Our Impact

Advocacy and Information Resource

Outstanding Publication, Program Standards and Assessments, Policy, and a Program and Facility for Young Women Developed through the Coalition’s Information Resource and Advocacy Efforts:

Gender-Responsive Standards and Assessment Tool (G-SAT) - Handbook

The handbook is a resource providing your programs guidance and tools in implementing gender-responsive and trauma-informed approaches with girls. The Coalition's Gender-Responsive Standards and Assessment Tool (G-SAT) Handbook is the foundational publication introducing programs to the gender-responsive strategies, knowledge and skills needed to reach and impact girls. Through this handbook you will learn why and how to use the G-SAT, you will see girls more clearly through a gender-lens, and more effectively help girls in their journey to self-sufficiency, belief in themselves and empowerment. And the handbook gives you access to copies of the G-SAT designed specifically for your program.

Trauma-Informed Practices for Working with Girls - Staff Handbook

This handbook builds upon the groundwork of the G-SAT Handbook, and was developed to help you see girls through a trauma lens, and introduce you to the insights, practices and action steps needed to more effectively understand and affect the girls in your program, to help them complete their path to self-reliance, healing and success.

standards for Girls’ Programs

(From 2012-2016 the Coalition developed 3 Gender-Responsive Standards and Assessment Tools for: Residential Programs, Therapeutic/Treatment Foster Care, and Community Programs)

The Standards began in February 2012 when the Coalition and the State (DHS/OYA/OHA) agreed to the implementation of the first Gender-Responsive Standards and Assessment Tool for Girls' Programs (G-SAT for Girls’ Residential Programs) as a voluntary part of the State’s biennial licensing and program reviews of girl’s residential programs and the youth correctional facility. The G-SAT for Girls’ Program was developed and piloted through a project grant the Coalition received from Meyer Memorial Trust in 2011. After doing extensive national review we extrapolated the best empirically sound standards from the various tools to create one solid and much more comprehensive instrument. The G-SAT is a great resource for enhancing a program’s gender-responsive approach and by integrating these empirically based standards they should improve the outcomes for girls.

The project has enabled the Coalition to fully carry out our mission of ensuring that girls get access to the gender-responsive services and support they need to help them develop to their full potential. The G-SAT is the critical component the Coalition needed to successfully monitor the State departments' progress for compliance with the Equal Access law. And more importantly to ensuring that girls will have access to effective gender-responsive services, treatment and facilities increasing their chances for success and self-sufficiency.

The G-SAT for Girls’ Programs has two tools, the Management and Staff Tool assesses a Program’s gender-responsive approach and its integration into four areas: (1) facility, (2) staffing, (3) programs and services for girls, and (4) administration/ leadership. The tool is for use in juvenile justice, child welfare, mental health, as well as alcohol and drug residential/institutional programs and facilities.
 

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The Management and Staff Tool is completed on-line using a 1-10 Likert scale, there are 59 Standards, below each standard are statements describing the components that make up the standard. These components offer programs a comprehensive continual resource in ensuring they are integrating a gender-responsive approach into their girl’s residential/institutional programs. And the Girl's Tool was designed specifically for girls to parallel the Mgmt/Staff Tool, and is completed by hand; it has 54 statements (check the box -4 choices).

To maintain the integrity of the Tool the Coalition in collaboration with The National Crittenton Foundation will manage the tools and distribute them to programs for the State. The State will provide information to the Program about steps for the voluntary  completion of the Management/Staff Tool and about steps for Girls’ Tool. The Coalition/Crittenton uses an on-line program to tabulate scores from the program’s management/staff assessment tool and sends results to State and the Program before the review. Programs are told in administering the Girls’ Tool of the importance of ensuring girl’s anonymity/ confidentiality by having girls put their completed surveys in individual sealed envelopes and putting them in the large envelope provided and returning it to Crittenton. Crittenton will enter the girl’s data into an on-line survey program and email tabulations from the girl’s surveys directly back to the program, but not to the State.

The implementation of the G-SAT for Residential Programs was delayed because of funding and contract issues between the State and the Providers. To ensure that other programs had access to standards and an assessment tool for girls’ programs the Coalition developed in 2013 a G-SAT for Therapeutic and Treatment Foster Care. And then in 2016 a G-SAT for Community Programs.

For more information about the three © G-SAT for Girls’ Programs email Pam Patton. Programs get copies and use of the three © G-SAT’s when purchasing the G-SAT/Trauma Handbooks.

Young Women’s Facility

On February 28, 2008 the Oregon Youth Authority's all-female Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility was opened. This gender-responsive based young women's facility was established after four years of work as advocates in collaboration with the Oregon Youth Authority's (OYA) Young Women’s Work Group and the  Implementation Committee (both chaired by the Coalition's President) and with the advocacy efforts of the Coalition with the Governor's Office and the 2005 and 2007 Legislature.

Transition program

On March 15, 1999, after two years as advocates for young women working and planning with OYA on the Gender-Specific Services Work Group (GSSWG), the Corvallis House Young Women’s Transition Program opened as a part of the OYA close custody system. Prior to this program’s opening young men had four transition work-study camp programs and young women had no programs.

DHS Policy

On January 2005, after six years as advocates working on Gender-Specific committees with the Department of Human Services (DHS) the Administrator signed into policy and implemented the department wide DHS Policy on Gender-Specific Services for Children and Youth. Stating “DHS will undertake action, where appropriate, to incorporate gender-specific perspectives and practices into the program strategy, development, implementation, analysis, and DHS work culture.”

Funding

In 1997, when the Legislature transferred funding from DHS Child Welfare to the Oregon Commission on Children and Families (OCCF) for a population described as "acting out, non-delinquent 13-18 year olds youth (Level 7)", the Coalition's advocacy established in OCCF Administrative Rule that the funding to counties for “Level 7” would remain as it had with Child Welfare for youth (not transferred to young children in OCCF) and that 50% of the funding would be used on services for girls.