The Arkansas Department of Human Services recently awarded $1.8 million to UA-Partners, an outreach unit of the College of Education and Health Professions working to strengthen opportunities for Arkansans with disabilities.

The new funding is designed to extend a previous $10 million grant awarded to Partners in 2024. Known as the DHS Prevention Pilot, this grant funded three initiatives throughout a 14-month period to expand home and community-based services for children and families, including those who experience neurodevelopmental disabilities, behavioral health conditions or both. 

Partners Executive Director Karan Burnette said the initial data from the program was "very promising," which prompted the Department of Human Services to extend the grant timeline and funding.

"I am grateful that the Department of Human Services has allowed UA-Partners to be involved in this exciting work," she said. "It is truly life-changing for children, youth and their families."

The grant extension ensures Partners' initiatives can continue for an additional year. These new funds will augment the previous DHS grant, enabling Partners to continue providing comprehensive in-home services while building the capacity to continue new services after the pilot ends.

The DHS Prevention Pilot program has multiple components, all of which are designed to stabilize children who are Medicaid recipients at risk of losing placement in their homes or schools due to challenging behaviors. So far, the pilot program has been operating in four communities throughout Arkansas, including Harrison, Batesville, Warren and Horatio.

According to Burnette, preliminary data showed a drop in psychiatric residential placement or acute hospitalization from 50% to 3% for younger children and 6% for teens after initiation of pilot services.

A reason for the success could be the shift in approach taken by Partners to bring services directly to families. This way, they can impact a child's behavior where it is occurring and model for caregivers positive techniques for de-escalation of dangerous behaviors while teaching replacement behaviors.

By providing services in the homes and schools of children, they hope to prevent crises, provide diagnostic services as needed and model a different way of responding to the behaviors of these children and youth.

The original inspiration for the grant stemmed from a desire by DHS to alter how services are designed and implemented for children and families across the state.

"DHS is making a large shift to prevention services for the state," said Kristi Putnam, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Human Services. "We need to do better at early detection and intervention."

As the project continues, Partners will make recommendations to DHS around suggested changes in services offered, reimbursement and policies that can help ensure that effective interventions are accessible for Arkansans.

To learn more about Partners and their ongoing projects, visit their website.