The Jordan Institute for Families
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T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
The Jordan Institute for Families
Engaging Communities to Strengthen
Families and Those Who Serve Them
OUR HISTORY & VISION
In 1996, Michael and Deloris Jordan launched the Jordan Institute for Families at the UNC School of
Social Work. With the goal of reaching out to professionals across the state and nation to help them
learn how best to help families and the communities in which they live, the School has proudly turned
this vision into reality.
OUR SCOPE
Dean Jack M. Richman
As Associate Director for Program Development with the Institute since its inception, Dr. Gary Nelson
has worked with colleagues over the years to create a series of programs dedicated to turning the
Institute’s vision into reality. The programs created under the aegis of the Institute include the Center
for Aging Research and Educational Services (CARES), Families and Children’s Resource Program
(FCRP), Behavioral Healthcare Resource Program (BHRP), the Accountable Behavioral Care (ABC)
Program, and The Middle Space (TMS). Other programs now affiliated with the Jordan Institute include
the Developmental Disabilities Training Institute (DDTI), the Family Support Program (FSP), and the
Wicked Problems of Child Welfare Institutes and Child Welfare Practice-Based Research Network.
Our programs offer training, program evaluation, and capacity-building services to families,
professionals, communities, and state and national policymakers engaged in serving vulnerable
families across the state, nation, and world.
In North Carolina, the Jordan Institute touches the lives and practices of thousands of service
professionals in every one of North Carolina’s one hundred counties every year. Related programs have
benefitted child welfare managers, family support, and aging programs across the country. Leadership
programs affiliated with the Jordan Institute and School have benefitted leaders in the World Bank,
Habitat International, and the United Nations Development Program.
Our history of impact continues. For example, the FCRP child welfare reform
initiative called Families for Kids reduced the number of children in foster
care, shortened their lengths of stay in care, and created permanence for tens
of thousands of children. And more recently, the School partnered with the
Children’s Home Society of America to launch a national child welfare practicebased research network to help inform and improve local, state and federal
policies around child welfare and well-being.
Please read on for a brief description of several of the Jordan Institute’s
programs.
Gary Nelson, D.S.W.
OUR FUNDING
The FY 2015 funding for the Jordan Institute’s FCRP, CARES, ABC, DDTI, TMS, and Family Support
Network is around $3.3 million. The funding for all these programs including the Behavioral Healthcare
Resource Program over the first two decades of the Institute are estimated at $80 million dollars.
T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
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Center for Aging Research and Educational Services (CARES)
Year established
1987
At CARES, we support older and vulnerable adults by improving the abilities of the people and organizations that serve
them. We build the capacity of social and aging services programs, offer training and evaluation services, and provide a
comprehensive menu of training options.
In 2015, we are providing a menu of online and in-person training for those who serve older and disabled adults,
assisting vulnerable adults in making effective transitions in community and long-term care, providing certification and
capacity-building services for senior centers, organizing a statewide movement to build an Adult Network of Care for
vulnerable adults, and facilitating a statewide network to improve guardianship services for vulnerable populations.
For more information, see http://cares.unc.edu or contact Tamara Norris at tnorris@email.unc.edu.
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T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
Family and Children’s Resource Program (FCRP)
Year established
1992
At FCRP, we improve outcomes for families by demonstrating faith in the strength of families and respect for those who
serve them. We build the capacity of the child welfare system, offer technical assistance for children’s services agencies,
and provide a comprehensive menu of training options.
In 2015, we are offering evidence-and competency-based training for the North Carolina child welfare system;
providing learning and practice skills through comprehensive online courses and a popular webinar series; creating
and implementing powerful tools for tracking and improving child welfare training and practice; supporting a Multiple
Response System of Care that strengthens and serves children, their families, and communities; and producing original
print and web-based educational publications for social workers, foster parents, and others involved in the child welfare
system.
For more information, see http://fcrp.unc.edu or contact Lane Cooke at lgcooke@email.unc.edu.
T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
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Family Support Program
Year established
1985
The Family Support Program, which relocated to the School of Social Work in 2008, works with families, communities,
and service providers to support families with children who have special needs. We coordinate a statewide family
support network that provides access to services, offer evidence-based and promising practices for families, and support
integrative care approaches.
In 2015, we are supporting families and children with special needs through 11 statewide network affiliates, offering a
Family and Disability seminar series as part of the School of Social Work’s clinical lecture series for ongoing professional
development, participating in UNC-Prime Care through an AHEC Innovations Grant focused on the unique needs of
youth in transition, and we are providing statewide information and referral services for families with children who have
special needs.
For more information, see http://fsp.unc.edu or contact Tamara Norris at tnorris@email.unc.edu.
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T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
Developmental Disabilities Training Institute (DDTI)
Year established
1963
DDTI, which joined the School of Social Work in 2003, fosters improvements in services and supports for people with
intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their families, to promote their inclusion in all aspects of community
life. We offer specialized training in working with individuals and their families, and provide consultation and evaluation
services to organizations.
In 2015, we are providing capacity-building support for behavioral health organizations around assessment of people
with I/DD using the Support Intensity Scale®; quality assurance training and certification for programs offering services
to people with I/DD; person-centered training to I/DD, behavioral health, and social services programs that serve
vulnerable populations; targeted consultation services for programs serving families of people with I/DD; and support
for an ongoing statewide survey of I/DD service needs in collaboration with the ARC of NC.
