Z Montana » Systems integration

Agency integration, 2016

• Child welfare

  Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Child and Family Services Division (CFSD)

  Centralizes child welfare administration services at the state level.

• Integration level

  Separate state-level centralized agencies

• Juvenile corrections

  Montana Department of Corrections, Youth Services Division, Youth Community Corrections 

  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 Montana, the Office of the Court Administrator provides juvenile probation services and the Department of Public Health and Human Services, Child and Family Services Division provides child protective services. Each of these organizations has a separate data system as required by statute, and information is shared between the systems. Data sharing also occurs at the state level through informal processes to identify dually involved youth and through collaborative funding agreements between Juvenile Corrections and Child and Family Services share the cost for the placement and treatment of dual status youth.

Leadership from Juvenile Corrections, the Office of the Court Administrator, and the Child and Family Services Division encourage communication and collaboration at the local level in Montana. There are examples at the local level of informal agreements to share data and in some jurisdictions probation officers and case workers collaborate to coordinate services for dually involved youth. If a juvenile entering the juvenile justice system has a concurrent dependency status, juvenile corrections will work with their social workers to coordinate treatment. There are also child placement committees that consist of stakeholders from juvenile justice, child welfare, education, mental health, and tribal representatives that collaborate on case-level decisions for dually involved youth.

Currently at the local level there are no examples of court coordination of dual status cases in Montana.

Reported data