l Pennsylvania » Systems integration

Agency integration, 2016

• Child welfare

  Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Children, Youth and Families, Bureau of Child and Family Services

  Does not centralize child welfare administration services at the state level.

• Integration level

  One or all are decentralized

• Juvenile corrections

  Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS), Office of Children, Youth, and Families, Bureau of Juvenile Justice

  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 Pennsylvania, no state-level data sharing occurs because both Pennsylvania's Juvenile Probation and Children and Youth Agencies are administered by county. However, the State's Department of Public Welfare Office of Children, Youth and Families issued a bulletin in 2010 providing a framework for how county Children and Youth Agencies and Juvenile Probation Offices can work to support the practice of Shared Case Responsibility. Each county has authority to determine how the agencies will collaborate.

Several jurisdictions are engaged in efforts to improve the identification of multi-system youth. Among these jurisdictions are the two largest urban centers, Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties (Pittsburgh) and Lehigh County (Allentown). 

The Lehigh County effort strives to implement most aspects of the Georgetown University's Crossover Youth Practice Model. Highlights include, Lehigh County Juvenile Probation and the Office of Children and Youth Services (OCYS) jointly developing a protocol that identifies dual status cases each week and distributing the information to juvenile probation officers and caseworkers. The protocol also establishes expectations for juvenile probation officer and caseworker meetings, shared home or placement visits, and shared court appearances.  In addition to inter-agency planning meetings between juvenile probation and OCYS, the agencies also collaborate on cross-training programs.

Learn more: Lehigh County is profiled in more detail in the JJGPS CaseStudy: When Systems Collaborate: How Three Jurisdictions Improved their Handling of Dual-Status Cases.

Reported data