For more information, see http://ddti.unc.edu or contact Susie Eguez at eguez@email.unc.edu.
T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
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Accountable Behavioral Care Program (ABC)
Year established
2015
The ABC builds the capacity of managed care organizations, DSS agencies, and service providers to manage the care
of people they serve. We facilitate collective impact initiatives in local communities to solve complex social problems,
offer training and support in using cross-agency longitudinal data, and provide training on business skills for behavioral
health agencies.
In 2015, we are creating a new collaboration among child welfare and mental health agencies in five rural counties
in eastern North Carolina, reducing placement disruptions for children in foster care, teaching innovative business
practices to behavioral health provider agencies across North Carolina, organizing a statewide movement to build an
Adult Network of Care for vulnerable adults, and facilitating a process in Cumberland County to reduce the number of
young men entering jails and prisons.
For more information, contact Sarah Marsh at marsh@email.unc.edu.
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T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
The Wicked Problems of Child Welfare Institutes and Child
Welfare Practice-Based Research Network
Year established
2012
Mark F. Testa, Spears-Turner Distinguished Professor, Jordan Institute for Families
Mark F. Testa, Ph.D.
In 2012, Dr. Mark F. Testa and the Jordan Institute for Families kicked off the first of several national roundtable
discussions under the umbrella of the “Wicked Problems of Child Welfare Institutes.” “Wicked problem” is a term coined
in the policy sciences to describe a problem that defies ordinary solutions. The Institutes convene public and private
child welfare leaders, national foundations and the academic community. These experts share cutting-edge data and
best practices, strengthen public-private partnerships, and have developed a shared set of “grand challenges” that if
addressed through evidence-based solutions, could positively impact the health, safety and economic well-being of
children who come into contact with state child protection systems.
As a result of these Institutes, in 2014 the Children’s Home Society of America and the UNC School of Social Work
launched a child welfare practice-based research network to help inform and improve local, state and national policies
around child welfare and well-being.
For more information, see http://wickedproblems.web.unc.edu or contact Selena Childs at sbchilds@email.unc.edu.
T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
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Enhancing our understanding of psychiatric residential
treatment facility populations
Period
2013-2014
Awarded to
Paul Lanier, assistant professor and research study PI; Gary Nelson, Thomas Willis Lambeth
Distinguished Chair in Public Policy and co-PI; and Rod Rose, research assistant professor
and co-PI
Paul Lanier, Ph.D.
To better understand the experience of a very vulnerable group of children at the intersection of North Carolina’s
child welfare and behavioral health system. By linking large, administrative databases, Lanier and his team followed
thousands of children over time to see when they received services and what types they received. Lanier’s team focused
on children in foster care and children who entered psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs). This study was
important for helping to understand how the current system of care is working for children and to ensure state Medicaid
dollars are being used most effectively.
Lanier and his team worked with multiple partners across state government and in managed care organizations to
successfully build a dataset that identified nearly 3,000 North Carolina children who entered a PRTF from 2007-2012.
The study’s findings, which have been shared with several mental health service providers and others across the state,
revealed a general need to strengthen the link between child welfare and mental health services to help improve
prevention and early intervention. There is also a clear need to continue to provide high quality, community-based
services for children to avoid costly and highly-restrictive forms of care such as psychiatric residential treatment facilities.
The Duke Endowment’s support of this study helped bring together researchers and state government officials to tackle
issues that cut across several complex state and private service systems, where it is often unclear who is responsible for
caring for and advocating for children.
For more information, contact Dr. Paul Lanier at planier@unc.edu.
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T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
Families for Kids 2
Period
1999-2003
A project of the National Alliance for Families (comprised of the N.C. Division of Social Services; Child Welfare League
of America; Family Resource Coalition of America; N.C. Association of County Directors of Social Services; N.C. Family
Resource Coalition; and the Family and Children’s Resource Program within the Jordan Institute for Families at the UNC
School of Social Work).
FFK2 supported the expansion of Families for Kids, a child welfare reform effort launched in North Carolina in 1994.
The primary focus of FFK2 was on strengthening community-based support for families in 9 participating counties:
Buncombe, Catawba, Cleveland, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Richmond, and Wayne. To achieve this goal,
participating counties formed community collaboratives made up of representatives from DSS, partner agencies, and
area stakeholders. Each collaborative chose a system reform issue on which to focus and in each community, the project
supported the hiring of a community education specialist to bring together resources to further local efforts. An FFK2
program coordinator and community liaison, employed by the UNC School of Social Work, provided participating
counties with technical assistance, training, and support and connected them with local and national resources. An FFK2
management team composed of National Alliance members and representatives of The Duke Endowment oversaw
the project.
Since the conclusion of this project over more than 10 years ago, it is clear that FFK2 provided essential support that
helped participating county departments of social services and their communities to develop their resources and
strengthen their services, enhance their ability to collaborate and to focus on using data to improve outcomes. This
impact is reflected in the successful implementation of more recent, related efforts, including the Challenge for Children
initiative, System of Care, FamilyNet, Family to Family, the IV-E Waiver Demonstration, the Multiple Response System
(MRS) and, most recently, REAP (Reaching for Accountability and Excellence in Practice).
T h e J o r d a n I n s tit u t e f o r Fa m i l i e s at t h e UN C Sc h o o l o f S o ci a l W o r k
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Social Work
325 Pittsboro Street • Campus Box 3550
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3550
ssw.unc.edu
September 2015