At DSS, we know that our programs, services and strategies are only as strong as the people who execute them. The DSS Office of Quality Assurance and Continuous Quality Improvement (QA&CQI) collaborates with internal program divisions as well as with external partners to plan, design, implement and assess customized strategies aimed at improving services and performance.

Our QA&CQI Team of professionals aim to inspire and motivate others toward their full potential by helping them to embrace positive change, be curious, challenge the status quo, and identify solutions to unmet problems.  

What is QA&CQI?

Quality Assurance (QA) the maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product, especially by means of attention to every stage of the process of delivery or production.

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is a deliberate, defined process which is focused on activities that are responsive to community needs and improving child and family outcomes. It is a continuous and ongoing effort to achieve measurable improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness, performance, accountability, outcomes, and other indicators of quality for state and local program levels.

QA&CQI staff assist with evaluating employee training methods in pursuit of multiple goals:

• Enhancing staff capacity across multiple service areas in SC DSS
• Preventing employee turnover
• Reducing financial costs

Ongoing training evaluation projects in QA&CQI involve partnerships with multiple SC DSS divisions:

• Child Welfare
• Adult Protective Services
• Economic Services

Future QA&CQI projects concerning training include:

• Conducting rigorous quantitative test analyses for training evaluation instruments
• Contributions to scholarly literature on Level 5 evaluation methods in child welfare practice (this is a collaborative effort with training, HR, and Finance)

 
The SCDSS QA&CQI Team is responsible for conducting routine reviews of DSS county offices to assess performance in the management of foster care and family preservation cases.

Child Welfare Services Reviews by County

The SCDSS QA&CQI Team also offers a variety of customized services to help agency employees and programs statewide assess and improve their performance. Learn more HERE. 

Meet the QA&CQI Statewide Leadership Team.