to accessing services. To address access challenges, disparities, and mitigate trauma, we have regular discussions focused on the historical and current ways communities are marginalized by systems. We actively identify and elevate such service gaps and barriers and co-create strategies with communities to increase an equitable service array and promote best practices when serving kinship and adoptive families.
Collaboration	We collaborate with our OhioKAN colleagues to create an effective, cohesive team. We intentionally partner with Regional Directors, Coaches, and partnering sites to provide navigation services with the tailored support they need to implement the OhioKAN program with fidelity and to serve OhioKAN families. We model vulnerability when exploring performance experiences together with colleagues in CQI discussions and Regional Advisory Councils. We are nonjudgmental in these reflections to facilitate feedback and reinforce OhioKAN’s collaborative learning culture. We provide active coordination and communication support to assist Regional Directors with managing partnering sites, regional teams, and Regional Advisory Councils. We contribute to Regional Directors’ efforts to build a diverse and collaborative coalition of stakeholders from a cross-section of our community. We partner with stakeholders to help identify service gaps and develop new service capacity to support the identified needs of kinship and adoptive families. We advocate alongside kinship and adoptive families for equitable access to services to achieve their goals. As the needs of kinship and adoptive families evolve in our community, we will search for new and innovative collaborations to meet their needs.
Knowledge Management	We organize, create, use, and share knowledge within and across our regional teams to support effective implementation and program management. We actively maintain our regional team’s records and program documentation to support effective implementation and program management. We facilitate feedback and communication loops between the different spaces and conversations we participate in to ensure our regional teams are aware of program updates, operational information, and implementation insights. We help our teams make connections across different spaces to inform strategic planning and decision-making. We believe that bidirectional feedback between ourselves and team members effectively supports our collective learning, practice improvement, and service delivery ability. We accurately capture questions asked, insights shared, and action items discussed to share with our regional teams to inform decision-making and program management. We manage data entry for partnering site’s program compliance and fiscal records to ensure appropriate and consistent delivery of services. We survey and document community supports, gaps, and barriers to maintain a list of available community providers to help our regional teams meet families’ needs. We contribute to active outreach strategies by researching opportunities for community engagement and tracking our regional team’s
Active Learner	Learning is an ongoing and vital component of the work we do in our community and with individual families. We cultivate learning spaces by contributing our own reflections on processes and program performance. We endeavor to improve our response and array of supports to address the needs of families and communities and strengthen our team’s implementation efforts. We embrace this commitment to improvement through active participation in CQI activities, coordination and scheduling of trainings, and communication with state and community supports. We actively review data and contribute new knowledge to the broader field of kinship and adoption Navigator programs.
Active Listening	We actively listen to our regional team and community stakeholders as they share their experiences collaborating with kinship and adoptive families through the OhioKAN program and other services. We are committed to an active listening style that is grounded in the knowledge that team members, partners and families are the experts of their own experiences. We accurately document what we heard to share insights with our regional teams. By actively and attentively listening, we improve our understanding of the team’s and community’s strengths, growth areas, and needs, which enables us to identify appropriate supports, training, and skill development opportunities they need. Active listening includes asking open-ended questions, summarizing, checking for understanding, and asking permission to offer solutions.

Our Core Practice Skills in Action for Team Coordination:
When Supporting my Regional Team,

Ensure your regional team is up to date on program updates by promoting timely information sharing through appropriate communication channels and leveraging feedback loops between the different spaces and conversations you participate in. Be mindful of boundaries and pay attention to what information is shared with the team and when. (Collaboration and Knowledge Management)
Foster regional team cohesion by scheduling, organizing, and staffing regional meetings and other events. (Engagement and Collaboration)
Build trust within your regional team by contributing to solution development and elevating areas of concern to your Regional Director. (Engagement and Collaboration)
Regularly discuss any observed trends in service needs, community providers available, and common themes across Navigator engagements with your Regional Director. Leverage existing data sources and the regional team’s expertise and experiences to enrich and contextualize these observations. (Interpretation and Knowledge Management)
Contribute to your regional team’s skill growth and development by coordinating trainings. Identify resources and opportunities for further learning and capacity development and circulate within the regional team. (Intervention and Active Learner)
Maintain accurate regional records, fiscal reports, and program records (e.g., memorandums of understanding, training/program materials and notes from OhioKAN programmatic activities) to support your Regional Director with the functional management of the regional team and its activities. (Intervention and Knowledge Management)
Continually analyze with regional team members the historical factors, the distribution of resources, policies, and practices to address disparities and mitigate instances of experienced trauma for OhioKAN families. (Inclusion, Interpretation, and Active Learner)
Contribute to a shared sense of purpose by celebrating individual, regional, and program successes, implementation progress, and impact of the regional team’s efforts. (Engagement)
Regularly check in with team members to see whether they have any coordination needs you can support them. Team members may not explicitly ask for help, but exercise initiative in proactively offering support to regional team members when needs are explored. (Collaboration and Active Listening)

