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Accreditation

 

Semiahmoo House Society is proud to announce that we have received accreditation from the Council on Accreditation (COA), a national association that accredits public agencies and private providers of financial management and debt counseling. The rigorous accreditation process lets our clients and our community know that we provide the highest standard of service and run a well-managed and responsible organization.

Recent studies by the U.S. General Accounting Office and COA researchers found that accredited agencies and organizations enjoy significant benefits over non-accredited agencies. The GAO report cited the success of two COA-accredited state agencies in retaining staff and delivering services. The COA report found that accredited agencies had superior risk management, personnel evaluation and corrective action processes in place – all three key requirements for delivering quality services.

Semiahmoo House Society was ACCREDITED for a term of 4 years, the highest award given by COA in January, following a 2½ year intensive accreditation process and review by a team of peer professionals. We deliberately chose to take a longer period of time to prepare for this review so that our organization would grow and learn to be the best it could be. All members in our organization should be proud for continuing to provide the highest quality care.

About the Council on Accreditation (COA):

COA is an international, independent, not-for-profit, human services accrediting organization.

Founded in 1977 by the Child Welfare League of America and Family Service America, COA promotes best practice standards; champions quality services for children, youth, and families; and advocates for the value of accreditation. COA accredits close to 1,600 public and private organizations in the United States and Canada that provide behavioral healthcare services, child welfare services, employee assistance program (EAP) services, financial management/debt counseling services, and many other service areas for which no other accreditor has standards.

COA accreditation is a process of evaluating an organization against best practice standards. COA develops standards by using a consensus model with input from service providers, funders, policymakers and consumers across the United States and Canada. The standards represent up-to-date research findings, regulations, and practice experience that together serve to define quality organizational practice.

For more information, visit www.coanet.org.