CARF accreditationWhat CARF Said About Career Quest
-Accreditation-

A three-year accreditation is awarded to
Career Quest, LLP

In the following services:

Employment Services: Community Employment Services: Job Development

Employment Services: Community Employment Services: Job Supports

Employment Services: Community Employment Services: Job Site Training

Employment Services: Community Employment Services: Employment Planning Services

CARF Survey Report Summary

Career Quest has earned a Three-Year Accreditation. This growing organization is recognized for the efforts made to acquire accreditation and to use CARF standards as guidelines in its efforts to continuous quality improvement.

Career Quest demonstrates exemplary conformance to the standards in the following areas.

  • Career Quest has achieved exemplary conformance in the area of job carving. Career Quest targets parts of jobs for some persons served, helping the organization excel in placing individuals with a very narrow set of skills and/or very specific requests in the job they are looking for.
  • Extensive involvement in communication with high school transition students and their teachers led Career Quest to develop the Rockin’ Road to Work, an educational conference event; this was especially successful due to its focus on conference sessions allowing choice for students to learn about careers and life after high school.
  • Career Quest shows exemplary conformance in the area of confidential information, Polices are comprehensive, multi-level and followed by staff.

Career Quest has strengths in many areas.

  • Career Quest’s greatest strengths are in its ability to create accessibility to employment. Placement outcomes are exceptional despite numerous barriers indigenous to the location, lack of jobs and transportation challenges.
  • An extensive variety of data are available for Career Quest to measure its success over time. Performance management data analysis show that goals for the current period have been exceeded, as 88 percent of placements have been successful for over 90 days, demonstrating longevity, stability, and higher than average pay rates.
  • Career Quest is led by a partnership whose energy for employing persons with unique challenges has inspired solid results throughout its very effective staff of employment consultants and specialists.

    Meeting this standard has created good working relationships with referring and funding agents, and ongoing communication increases the quality of services.
  • Staff members have a strongly motivated commitment to placement with customized matches for each person served and have accomplished some life-changing outcomes, especially considering the unique challenges of the communities and the support needs of the individuals being placed.
  • As a result of soliciting input from community stakeholders and families, Career Quest has initiated and implemented plans and processes that allow it to place high school transitions students in jobs in the community as soon as they are referred and employment planning is completed. For many, this means going to work as soon as they graduate.
  • Several examples are noted in records of persons served and as reported by individuals in service as well as staff members, wherein reasonable accommodations have been identified and provided to acquire or retain a job when a new need occurred. For example, when an individual suffered and off-the-job injury requiring a cast on her leg the job was adapted so that he work schedule could continue.
  • The partners have been very progressive in efforts to acquire funds for those who are not funded, assisting them with resource identifications and advocacy for their access, the application for milage funds is a prime example of their creative efforts
  • Architectural accessibility issues are addressed for each site in the site review checklist, which is utilized as a new site is developed or as changes occur.
  • In the area of safety, outside authorities are very complementary of the organization’s safety plans, procedures, and immediate compliance with any and all recommendations.
  • Strategic planning is a fluid process used by leadership to set the direction of the company resources to establish desired outcomes.
  • Financial policies are complete and clearly identify who does what, providing adequate checks and balances for all fiscal operations.

BUSINESS PRACTICES

CARF-accredited organizations continually focus on the expectations of the persons served and other stakeholders. The standards direct the organization’s focus to soliciting, collecting, analyzing and using input from all stakeholders to create services that meet or exceed the expectations of the persons served the community and other stakeholders.

TRANSITION

Exemplary Conformance

As a result of input from community stakeholders, Career Quest initiated an event with the high school transition programs in its community. This event was titled Rockin’ Road to Work …to attract students to attend an education-based conference along with their teachers so they could learn about choices and careers after graduation. This was a very successful event and resulted in numerous referrals from employment planning. The community has asked that it be repeated again each year.

Information management systems gave produced outcomes management information that demonstrated outstanding placement, pay and job retention results. This information should be reported to the persons served, personnel and all other various stakeholders in the formats that are useful to those audiences.

RIGHTS OF PERSONS SERVED

CARF-Accredited organizations protect and promote the rights of persons served; this commitment guides the delivery of services and ongoing interactions with the persons served.

Key Areas Addressed

  • Meaningful communication of rights
  • Commitment to diversity
  • Polices promote rights of persons served
  • Complaint, grievance, and appeals policy
  • Annual review of complaints

Exemplary Conformance

Career Quest shows exemplary conformance in the area of confidential information. Polices are comprehensive, multi-level and followed by staff. The respect of the individuals’ need for confidentiality is taken very seriously by the organization and is part of the culture.

LEADERSHIP

CARF-Accredited organizations identify leadership that embraced the values of accountability and responsibility to the individual organization’s stated mission. The leadership demonstrated corporate social responsibility.

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

CARF accreditation in the area of employment services provides individualized services to achieve identified employment outcomes. The array of services in this section may include:

  • Identification of employment opportunities and resources in the local job market
  • Development of realistic employment goals
  • Establishment of service plans to achieve employment outcomes
  • Identification of resources to achieve and maintain employment
  • Coordination of and referral to employment-related services

The organization maintains its leadership role in the employment sector of the community by designing and continually improving its services on the input from the persons served and from employers in the local job market, and managing results of the organization’s outcomes management system. The provision of quality employment services requires a continuous focus on the persons served and the personnel needs of employers on the organization’s local job market.

EMPLOYMENT PLANNING SERVICES

Employment planning services are designed to assist a person seeking employment to learn about employment opportunities within the community and to make informed decisions. Employment planning services are individualized to assist a person choose employment outcomes and/or career development opportunities based on his or her preferences, strengths, abilities and needs.

Key Area Addressed

  • Employment opportunities within the community
  • Informed decision-making by participants
  • Referrals to services to implement employment plan
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