When Participating in the CQI process,

Champion CQI practices for the region by reflecting on available program and administrative data (CQI Dashboard and regional tracker) and elevating implementation successes and growth areas to promote constructive learning and practice improvements. (Interpretation and Active Learner)
Prepare for each month’s CQI Process Team by assessing the CQI Dashboard and other regional data trackers to understand your region’s performance on CQI measures of reach, service population characteristics, and fidelity and quality. Reflect on conversations from the Regional Advisory Councils and elevate relevant themes and insights during the CQI Process Team meeting to contextualize observed dynamics in the CQI Dashboard. (Interpretation and Collaboration)
Listen for key themes, big ideas, and reflections on practice discussed during CQI Process Team meetings and Learning Collaborative discussions and capture in minutes reports to facilitate feedback loops that support the stewardship of the CQI process. (Interpretation, Knowledge Management)
Reinforce bidirectional feedback loops between your Regional Advisory Council, regional team, and CQI Process Team by sharing critical insights and themes on implementation and practice. (Interpretation and Knowledge Management)
Contribute to cohort peer-to-peer knowledge sharing through Learning Collaborative planning and preparation. Partner with your region’s coach to design engaging Learning Collaborative sessions that meet the learning needs of the team. (Collaboration, Active Learner, and Knowledge Management)
Encourage peer learning amongst the regional team by actively participating in Learning Collaborative sessions and prompting colleagues to share their best practice and lessons learned with each other. (Active Learner)
Regularly follow up with team members during regional team meetings about progress implementing small tests of change identified in the Learning Collaborative. (Engagement and Active Learner)

When Observing Regional Program and Partnering Site Performance,

Manage monthly trackers for critical program areas of interest (e.g., flex fund use, outreach efforts, and service gaps and barriers). Coordinate with your regional teams to ensure accurate tracking and elevate themes observed. (Interpretation and Knowledge Management)
Provide coordination support to your Regional Director to facilitate their monthly performance management meetings with each site’s partnering supervisor. Prepare program performance data using the CQI Dashboard and other trackers for the Regional Director to share with partnering site supervisors. (Interpretation, Knowledge Management, and Collaboration)
Review quarterly Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reports with your Regional Director to prepare for their quarterly site performance meetings with site supervisors. Observe trends in your region’s sites’ performance on MOU standards and share your observations with your Regional Director. (Interpretation and Knowledge Management)
Share insights on program and site performance with regional teams to inform decision-making related to site partnerships. Elevate site performance challenges promptly to Regional Directors in a clear, kind manner. (Interpretation and Active Learner)

Our Core Practice Skills in Action for Community Engagement:
When Supporting and Engaging with the Regional Advisory Council,

Support your Regional Director to ensure that all members of your region’s Regional Advisory Council actively participate in meetings and that all voices are heard. (Engagement and Inclusion)
Coordinate Regional Advisory Council scheduling to accommodate members’ availability. Regularly communicate scheduling updates with members to ensure their attendance and participation. (Engagement and Collaboration)
Synthesize key themes, insights, and observations shared during Regional Advisory Councils and other stakeholder engagements in meeting minutes. (Interpretation, Active Listening, and Knowledge Management)
Assist your Regional Director to guide the Regional Advisory Council in developing a regional implementation plan. Actively listen to discussions within the Regional Advisory Council on key priorities and strategies for the regional implementation plan and integrate identified enhancements. Elevate insights from the regional readiness assessment and programmatic data to inform planning decisions. (Collaboration, Interpretation, and Active Listening)
Partner with your Regional Director and Regional Advisory Council to actively monitor progress on your region’s regional implementation plan. Listen for updates on efforts to strengthen the region’s service array (mitigate service gaps and barriers) and document updates. (Interpretation, Knowledge Management, and Active Listening)
Compile and synthesize the data needed to inform decisions and action plans in the Regional Advisory Council and regional teams. (Interpretation and Knowledge Management)
Review the monthly CQI Dashboard and regional tracker on service gaps and barriers to assess regional trends in families served, identified needs on the BASICS Assessment, referrals provided, and types of services needed. Bring in trends discussed in CQI Process Team on service needs, community providers available, and common themes across engagements with OhioKAN families with the Regional Advisory Council (Interpretation, Knowledge Management and Intervention)
Support your Regional Director’s facilitation of the Regional Advisory Council by sharing information and updates on OhioKAN’s program successes, implementation progress, and impact of the Regional Advisory Council to inspire a shared sense of purpose. (Engagement and Knowledge Management)

