Benefits of Accreditation

Striving for Excellence: Accreditation as a Path to Quality

OARTY supports independent third-party accreditation as a further means of improving service excellence.

• Accreditation is pursued in order to validate an agency’s quality and to verify that they are striving for excellence.
• Accreditation is best viewed as an ongoing process of agency-wide improvement and development through which an agency or program strives for excellence. It is a process of recognizing and assessing agencies and programs against accepted standards of performance, integrity, and quality.

Program Wide Improvement:  The Benefits of Accreditation

The advantage of accreditation is that it is a single transparent and repeatable approach, which improves consistency, resulting in better risk management.  Some of the many benefits include:

• Provides a credible, independently verifiable method of differentiating accredited organizations from non-accredited organizations that may not adhere to important industry standards
• Documents that the agency/program is true to its own foundational statements
  (mission, philosophy, and goals)
• Promotes on-going organizational education and improvement through a continuous process of self-assessment
• Sets standards of excellence / affirms that the agency meets standards of quality established by an independent third-party
• Provides validation of the credibility through a voluntary, peer review process
• Provides agencies with a template for high quality services, administration, and governance
• Provides public assurance of quality
• Promotes accountability
• Provides a complete review and written documentation of the program
• Identifies areas of strength and weakness within the organization
• Gives the organization an opportunity to self congratulate for quality services provided
• Gives purpose and direction for long-range strategic planning
• Enables agencies to differentiate themselves in the marketplace
• Enhances services to children and families
• Works as a staff and management team building activity as the organization continues its quality improvement objectives

Accredited Member Programs

For a listing of all accredited member agency programs as listed on IRIS (Integrated Residential Information System), please click here.