Council on Accreditation
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The Council on Accreditation (COA) partners with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting accreditation standards.
COA envisions excellence in the delivery of human services globally, resulting in the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.
COA is an international, independent, not-for-profit, child- and family-service and behavioral healthcare accrediting organization. It was founded in 1977 by the Child Welfare League of America and Family Service America (now the Alliance for Children and Families). Originally known as an accrediting body for family and children's agencies, COA currently accredits over 45 different service areas. Among the service areas are substance abuse treatment, adult day care, services for the homeless, foster care, and inter-country adoption.
In addition to standards for private social service and behavioral health care organizations, COA has developed separate business lines for public agencies, networks and lead management entities, opioid treatment programs, employee assistance programs, and financial management/debt counseling services.
COA views accreditation as a catalyst for change that builds on an organization's strengths and helps it achieve better results in all areas. The accreditation process is designed to meet the needs of diverse organizations. An organization is evaluated against best-practice standards, which are developed using a consensus model with input from a wide range of service providers, funders, experts, policymakers and consumers.
In our current outcomes-oriented environment, organizations are increasingly called upon to demonstrate the impact of their services. Accreditation is designed to be a framework within which an organization can measure a variety of its achievements.
The value and credibility of COA accreditation are formally recognized in over one hundred distinct instances in forty-four different states, the District of Columbia, as well as British Columbia, Canada. Additionally, the U.S. Department of State has designated COA as the sole national independent accreditor for organizations providing inter-country adoption services in the United States that work with sending countries that have ratified the Hague Treaty.
View Family Service Association's re-accreditation certificate