Final Report - RI Department of Children, Youth & Families

CHAPTER 2: COMMUNITY-STATE PREVENTION PARTNERSHIPS
4. $ The Children’s Cabinet must develop and implement a plan which provides
for greater information sharing and collaborative decision-making among agencies,
especially DCYF, DHS, RIDE, MHRH, DOH, the Judicial Branch, DOC, the
Attorney General, the Public Defender, and Law Enforcement.
The Children’s Cabinet recognizes the value of increasing the capacity for information to
be shared across agencies in accordance with state and federal laws. The lack of this
capacity hampers the State’s ability to identify and track service use patterns, arrest and
recidivism patterns, service gaps, and other key indicators. The Cabinet has created an
interagency workgroup, the KIDSLink Project, to begin to develop such an information
sharing plan. This effort must be fully supported by key stakeholders at all levels. This
capacity will permit agencies to more effectively communicate with one another, see
where services overlap, track recidivism, identify existing gaps, and analyze some of the
global budget implications for the children and families served. In developing such an
interface, the State must make every effort to protect and ensure the confidentiality of
individuals by building in appropriate safeguards.
5. $ The Children’s Cabinet must support a statewide Information and Referral
System that is consistent across departments and may be accessed by youth, parents,
other supportive adults, and children’s services professionals. This system will have
up-to-date computerized information on access to and performance of children’s
prevention and treatment services, related state and federal laws, entitlements,
regulations, eligibility, and admissions’ processes. Information will be available in
several languages, in alternative accessible formats, and be accessible by phone,
Internet, and fax.
Prevention and treatment programming cannot be utilized effectively if the individuals
who need the services do not know about them. This information and referral service will
provide children, youth, families, and professionals with the access they need to obtain
current information on services, legal rights, and other information.
6. $ DCYF, RIDE and DHS must immediately implement the agreed upon
“Coordinated Children’s Services System Regulations” (the “pilot” regulations)
while ensuring that access to federal and state entitlements for eligible children and
their families cannot be restricted or capped.
These regulations, developed as required by RIGL 42-72.7, allow for a process which
accomplishes two major goals:
To improve collaborative planning, comprehensive services, and outcomes for children
with complex special needs and their families;
To establish a new system of service funding that utilizes current state level funding but
establishes a funding system that provides for locally determined and family centered
decision-making about the best utilization of that funding for locally-based residential
treatment services and wraparound services as an alternative to out-of-region or out-ofstate
residential treatment services for children in the pilot catchment areas of
Pawtucket/Central Falls and Washington County.
System of Care Task Force Report (January 2003) 27