Coordination, 2014
- Uses for coordination
- Does not use for coordination
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Data sharing
Facilitated through the use of statewide information systems allowing for consistent data sharing between systems.
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Committees or advisory groups
Multidisciplinary groups that often have regularly scheduled meetings to brainstorm ways to improve systems integration.
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Formal interagency MOUs
Collaborative agreements to guide systems integration efforts
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Informal interagency agreements
Commonly based on historical practice, mutual trust, and recognition of the need to collaborate in order to serve dual-status youth.
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Statute and/or rules
Rules that mandate systems integration efforts
Summary
In Arizona, information sharing between the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES), Division of Child, Youth, and Family Services, the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), Juvenile Justice Services Division about dual status youth occurs at the state level through a formal inter-agency collaborative. It is supported by statute and state level advisory groups that focus on dual status youth issues. The Court's automated information management system, Juvenile Online Tracking System (JOLTS), makes child welfare information, specifically past dependency petitions, available to the certain people from the Juvenile Court / Probation Department.
Periodically, the AOC also reviews the number of dually adjudicated youth at various decision points in the juvenile justice system for research and planning purposes. Arizona has engaged in system integration activities for many years. Recently, though, these efforts have been re-energized and new innovations are underway in Maricopa County through Georgetown's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform with aspirations to spread the model across the state. In Maricopa County, the DES Division of Child, Youth, and Family Services and the Juvenile Court have developed new protocols for information sharing that include the ability for agencies to routinely identify dually involved youth at intake and notify other agencies involved with the family in a timely manner for case planning purposes.
Case management for dually involved youth occurs through sharing of case planning information between systems, inter-agency planning meetings, and joint case-level case management meetings. There are inter-agency liaisons supported by collaborative funding agreements to coordinate cross-system case management activities. In Maricopa County, hearings are consolidated through the specialized a "Crossover Youth Bench," and representatives from all agencies, including Child, Youth, and Family Services, Juvenile Probation, Education, and Behavioral Health are expected to participate in every hearing.
Case workers and probation officers in Maricopa have participated in specialized training to learn about the assessment tools used and protocols followed in both child welfare and probation.
