The Breakthrough Series Collaborative is a methodology adapted from the health care field; it originated with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Associates in Process Improvement in 1995.
In a year-long process sponsored by Casey Family Programs, teams from around the country focus on an “intractable” issue in child welfare practice. The teams test multiple ideas, strategies, and tools on a very small scale in their pilot sites. They simultaneously share learnings with other teams via the Internet, phone conferences, and three two-day meetings.
The most successful field-tested and measurable strategies and tools are then rapidly introduced throughout the teams’ jurisdictions or systems.
Casey Family Programs' Breakthrough Series Collaboratives include the following:
- Recruitment and Retention of Resource Families (2002)
- Implementing Differential Response in California (2003)
- Supporting Kinship Care (2004)
- Reducing Disproportionality and Disparate Outcomes for Children and Families of Color in the Child Welfare System (2006)
- Improving Educational Continuity and School Stability (2007)
- Timely Permanency Through Reunification (2008)
- New England Safety and Risk Assessments (2012)