When Building Relationships and Connections with the Community,

Actively research regional, county, and community-level human service organizations to develop nuanced understanding of their organizational objectives, decision-making structures, areas of subject matter expertise, priority concerns, and opportunities for further collaboration and partnership to support kinship and adoptive families. Share insights learned with your Regional Director and regional team. (Interpretation, Knowledge Management, and Active Learner)
Analyze the distribution of resources, policies, and practices that prevent equitable access for families to identify possible areas for improvement within the community. Leverage information gathered on service gaps and barriers to understand service array priorities for the community. (Interpretation and Inclusion)
Contribute to your regional team’s targeted outreach to build, engage, and sustain the membership of your region’s Regional Advisory Council and achieve community buy-in for OhioKAN’s theory of change. Support your Regional Director with outreach follow-up and tailor communications to specific audiences. Track target audiences reached to ensure the meaningfully inclusion of people of color and marginalized populations. (Collaboration and Knowledge Management)
Support your Regional Director in cultivating and maintaining effective collaborative relationships with key regional, county, and local stakeholders to strengthen OhioKAN’s presence within the community. Provide scheduling and coordination support to facilitate your regional team’s attendance and participation in community events. (Engagement)

Our Core Practice Skills in Action for Partnering with Families:
When Receiving an Initial Contact,

Respond to all inquiries from kinship and adoptive families, community members, and providers about participation in the OhioKAN program using appropriate customer service skills. Provide accurate information about the program and available services to all individuals that contact OhioKAN. (Engagement and Intervention)
During the initial engagement, keep in mind this may be the caregiver/adoptive parent’s first interaction with OhioKAN. It is important that their experience with you be marked by professionalism and humility. The caregiver/adoptive parent is exercising strength and courage by calling and it is a privilege to receive their call. One of the objectives of this initial call is to determine if OhioKAN is the right program for the caregiver/adoptive parent (Engagement)
During the initial engagement, explain your role and gently lead the caregiver/adoptive parent to answer the screening questions in SACWIS. This connection with the caregiver/adoptive parent is a conversation, rather than a formal interview. Provide the caregiver/adoptive parent with a forum to tell you their story. It is likely that the answers to the screening will present themselves while they share their story. Do ask for clarity and be mindful to not make assumptions about what you are hearing. Ask the caregiver/adoptive parent for their contact information. (Engagement and Interpretation)
If the caregiver/adoptive parent does not meet the service criteria for OhioKAN, refer them to the appropriate service provider(s) to address their concerns. (Intervention)
If the caregiver/adoptive parent meets OhioKAN criteria, explain how OhioKAN can support them. Ask the caregiver/adoptive parent if they would like to participate in the OhioKAN program (obtain consent) and get their permission to gather a bit more information about their situation through the BASICS assessment. Create strategies to navigate asking for sensitive information and use active listening techniques to identify when a caller may not feel comfortable answering a certain question. (Intervention)

Our Core Practice Skills in Action for Families Screened into OhioKAN
When Opening an OhioKAN Service Episode,

After the caregiver/adoptive parent has been screened in to OhioKAN and given consent to participate in the program, complete the BASICS assessment with the caregiver/adoptive parent to gain an initial understanding of the family’s strengths and needs. Through open, transparent communication, you show the caregiver/adoptive parent you respect them and believe they know what is best for their family. Explain that the BASICS assessment helps you gain an initial understanding of their needs so that you can provide them with tailored support. Let the caregiver/adoptive parent set the pace for the conversation while they share more details about why they called OhioKAN and what services they are looking for. (Engagement, Intervention, and Active Learner)
Based on the caregiver/adoptive parent’s responses to the BASICS assessment, determine whether you can respond to their needs with referral information, or if the needs require Collaborate support. (Intervention)
Provide the caregiver/adoptive parent with the appropriate referrals for their identified needs and information to community providers and resources. As co-creators of solutions, we understand the importance of the family’s experience and the prevalence of disproportionate access to resources and services that often lead to barriers in meeting family needs. While completing the referral, ask the caregiver or family if they have previously accessed the resource and what their experience was like. Document their experiences and, if appropriate, complete a referral to a different community provider. Ensure the caregiver/adoptive parent knows they can reach out to OhioKAN at any time to address any needs or concerns that arise. (Engagement and Intervention).

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