RE: service continuum family by family

[John Polstra <JPolstra@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Several years ago, Indiana's state child welfare system adopted a statewide
information gathering tool called ICWIS (or Indiana Child Welfare
Information System).  I attended an inservice about ICWIS when it was first
established and the presenter reported that this system had the capacity to
track Medicaid billing for mental health services that children enrolled in
the CPS system were receiving.  I haven't heard much else about the matter
recently.  However, other states may have adopted a similar tracking method
as a way to determine how much services children are receiving as a result
of combined local, state and federal funding.  You might begin with the
state agency in Indiana that works cooperatively with county CPS programs.
It's referred to as Indiana's Family Social Service Administration or IFSSA.

John Polstra, MSW, LCSW
YES Supervisor
Jpolstra@kidwrap.org


	-----Original Message-----
	From:	David Stuart Crampton [SMTP:dsjc@umich.edu]
	Sent:	Monday, August 07, 2000 11:53 AM
	To:	Child Maltreatment Researchers
	Subject:	service continuum family by family


	I am working on an evaluation of a program that offers voluntary in
home
	services to families who do not legally qualify for CPS intervention
(they
	are not investigated or if they are, their case is not
substantiated).

	It probably comes as no surprise to you all that since the services
were
	put in place, calls to CPS have increased dramatically, many are
	self-referrals from families who want the service.  Of course the
demand
	for services is creating a budget crunch and frustration expressed
by the
	funders about whether the families are best served in this way or
whether
	they are more appropriate for community mental health, public social
	services, private social services, or something else. This
frustration
	leads to the question: are all the human service providers
essentially
	serving "the same families"?  Is money wasted giving families
inadequate
	help over and over?

	We have pretty good data on the families served by this program and
the
	referrals that are made elsewhere, but don't have a lot of
information
	about where they may have received services in the past or what they
might
	use in the future.  

	We are faced with the question of whether we can map the whole
service
	continuum family by family to better understand the perceived
	inefficiencies in service delivery.  Has anyone done something like
this?
	How did you address confidentiality across systems?  Did you use a
point
	in time sample or did you attempt a cohort study?  Any qualitative
	studies that asked families how they access services?  Any advice
would be
	appreciated.  Thank you.