Smoky Mountain Children’s Home Reaccredited
Officials with the Church of God’s Smoky Mountain Children’s Home (SMCH) recently received word that the facility and its programs have been reaccredited.
Wording from the letter making the action official said,”Congratulations! On behalf of the Council on Accreditation (COA), I am delighted to inform you that Smoky Mountain Children’s Home has been reaccredited. Reaccreditation is a tremendous achievement that demonstrates that your organization is recognized as a provider that continues to successfully implement high performance standards and, as such, is delivering the highest quality services to all of its stakeholders.”
“Beginning in 2006, Child Care in Tennessee experienced a huge change that affected Smoky Mountain Children’s Home (SMCH) because we are licensed by the Department of Human Services,” stated Dr. Daniel F. Boling, director of the SMCH. “That change created the need for SMCH to become accredited. Our Senior Administrative Team chose from five agencies from which to pursue accreditation. We chose the Council of Accreditation in New York.”
“We began the process by applying for accreditation in 2007 through the Council of Accreditation,” Boling continued. “After an initial self-study here at SMCH, our agency revamped our program to meet the standards the Council of Accreditation set for private agencies such as ours.”
SMCH became accredited the first time on May 31, 2009 in five areas. These areas included adoption, foster care, group living, kinship, and family preservation. The reaccreditation is for four years. This time SMCH also became accredited for their outpatient program in addition to the other areas listed above. The next cycle will come due when the accreditation expires May 31, 2017.
Executive administrator of the Care Division for the Church of God, Dr. Donnie Smith, stated, “The recent reaccreditation status achieved by SMCH is a benchmark moment for them that provides a doorway of expansion for our childcare ministries. I am very proud of the excellence of our entire staff and would like to salute Dr. Dan Boling for his outstanding leadership.”
Boling commented, “It was indeed gratifying to learn that Smoky Mountain Children’s Home has achieved reaccreditation, and has been recognized by the COA International accrediting body as an organization that exhibits the highest standards of care for children. This was accomplished by a loving and caring staff that exemplifies the love of Christ on a daily basis. We look forward to the challenges and opportunities of ministry expansion as a result of this action by COA.”
(Reported by: Pamela Kay Overbey, Administrative Assistant to Dr. Daniel F. Boling, Director)
