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Service Coordination MechanismExecutive SummaryFamily & Children First Council4405 Galloway Road, Sandusky, OH 44870Phone 419-621-3962 Ext. 141 - Fax 419-625-3448 |
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Families have their own individualized Family Service Coordination Plan
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Since its inception in the early nineties, the Ohio Family & Children First Initiative has been a catalyst for bringing community agencies together to coordinate and streamline services for those families and children needing or seeking assistance. This Coordination Mechanism shall serve as a guiding document for coordination of services when a child is referred to the council for assistance. With adopting this mechanism the Council will strive to ensure that:
The Family & Children First Council in Erie County has focused on multi-need youth as its target population for Service Coordination. In order for any agency or family seeking service coordination they must contact Central Intake and Referral at (419) 621-3962 Ext 171. An initial assessment of a family’s needs will be made by Central Intake. This assessment will determine the eligibility and Level of Service Coordination needed and a referral will be made to the appropriate agency/community resource. A Level One Service Coordination referral is those parents who are not involved in multiple agencies, yet are needing services that they are having difficulty accessing through one agency. Level One referrals will be referred to an appropriate agency for assistance prior to Service Coordination being considered as an option. Level Two is those children who are already multi-system involved and meet the defined target population.
When eligible, the referral will be given to the Family & Children First (FCF) Service Coordinator who will assign a Team Facilitator from an agency or become the Team Facilitator for the referred family. The Team Facilitator will work with the family on determining the team membership, setting up meetings and doing a family strengths assessment. The Facilitator will also initiate all Releases of Information to protect the family’s confidentiality. The Team will work with the family on formulating an Individualized Family Service Coordination Plan to be initiated within the county.
The FCF Service Coordinator will be responsible for tracking all Service Coordination Plans initiated in the county and will regularly report to the Clinical Committee on progress and statistics for evaluation.
When a child & families Individualized Family Service Coordination Plan, which has been developed by their team, has identified needs in which cannot be funded through any other community funding options, the request for funding will be presented to the FCF Director and the Clinical Committee for review of appropriateness and final approval.
Erie County will utilize out-of-home placement only after families are provided the range of community-based therapeutic/supportive services and those services are deemed inadequate by the Family Team to provide a reasonable level of safety and well being for the child and family, or when an emergency exists, which requires immediate intervention. With the implementation of Service Coordination and the formation of Family Teams, it is envisioned that any recommendation for a non-emergency out-of -home placement of a child would originate from the Family Team of that child.
A Placement Review Board, appointed by Council Directors, will review the cases of children who have been placed out-of-home and are involved in Service Coordination. The referral of cases to this board will be made by the Council Director and the Clinical Committee. The Board will monitor each child’s progress and the implementation of the plan for reintegration back into the community as developed by the Family Team. The Placement Review Board will review the individual plan for the child and ensure that services are provided in the least restrictive environment. The Placement Review Committee will also be charged with reviewing and approval of any Shared Funding Agreements entered into for support services.
The FCF Council shall inform parents and/or custodians of their rights to use the dispute resolution process as described in the Service Coordination Mechanism. Parents or custodian shall use existing local agency grievance procedures to address disputes involving an agency not involved with the service coordination plan. The dispute resolution process shall address conflicts that arise in three distinct situations: the family is in disagreement with one agency; the family is in disagreement with the service plan; or one agency is in disagreement with another agency or the service plan.
FCFC of Erie County shall assure that there is a process, through the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), for complaint resolution that includes mediation and civil hearing procedures for parents of children birth to three who have a developmental delay or diagnosed disability. Parents of children birth to three determined to be eligible for HMG services shall be informed of their rights annually, at a minimum, throughout the time the child is receiving HMG services. Parents of children enrolled in HMG who are at-risk shall follow the dispute resolution process as outlined in the Service Coordination Mechanism.
Through the Family Team process and the Clinical Level of the Council, outcomes for Service Coordination will be measured and evaluated. Evaluation procedures will include Consumer satisfaction surveys that will be distributed and evaluated by the Council. There will be ongoing input from families during the planning, implementation and evaluation process developed to measure results and key indicators of progress through informal and formal meetings.
In the above outlined procedures there are areas, which will need continued strengthening and attention. These include:
Ongoing and aggressive efforts at community education will be needed in order to assure awareness and access to the process, particularly for those children and families who may not be currently involved in any of the systems, but are in need of support. Our county will provide agencies with ongoing training opportunities on Service Coordination and Wraparound. For additional information please contact Cindy Franketti at (419) 627-7782.
Continuous feedback of service gaps will be forwarded to the Administrative Level for review, attention and program/services development.
This plan will be reviewed annually for needed revisions as it is viewed by our Council as a “work in progress”. The Family & Children First Council will be provided with monthly updates on the process and it’s progress.
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