Posted
For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 13, 2010
Washington County announced that its Division of Behavioral Health, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has been awarded a grant of $390,000 from the State Department of Human Services to help children in the county who have severe mental illness, addictions and/or behavior problems.
"The funding comes from the Statewide Children's Wraparound Initiative," says Jill Archer, M.S.W., Senior Program Coordinator for Health and Human Services. "The funds will be spent on a proven approach to treating this special group of children, who range in ages from 0 – 18." Instead of the children moving from one system to another to get the services they need, a team of providers for each child will work together to coordinate services that come from a variety of funding sources, eventually blending the funding at the local level to provide needed services.
Children served in the program may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (due to a history of abuse or neglect), depression and/or behavioral disorders. Forty percent of the children who will be served have been in behavioral rehabilitation programs. "We will see children with significant issues already. They may have problems with drug or alcohol abuse or a history of sex offending behavior," reports Archer.
"The teams will each include the child, a care coordinator; family members who are involved in the child's treatment; the case worker from Child Welfare; school staff, whether teacher, counselor or principal and other support that the child wants to have (for example, a Court Appointed Special Advocate or a neighbor)," says Archer. It will be this team of people that will develop and support the child's service plan by evaluating the strengths and needs of the child and family. This approach is called "wraparound services."
Based on work from a Wraparound Task Force, legislation from 2009, HB 2144, requires the DHS Addictions and Mental Health Division to develop three demonstration sites to inform the implementation of statewide wraparound service for all children at risk of developing severe mental health issues. The long term goal is to have blended funds from all child-serving systems available to local communities.
The care coordinator will work more intensively with the child and its family, having a caseload of no more than 15 clients. The coordinator will pull services together from different systems, e.g. Child Welfare, Juvenile, etc., and will guide the family through the treatment process.
The State created a competitive process for the grant. Eight counties or consortiums applied, three were chosen. "Washington County's Behavioral Health Division is well suited to this approach," says Archer, "because we currently use the wraparound principles and family driven planning in our Intensive Service Array. While it's not as intensive as the Wraparound model, it is similar."
"We also have strong partnerships with other systems in Washington County; we see the children as a 'shared responsibility.' We'll focus on keeping children in the community rather than in facility-based care, we've paid lots of attention to cultural competency and we will be working with an agency that will lead us further into that area," Archer says, adding that these were the strengths of the County's proposal to the State.
"We will hire four master's level clinicians to serve as coordinators. Because the coordinators will each have fewer cases than usual, they will be able to take on some responsibilities from the Child Welfare system and have more involvement in the child's case plan. They will know the child and its family well, will ensure continuity as services or providers change and can advocate for particular needs of each child," says Archer.
The wraparound services program will include "Family Partners," peer mentors who support the parents and who can give first-hand experience and perspectives.
This is a demonstration project that will have a narrow scope, working with children already in the Child Welfare system who have been in state custody for a year or more, who have had at least four placements and who are already in the mental health system. Sixty children will be served the first year. "We want to start out small so that we can preserve the integrity of our approach," says Archer.
During the year of the contract, the division will be closely monitoring the "real costs" of services to determine whether there are savings realized using this process. Archer says, "We will also be looking at particular outcomes:
- Reduce children's involvement with juvenile system
- Increase school attendance and success
- Minimize placement disruptions
- Increase placements with families
- Insure that children are not re-abused
- Provide culturally specific services."
The County Division will make a final report to the State Addictions and Mental Health Division after the first year of the program.
Archer reports, "We can make a significant difference in the lives of these children by reducing barriers to necessary services. We anticipate that the program will have good outcomes for the children."
Media Contact:
Kent Burtner, Communications Officer, Washington County Department of Health and Human Services503-846-3634
[email protected]