Performance-based Standards (PbS) is very pleased to announce Snowden Cottage in Wilmington, DE as one of the finalists for the 2019 PbS Barbara Allen-Hagen Award in the community residential category. Snowden Cottage was selected for their thoughtful plan to increase family engagement to reduce fear for safety.nThe PbS team at Snowden Cottage was concerned when less than 100% of families reported they felt their child was safe at the program. They determined that the lack of effective communication played a role. Committed to improving communication with youths and families and educating them about the program, staff told the families about the improvement plan. Strategically, they planned to improve on the communication process with families by empathetically looking at each situation from the family perspective. A parent support group was developed to help parents obtain information about their children and to gain knowledge and resources for personal growth. Through parent surveys and support groups, families were able to utilize their voices to let the staff know how they could improve the program and were able to share how they thought the improvement plan was working.nAs a result of these efforts, staff are able to effectively communicate with families and gain all needed information to resolve any mixed feelings or insecurities that youths and their families may have. Snowden takes pride in this level of family engagement and has reached their goal of 100% of families reporting they feel their child was safe at the program.nThe PbS Barbara Allen-Hagen Award was established in 2007 to honor Barbara Allen-Hagen and her retirement from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Her dedication to improving the quality of life in facilities for young offenders has helped drive PbS to its current success. The award is given to a correction, detention/assessment and community program who best exemplify PbS’ commitment to treating all youths in custody as one of our own by developing and implementing strategic plans to change practices that results in positive outcomes for youths, staff and families.nWinners of the award will be announced the night of the ceremony on Aug. 2, 2019. Stay tuned for more blogs about the 2019 finalists.nnStaff at Snowden CottagennPbS team
