Families First - Referral & Screening Process
Referral Process
Referrals to the Families First Project can come from within the Department, Schools, and the community. Due to the many needs of families already involved with the Department, the program will only be able to accept 20% of its referrals from schools and community. (Children not already involved with the Department of Human Services.)
The referring source should include all documents pertaining to the referral for review. This would include psychological evaluations, court reports, and any material relating to mental health, family or social history. Referrals cannot be accepted without appropriate documentation.
Please refer to the attached checklist when making your referral. It outlines the Criteria to identify Children meeting the SED standards. This will help you to determine if the child is appropriate for our Project or not.
Summary: Child must meet the following criteria for referral:
- Under 21 years of age
- Emotional disability lasting at least 6 months.
- Expectation that the disability will persist at least one year or longer.
- Diagnosed with an emotional or behavioral problem that fits a DSM IV disorder.
- Child shows either Symptoms or Functional Impairments in one of the various categories.
- Child is in two of the service delivery systems mentioned (with the exception of anorexia nervosa who may only be involved in one of the systems).
- In addition the child should be at severe risk of being hospitalized in a psychiatric institution or be at severe risk of being placed out of the home.
If the child meets all of the above criteria but has not yet been diagnosed, it is appropriate to send the referral to the program. The Families First Project may elect to have the child diagnosed as part of the screening process.
Screening Process
Screening Team:
This team will consist of the Project Supervisor (Debbie McGrain), Family Advocate (Ginger Fobart) and Social Work Supervisor (Ron Rogers).
Screening Process:
The screening team will meet on Friday mornings to review the referral materials that have come in during that week. The screening team may elect to have a psychological evaluation completed if needed. If the team determines that there is not enough information they may meet with the referral source to further discuss the family's situation. Upon gathering all information and determining eligibility based on the SED and severe risk criteria, the screening team will make a determination. They will also take into consideration the ability of the program to serve the family based on current caseloads. A waiting list could be created in the future if we reach capacity.
If a child is determined eligible, a case manager will be assigned to engage the family, explain the process and get a commitment from the parents. The family is not enrolled until they agree to the program components and have completed an assessment interview with staff. We will do all we can to encourage parents to be involved with us. We will promote that they will be equal partners with us and we will be advocates for them. However, if they are not at all interested and refuse to meet with us and cooperate with the assessment they will not be enrolled.