s Virginia » Systems integration

Agency integration, 2016

• Child welfare

  Virginia Department of Social Services

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

• Integration level

  One or all are decentralized

• Juvenile corrections

  Virginia Department 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 Virginia data sharing between the Department of Social Services and the Department of Juvenile Justice occurs at the state level through collaborative funding agreements and interagency committees that focus on dual status youth issues. Virginia has also focused on dual status youth during their statewide conferences. The conference held in September 2013 was titled, 'Intervening at the Crossroads: Child Abuse and Juvenile Justice.' There are also examples of data sharing and coordination for dual status youth at the local level in Virginia including local committees or work groups that focus on dual status youth issues and informal inter-agency collaborative agreements.

Currently there are no formal procedures to identify dual status youth in both systems at intake; however involvement in the child welfare system is identified during the social history taken when a youth is placed in a juvenile justice facility.

Little is currently known about how case management is coordinated at the local level for dual status youth; however it is known that sharing of case planning information between systems happens on a case-by-case basis in Virginia. There is also specialized training for judges on dual status youth.

Virginia is participating in Georgetown University's Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare: Multi-System Integration Certificate Program. As part of that program they are completing a capstone project in which they will work with a multidisciplinary team to conduct a research project to identify dual status youth and create formal memoranda of understanding between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. The capstone project will provide a detailed picture of the extent to which dual status youth issues are coordinated at the local level, from case management to courtroom procedures. Virginia also hopes the capstone project will identify other opportunities for training on dual status youth in addition to the current dual status youth training available for judges.

Reported data