LOUISIANA Community Mental Health Services Block Grant ...

itself is an evidence-based model based on national evaluations funded to evaluate all federally
funded systems of care.
Due to Louisiana‟s monumental need for systems reform, the Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ),
formerly the Office of Youth Development (OYD) began implementation of a plan to address
juvenile justice reform and adopt models of change, as well as evidence based interventions. Multisystemic
Therapy (MST) is one such evidence based therapy that is provided by LA-YES partners,
and specifically recommended by OJS. This evidence-based practice, now adopted by the Louisiana
Office of Behavioral Health and the state‟s Medicaid Office, was designed to work with youngsters
to alter the trajectory away from incarceration toward adaptive functioning in society. MST is a
choice intervention because youth with behavioral and emotional disorders and juvenile justice
involvement account for a significant percentage of the LA-YES referral base. Other evidence based
interventions delivered by the LA-YES Provider Network include cognitive behavior therapy, and
trauma focused cognitive behavior therapy.
Interagency collaboration through the Interagency Service Coordination (ISC) Program is defined as
“formal arrangements” between child serving agencies. Ten Local Governing Entities
(Regions/Districts) Interagency Service Coordination teams 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 person‟s 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.
The goals of FINS are to reduce formal juvenile court involvement while generating appropriate
community services to benefit the child and improve family relations. The child and family are not
adjudicated unless there is failure by family members to cooperate with the mandates of the service
plan. FINS has been successful in the following ways: 1) facilitating the receipt of needed services,
2) coordinating the cooperation of the community and its resources, and 3) decreasing involvement in
the Judicial System.
PART C LOUISIANA FY 2011 PAGE 82
SECTION II: ADULT & CHILD/ YOUTH
IDENTIFICATION & ANALYSIS OF SERVICE SYSTEM’S STRENGTHS, NEEDS, & PRIORITIES
UNMET SERVICE NEEDS & PLANS TO ADDRESS UNMET NEEDS