Child & Family Services of Northwestern Michigan, Inc.

Our Mission: To support the safety and well-being of those we serve in times of crisis, challenge, and life transition.

Our Strategic Plan Goals:
Goal 1: Fiscal Stability and Sustainability:
Financial literacy for Board and staff; Annual Risk Management Review; Maintain a net zero budget; Build and maintain a 6-month operating reserve; Cash reserve strategy; explore alternative revenue streams; Increase fundraising; Long-term financial strategic plan; Increase staff compensation; Continue to improve federal and other grants management process.
Goal 2: Infrastructure Planning and Facilities Management:
Improve data collection an d reporting systems/KPI information for all programs; Educate on available IT tools; Maximize IT efficiencies; Create a facilities improvement plan including identifying opportunities for green improvements, eg solar panels; Find a sustainable home for YouthWork.
Goal 3: Satisfied, Supported People:
Update marketing.communications plan; Increase mentoring, training, and supervision to enhance communication skills with clients, foster parents, and each other; Create an internal communications plan; Communicate programs to community; Increase advocacy efforts with government officials and agencies; Review and update agency succession plan; Develop employee recruitment and retention plan; Support employee training/professional development; Long-term budgeting for wages to support retention; Right-sizing program and HR staff and workloads to prevent burnout.
Goal 4: Professional, Compassionate Programs & Services:
Understand and promote inter-connectedness across systems (housing, transportation, chilxdcare, mental/behavioral health, substance abuse); Strategic program evaluation; Research expanding Safe Haven and Wraparound programs to Harbor Springs; p[articiapte in Community Mental Health Access Eefforts and advocacy; Build a list of effective training modules available to commuity partners; Expand and promote internship opportuities at CFS; Reimagine programs through prevention, preparation/training; Develop diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program.

See detailed Strategic Plan at cfsnwmi.org/about

To achieve our mission and goals, we offer a wide range of programs which respond to our community's changing needs. We provide the most efficient, effective, and collaborative services, using evidence-based models of treatment and a trauma-informed approach, when appropriate. CFS directly serves over 33,000 individuals annually. This figure does not include the countless numbers we touch indirectly through community education, improved attendance and focus in school, reduced problem behaviors, and through our hundreds of community partners.

Our dedication to continuous quality improvement practices guides CFS' operations, performance, and achievement. It allows for the establishment of goals, the development of methods to obtain them, and provides the structure to determine effectiveness and the measurement of progress toward them. The underlying tenet of CQI is that there will always be opportunity for improvement. There is no such thing as perfection in the course of Continuous Quality Improvement. By nature, it is a circular process with repeating procedures. This repetition, together with evaluation by, communication with, and involvement of interested parties, forms the technique applied at CFS in order to continuously improve organizational performance.

View our entire strategic plan including strategies and goals at www.cfsnwmi.org/about

CFS collaborates extensively in all aspects of our work and recognizes that our partners are key to our success. Staff regularly attend collaborative meetings, make presentations, and conduct other activities to inform the community about CFS' services. CFS always leverages long-standing partnerships with area organizations, businesses, and friends to ensure the best possible services available.

CFS has a very successful development effort that helps to support programs and operations through grant writing, donor relations, volunteer coordination, database management, and special events. The CFS board treasurer supervises the fiscal affairs of CFS and ensures the audit of books and records by an independent public accountant annually. CFS has a finance committee composed of the board treasurer, the board president, the CEO, and the CFO, in addition to other directors and trustees. The finance committee submits reports to the board and calls an annual audit meeting. In addition, CFS finances are published in an annual report.

Our child welfare, counseling, and shelter programs are accredited by CARF International, assuring the more than 1,600 individuals, businesses, and organizations who contribute to our work of our commitment to clinical, administrative, and fiscal excellence.

CFS employs 100 staff and utilizes volunteers and interns to assist in providing services and events to our community.

CFS opened in 1937 as Dr. Mark Osterlin, founder of CFS, realized that abused and neglected children he saw in his pediatric medical practice needed a refuge. After being forced to return battered children to unsafe homes, Dr. Osterlin invited the Michigan Children's Aid Society to Traverse City and a branch was opened in 1937. Now operating as CFS, the work Dr. Osterlin started nearly 80 years ago continues today. CFS has expanded its services to also include Wraparound intensive family preservation services; trauma-informed, evidence-based counseling; Safe Haven safe child exchange and supervised visitation; equine-assisted therapy with the help of a local facility for that purpose; Free Legal Aid Clinic; and community education sessions on suicide prevention and other topics.

In 2014, Third Level Crisis Center and CFS consolidated in order to provide Youth Services to area youth in need of support in the most efficient and effective manner.

In 2018, a new program was implemented at CFS in response to a need in our community for a trained, educated, skilled workforce. YouthWork teaches youth and young adults ages 16-26 valuable job and life skills through learning-based environmental service projects and provides valuable services to their communities. The program helps youth and young adults gain an appreciation for the ecosystems that surround them and for the needs of their community. When participants plant a tree, remove invasive species, or clean up a beach, they learn that they have a voice and a stake in the future—their future. Participants recognize the impact they are making in their home community and celebrate the completion of work that is purposeful and locally relevant.

In Fiscal Year 2022, CFS impacted the community with:

3,070 counseling sessions from licensed therapists
1,944 supervised visits and safe exchanges
102 children a safe place to stay with loving foster families
40 forever families created through adoption
43,296 hours of community service performed by 95 YouthWork members
300 calls to our Youth Services Crisis Line
302 free legal advice sessions