y District of Columbia » Systems integration

Agency integration, 2016

• Child welfare

  Washington DC Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA)

  Centralizes child welfare administration services at the state level.

• Integration level

  One or all are decentralized

• Juvenile corrections

  Washington DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS)

  Does not centralize administration of delinquency services at the state level.

Coordination, 2014

• Uses for coordination
• Does not use for coordination

• Data sharing

  Facilitated through the use of statewide information systems allowing for consistent data sharing between systems.

• Committees or advisory groups

  Multidisciplinary groups that often have regularly scheduled meetings to brainstorm ways to improve systems integration.

• Formal interagency MOUs

  Collaborative agreements to guide systems integration efforts

• Informal interagency agreements

  Commonly based on historical practice, mutual trust, and recognition of the need to collaborate in order to serve dual-status youth.

• Statute and/or rules

  Rules that mandate systems integration efforts

Summary

In the District of Columbia, information sharing between the Child and Family Services Administration (CFSA) and the DC Superior Court, Social Services about dual status youth occurs at the jurisdiction-level through a formal inter-agency collaborative that also includes the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) and the Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia. Information sharing and coordination is supported through a formal, standing Juvenile Justice Committee that meets monthly and includes a broad range of stakeholder agencies.  The formal inter-agency coordination committee work has additionally expanded into a new case intake coordination subcommittee.

Information sharing occurs in dual status cases at the screening of a delinquency referral. The Superior Court's automated information management system makes the legal record for a formal neglect and abuse case filed in the court available to intake staff screening referrals for delinquency or a Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) referrals for a status offense.  Case coordination can occur from that point through interaction with the Clerk of Courts to access social history records, which are separately maintained.

Coordination of case management in dual status cases (referred to as dual Jacket cases in the system) occurs through therapeutic programming the CFSA or Court Social services offers for family group conferencing, evidence based screening and assessment in the court's Child Guidance Clinic and possible referral the juvenile mental health court specialty docket.  Additionally, youth with dual status may remain active with CFSA subsequent to a delinquency adjudication and/or a DYRS commitment and reentry. 

Reported data