LOUISIANA Community Mental Health Services Block Grant ...

SOCIAL SERVICES
FY 2011 – Child/Youth
The Children's Cabinet is a policy office in the Office of the Governor created by Act 5 of the 1998
Extraordinary Session of the Louisiana Legislature. The Cabinet's primary function is to coordinate
children's policy across the five departments that provide services for young people: Departments of
Education, Health and Hospitals, the Louisiana Workforce Commission, Public Safety and
Corrections, and Social Services. Each year, the Cabinet makes recommendations to the Governor
on funding priorities for new and expanded programs for children and youth. These programs
emphasize the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health goals to have disparities in
mental health services eliminated and to ensure that mental health care is consumer and family
driven.
The Cabinet is responsible for recommendations to the Children's Budget, a separate section of the
General Appropriation Act enacted by the Legislature. The Children's Budget includes a
compilation and listing of all appropriations contained in the Act which fund services and programs
for children and their families. The Children's Cabinet Advisory Board was created to provide
information and recommendations from the perspective of advocacy groups, service providers, and
parents to the Children's Cabinet.
Interagency collaboration through the Interagency Service Coordination (ISC) Program is defined
as any of the “formal arrangements” between child serving agencies. Ten Interagency Service
Coordination teams (one per Region/ LGE) are currently operating in Louisiana. These teams
include permanent members who make recommendations that may resolve problems with service
delivery for children who have unique needs that are difficult to meet. Team members include
mental health, education, developmental disabilities, child welfare, public health, and juvenile
justice. Other members of a team include the parent/caretaker, child/youth whenever appropriate,
and other key persons who may be involved in the child and family‟s life and services. The local
teams may request assistance from the State Interagency Team for individuals who require
resources unavailable to the local ISCs. Many of the families served reside in rural areas with few
mental health and other resources, and the agencies coordinate to improve access to quality care in
many ways including video conferencing, coordinated services, and educating families where and
how to get care.
There is an increase in youth with multiple needs who are developmentally delayed, mentally ill,
chemically addicted and who are living in poverty. More juvenile judges are ordering local ISC
teams to meet and collaborate with other agencies to create appropriate placements where there are
none. Approximately 95% of the ISC service plans successfully provide a stable placement and
wraparound services to maintain the individual in the community. Those plans that failed required
additional local ISC and State ISC meetings to locate and create appropriate resources to meet the
needs of these youth.
The Families In Need of Services (FINS) became effective in all courts having juvenile jurisdiction
on July 1, 1994, as Title VII of the Louisiana Children's Code. FINS is an approach designed to
bring together coordinated community resources for the purpose of helping families (troubled youth
and their parents) to remedy self destructive behaviors by juveniles and/or other family members.
PART C LOUISIANA FY 2011 PAGE 241
SECTION III: ADULT & CHILD/ YOUTH PLAN – CRITERION 3
CHILDREN’S SERVICES -- SYSTEM OF INTEGRATED SERVICES