Program Aimed at Keeping Kids Out of Foster Care Expands Through Pay for Success Contract

Media Release: October 28, 2021

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — A program keeping children out of the foster care system and safely in their homes is expanding in Garfield, Cleveland and Comanche counties. The expansion was made possible due to a recently signed Pay for Success contract between the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and the Impact Accelerator, a subsidiary of Oklahoma-based non-profit, MetaFund.

Pay for Success, also known as a social impact bond, is a model for supporting public-private partnerships. Taxpayer dollars are only spent on successful outcomes while private philanthropy takes on the risk by providing upfront capital to implement evidence-based or promising interventions.

In this case, the program receiving funding is Intensive Safety Services (ISS). It is designed to keep children, who are at significant risk of removal due to abuse and/or neglect, safe in their home. The program provides in-home support to parents/caregivers from a Master’s-level therapist to address the needs that led to the abuse or neglect. To keep the children from entering foster care, the parents must complete the services. DHS and therapists continually monitor the children’s safety in the home.

The ISS program was started in Oklahoma County in 2015. It has since expanded and is operational statewide. Evaluators at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have evaluated the program and continue to measure its performance. Their evaluation shows that about 80 percent of the children served through the program have been able to remain safely in their homes while their parents/guardians completed their service plans. This compared to 30 percent for families receiving services as usual.

“Programs like ISS create positive generational impacts by reducing the level of trauma that children and families would otherwise experience through the removal process and strengthening protective factors that we believe are inherent in all families,” said Dr. Deborah Shropshire, OKDHS Child Welfare Director. “Parenting is hard for all of us and we know, without a doubt, that families can be successful with the right supports. When we can keep children safely at home, it is ultimately better for children and families and builds skills that will pay dividends for generations to come.

In 2018, DHS signed a three-year Pay for Success contract with the Arnall Family Foundation to expand the program in Oklahoma County. That upfront private funding enabled an increase in the number of cases served and the program enjoyed continued success of keeping children out of foster care.

The most recent Pay for Success contract expands the program even farther by increasing the number of cases served in Garfield, Cleveland and Comanche counties. The majority of the funds for this expansion were again contributed by the Arnall Family Foundation and were combined with dollars from MetaFund through the Impact Accelerator. Up to $730,336 is being dedicated for the addition of ISS therapists and staff to enable the program to serve more families over the next 12 months. NorthCare is the contracted service provider for the ISS program providing the needed therapists.

“We are excited to enter into our second Pay for Success contract with the Department of Human Services to expand ISS which will help to strengthen families and keep children safely out of foster care,” said Sue Ann Arnall, president of the Arnall Family Foundation. “While an 80% success rate is impressive, we know that every successful case represents a child who is able to remain safely with their parent and that is invaluable.”

A case is deemed successful if the child/children whose family are receiving services are not placed in foster care at 12 months post ISS engagement. For each successful case that closes, DHS pays Impact Accelerator back a set amount until the original investment is repaid.

“MetaFund and our Impact Accelerator investors are uniquely positioned to support sustainable social impact. The ISS program fits one of our priorities, child well-being, perfectly. The program has shown it improves outcomes for the child and family, and it has the added bonus of avoiding cost to the taxpayer,” said Ed Long, MetaFund’s Chief Impact Officer.