Youth Shelter Care of North Central Iowa, Inc. has achieved national accreditation through the New York-based Council on Accreditation.

Youth Shelter Care provides the following services: emergency juvenile shelter care, diversion services, crisis intervention, behavioral health therapy, school-based therapy, behavioral health intervention services and achieving maximum potential.

Organizations pursue accreditation to demonstrate the implementation of best practice standards in the field of human services.

COA evaluated all aspects of Youth Shelter Care’s programs, services, management and administration.

To achieve COA accreditation, Youth Shelter Care first provided written evidence of compliance with the COA standards.

Thereafter, a group of specially trained peer reviewers confirmed adherence to these standards during a series of on-site interviews with trustees, staff and clients.

Based on their findings, COA’s Accreditation Commission voted that Youth Shelter Care had successfully met the criteria for accreditation.

COA is the only national accreditor designated by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop accreditation standards and processes for human service programs provided to military personnel and their families.

Founded in 1977, COA is an independent, not-for-profit accreditor of the full continuum of community-based behavioral health care and social service organizations in the United States and Canada. Over 2,000 organizations — voluntary, public, and proprietary; local and statewide; large and small — have either successfully achieved COA accreditation or are currently engaged in the process. Presently, COA has a total of 47 service standards that are applicable to over 125 different types of programs.