About the Report The Report, Part III. Effective Health & Social Service Systems:

policy statements:
About the Report of the Re-Entry Council

Policy Statement 34, Recommendation D

Increase coordination across programs for children and families and among service systems.

Human services agencies have significant leeway under federal law to coordinate and align services across programs and with other systems, such as the workforce, housing, and criminal justice systems. [1]   Service coordination is a key strategy for facilitating information-sharing and improving the efficiency of service delivery within such systems by (1) developing collaborations across programs and between systems, and (2) coordinating and harmonizing policies and procedures among multiple programs. [2]   Coordination across programs can help reduce service fragmentation, identify service gaps and duplication, increase the cost-effectiveness of service delivery, and increase flexibility through the use of multiple funding streams for eligible services. (See Policy Statement 4 , Funding a Re-Entry Initiative, for more on combining funds.)

Such collaboration can help families by increasing points of access and providing a more comprehensive set of services. Families should be able to access the services they need, regardless of the program door they enter through. For example, a family applying for cash assistance should be able to access needed mental health and substance abuse treatment, while a family receiving child welfare services should be able to receive help with job training and child care.

A number of states have taken steps to improve service coordination among human services programs and across human services, workforce, and criminal justice systems. These efforts often include the TANF program because of the program's broad purposes, flexible funding, and central role within the human services system. [3]   Service coordination efforts include:

  • Improved data collection;
  • Integrated information management systems;
  • Review and alignment of policies and procedures, including eligibility rules, verification procedures, reporting, and certification procedures;
  • Single application procedures;
  • Multi-program screening, assessment, referrals, and case management;
  • Improved interagency coordination through co-location, stationing workers from one program in another program office, cross-program liaisons, multidisciplinary teams, and cross-training between programs;
  • Harmonized performance measures; and
  • Coordinated and joint funding strategies.

For several reasons, coordination among services is difficult to fully achieve. It takes top-down support, a vision of service delivery, clearly defined goals, and time. Successful alignment of programs and systems requires institutional change that can affect program structure, organization, and staff roles. Different program goals, competing priorities, complex organizational cultures, perceptions of skeptical staff, and resource restraints all have to be negotiated. (See Policy Statement 5, Promoting System Integration and Coordination for more on the challenges of harmonizing multiple systems and organizations.) Ultimately, an investment in addressing these obstacles and promoting thoughtful, institutionalized coordination may be necessary to achieve improved service delivery for program participants and their families.

  1. For information about program coordination, see a series of papers developed as part of the Cross-System Innovation Project of the National Governors' Association, the Hudson Institute, and the Center for Law and Social Policy, including Rutledge Hutson, Providing Comprehensive, Integrated Social Services to Vulnerable Children and Families: Are There Legal Barriers at the Federal Level to Moving Forward? (Washington, DC: Center for Law and Social Policy, 2004); Sharon Parrott and Stacy Dean, Aligning Policies and Procedures In Benefit Programs: An Overview of the Opportunities and Challenges Under Current Federal Laws and Regulations (Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2004); Thomas Corbett and Jennifer Noyes, "Service and Systems Integration: A Collaborative Project," Focus 23 (Summer 2004): 27; Mark Greenberg, Emil Parker, and Abbey Frank, Integrating TANF and WIA Into a Single Workforce System: An Analysis of Legal Issues (Washington, DC: Center for Law and Social Policy, 2004). Also see Jodi Sandfort, "Why is Human Services Integration So Difficult to Achieve?" Focus 23 (Summer 2004): 35. back
  2. Jeremy Travis and Michelle Waul, eds., Prisoners Once Removed: The Impact of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities (Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press, 2004). back
  3. The statutory purposes of the TANF program are to (1) provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives; (2) end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; (3) prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and (4) encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. 42 U.S.C. ยง 601. back
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