CHILD AND FAMILY COMMUNITY-BASED MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION/DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES (COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES)

PROGRAM MISSION: To prevent the progression of mental health and behavioral disorders and reduce the need for more restrictive placement of children by providing community-based, effective and high quality case management services and therapeutic and behavioral interventions.

• The School-based Program provides prevention and early intervention clinical services to students and families within targeted schools and community sites. Services include screening and assessment, early intervention and prevention-oriented short-term individual, group and family counseling, service coordination/referral, consultation and collaboration within the schools and with other child serving agencies.

• The Detention-based Services Program provides mental-health services to individuals incarcerated at the Arlington County Juvenile Detention Home. The program is designed to provide diagnostic and ongoing therapeutic services to these individuals to decrease debilitating symptoms and increase capacity to fulfill family/school/community roles successfully. The services are designed to prepare these individuals for discharge, thereby facilitating a seamless transition from incarceration back to the community, and include the arrangement of and linkage to aftercare services, including but not limited to outpatient services with Child and Family Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, or appropriate community providers.

• The Children's Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities Program supports families whose children present behaviors or conditions associated with mental retardation and developmental disabilities by arranging, authorizing, coordinating, and linking families to various programs and services. The divisional case manager works directly with families and with community, state, and national resources to help families access the full range of available services. Services are individualized to meet specific needs and preferences of each child and family.

• The Behavior Intervention Services Program improves behavioral functioning and reduces the need for more restrictive placement of children by providing behavioral consultation and intervention services. Consultation provides family-centered training to care providers of children who exhibit self-injurious behavior, aggression, non-compliance, tantrums, etc. Parents are trained in behavioral management techniques to reduce the risk of child abuse and the need for a more restrictive placement.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Personnel costs and FTE increases are due to the reallocation of a 1.0 FTE position from CSA to serve as a unit supervisor.

• Decrease in Fees/Medicaid is due to the elimination of budgeted revenue for Intensive In-Home services ($79,394) because of the difficulty of meeting Medicaid criteria. This is partially offset by Medicaid revenue for Mental Retardation Developmental Disability Case Management services ($21,800), previously budgeted in the Aging and Disability Services Division.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

School-based Services

• New program started in first quarter of FY 2004.

• Vacancies kept the program from reaching capacity in FY 2004. Two new hires are expected to begin in the third quarter of FY 2005.

• Of the 109 clients served in FY 2004, 86 of the cases were closed. The mission outcome measures above are based on the outcomes of these 86 cases and are additive (that is, 92% of the cases were either resolved/alleviated or linked to ongoing services). 8% or 7 cases were not resolved or linked to ongoing services.

Detention-based Services

• New program started in first quarter of FY 2005.

Children's MR/DD Case Management

• Program began in fourth quarter of FY 2002.

• Customer measures described above started in FY 2004.

• Caregiver/guardian includes parent(s), guardians, and group home providers caring for clients.

• Family support uses state funds to reimburse families for expenses within select categories, such as respite care, adaptive equipment and medical supplies. Case Manager assists families in application process.

• Some clients may receive both case management and family support.

Behavior Intervention Services (BIS)

• Care providers are defined as those who supervise and/or care for the individuals exhibiting the behaviors of concern.

• The BIS program has increased its presence in two elementary schools, providing group programs and individual sessions for parents, and training sessions for teachers. With this increased time in schools, the number of clients receiving individual services decreased in FY 2004 and there was a 90% reduction of reports to Child Protective Services in one of the two elementary schools served in FY 2003 and 2004. In prior years the total reported was 20 and is now down to 2.

• Ninety-five percent of the children served range from ages 3 to 10.