title: All it takes is leadership.
abstract: The authors, as leaders in a public child welfare system, have teamed together and reached out to their private sector partners in a large, rural county in western Colorado. This effort was part of a comprehensive, communitywide effort to redesign and fundamentally improve the entire child welfare service delivery system. Across the country in many areas where collaboration and integration have been the focus, we often hear voices in the private and public sector declaring the importance of integration. Why, then, does it not happen as a general course of action? The authors believe the answer lies in leadership, both public and private. They hold the Mesa County model up as witness to that fact.
authors.affiliation: Family and Children Services, Mesa County Department of Human Services, Grand Junction, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Papin
authors.forename: Treva
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Houck
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003120:Colorado; D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D007902:Length of Stay; D017146:Models, Organizational; D010351:Patient Discharge; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector; D012114:Residential Treatment; D012424:Rural Population