Case study: Prioritizing prevention and early intervention in child and family services

KPMG supported a provincial department in bridging gaps and enhancing efficiency in prevention and early intervention programming in child and family services.

A significant opportunity arose as a provincial department recognized the need to shift its focus from reactive child and family services to more proactive prevention and early intervention programs. Their existing approach heavily favoured supporting children already in care, leaving vulnerable families at risk.

To address this imbalance, the department sought a comprehensive program review, leading to an evaluation and redesign of its prevention and early intervention program. This evaluation resulted in funding to incrementally expand the program over a multi-year period. Recognizing the complexity of this initiative, the department also required support to design, build, and implement key initiatives identified for the future state, including:

• Supporting parents
• Providing outreach to youth
• Providing intensive supports to enable families to stay together
• Supporting fathers, and
• Connecting families with peer supports.

KPMG began with a thorough assessment of existing prevention and early intervention programs, conducting interviews with a variety of community participants, including program managers, service providers, and families. This collaborative approach revealed the need for streamlined processes, better resource allocation, and improved communication.

Based on the assessment, KPMG:

• Developed a strategic plan for the future state that included innovative solutions and new and expanded programs and services, such as implementing new technologies for better data sharing, collaboration among stakeholders and communication.
• Established key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the changes, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• Documented lessons learned from the new and expanded program work completed and highlighting key successes and accomplishments.
• Provided comprehensive project management support, including a benefits realization plan and analysis to identify optimal sites for new program implementations across the province.

The collaboration between KPMG and the provincial department yielded many positive impacts, including enhancing the support available to children, youth, and families across the province. The initial business case for expansion and enhancement of the prevention and early intervention system resulted in a multi-million-dollar investment that would double the funding for prevention and early intervention supports over three years.

Throughout this multi-year engagement, KPMG was able to support the department to strengthen their relationships and collaboration with community service providers by enhancing the service standards and guidelines for their programs, dispensing increases to program funding, and expanding service capacity and reach across the province.

These changes enabled the department and their community partners to increase access across the province to preventative supports and services for the children, youth, and families who needed it most.

For more insights on the benefits of a prevention-based child and family services model and how it could help support your organizational goals, contact a KPMG professional.