In 2017, Fairfax County DFS adopted a new practice model with an aim of changing how it approaches child welfare services and reducing the system’s historically disproportionate impact on children and families of color. In working to operationalize the new practice model, the organization experienced a series of fits and starts as urgent mission priorities kept eroding momentum. By 2020, the team was navigating even more complexity and disruption.
In the face of this complexity, Fairfax County DFS accepted that there is never a “right time” to take on systems-level change. The team also realized they could not achieve the needed transformation on their own. Rather than repeating earlier tactics, they made a strategic decision to succeed differently.
With a spirit of purpose and humility, they committed to innovative, authentic community and public-private partnerships. And as Fairfax County DFS has integrated partners into workflows, they have been looking to those partners to help carry the weight of this transformational work.
This Policy & Practice article — co-authored by Michael A. Becketts from Fairfax County DFS and Adan Hernandez from Accenture — shares more about how the organization tackled collaborative change for collective impact.