CARF International announced that Kootenay Kids Society has been accredited for a period of three years for its family place resource centre programs, childcare resource and referral programs, care to learn childcare centre, and governance.
“I am delighted to see Kootenay Kids achieve this level of professional evaluation” says Mary Walters, a longtime Kootenay Kids employee who runs the society’s regional childcare resource and referral program.
“For me, accreditation was an exercise in organizational development and team building and the result is that Kootenay Kids now shown that we deliver services to the highest standards and operate the organization on an accountable and reliable level. I have to thank a strong and dedicated Kootenay Kids team who worked diligently over the last two years to prepare for this important achievement,” says Stephanie Fischer, outgoing executive director, who is welcoming Valerie Warmington, incoming executive director for Kootenay Kids.
This is the first accreditation that the international accrediting body has awarded to the society. This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows the organization’s substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a three-year accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are of the highest quality, measurable, and accountable.
Kootenay Kids Society is a nonprofit organization with its office at 312 Silica Street.
It has been providing family, child and caregiver services in Nelson and the region since 1986.
CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.