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 Connecticut, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) administers both child welfare and juvenile justice allowing for consistent data sharing about dual status youth at the state level. State level coordination of dual status cases also occurs with the Court Support Services Division (CSSD) which administers juvenile probation. DCF and CSSD have had a joint strategic plan since 2006 which facilitates shared goals and information sharing about dual status youth.
Multiple formal and informal interagency statements/memorandum of understanding and collaborative funding agreements exist at the state level as well as a state statute that supports information sharing with juvenile probation. There is also a statewide standing committee between DCF and CSSD that focuses on dual status youth issues.
Since Connecticut has a statewide justice and child welfare system, local memoranda of understanding, formal collaborative funding agreements, and administrative rules are covered under the statewide agreements rendering local agreements unnecessary. There are, however, informal inter-agency collaborative agreements and standing committees that address dual status youth issues at the local level. Dual status cases are identified at intake at the local level through multidisciplinary meetings and informal communication.
A legislative proposal is pending that would establish a formal protocol for notification. Case management for dual status youth is coordinated through sharing of case planning information between departments, specialized diversion alternatives for dual status youth, inter-agency planning meetings, joint case-level management meetings, and quarterly multidisciplinary meetings that discuss barriers of getting youth with child welfare involvement out of detention. The court also has a focus on dual status youth and has inter-agency liaisons to support dual status youth including a DCF liaison in detention centers, specialized assignment of attorneys to dual status cases, and specialized cross-system training programs. While joint hearing appearances are not required for probation officers and social workers, it is encouraged and happens regularly.
In the summer of 2011 the judiciary and child welfare agency participated in Georgetown University's information sharing program. As part of that project they compiled a large dataset to get a prevalence rate of dual status youth which was analyzed by the University of Connecticut. The judiciary also developed the Connecticut Information Sharing Guide based on the Models for Change Information Sharing Guide and posted it on the judicial website in August 2013.
