A primary goal of systems of care for children and youth is to decrease reliance on social services. Typically, in systems of care, a service coordinator brings together family members and providers from the various systems that work with a particular young person. They organize a service coordination team (SCT) that develops a comprehensive, integrated service plan designed to met the youth and families’ needs and reduce reliance on social service systems. The objective of this study was to examine the impact that service coordination and SCT dynamics have on whether young people who participate in a system of care successfully complete the program. Of particular interest was the relationship between the SCT dynamics and subsequent recidivism to the social service system after leaving the system of care program. The data were compiled from qualitative descriptions of youths’ long-term outcomes that were matched with other clinical and demographic data available through the system of care’s MIS system. Findings indicated that successfully completing the program was associated with a significant drop in system-recidivism. Over 80% of successful completers were staying out of the system after leaving the program. In contrast, of those who failed to complete the project, less than 10% remained out of the system. Moreover, youth who had been referred to the project by juvenile probation and participants who were older at enrollment were significantly more likely to drop out before finishing the system of care program.
Learning Objectives: 1. Discuss the development of system-of-care approaches for young people with multi-system needs and their families. 2. Describe some of the major barriers to cohesive team functioning and service coordination that currently exist in children’s mental health. 3. Articulate the relationship between service coordination team dynamics and how young people and their families progress through the services system.
Keywords: Child/Adolescent Mental Health, Service Integration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.