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Partnering with a Purpose: Creating behavioral health services for youth in foster care

 

The “Accessible, Quality Continuum of Behavioral Health Services” workgroup is one of the six workgroups convening monthly in the Vaya Health Pathways to Permanency project. Participants who join the monthly sessions are from across the Vaya Health catchment area and work in child welfare, Medicaid managed care, behavioral health, and child placement. This cross-system group of professionals is tasked with developing solutions to challenges identified during the beginning of the project.

In North Carolina, mental health provider organizations contract with Local Management Entities/Managed Care Organizations (LME/MCOs) to provide behavioral health services to Medicaid recipients. They support child welfare-involved youth and parents through the assessment of behavioral health needs and provision of treatment services. Child welfare professionals may refer children and parents to mental health or substance use services when those services are needed to progress the goal of family reunification. There is a growing acknowledgement that child welfare-involved youth have experienced significant trauma and therefore behavioral health services may be needed to treat maladaptive coping mechanisms.

The focus of this workgroup has been on supporting providers and professionals in the provision of mental health treatment services to youth in foster care and their families so that services are available when and where they are needed. The workgroup developed four solutions:

Disseminate Service Array Resources

To streamline connecting youth in foster care and their families with mental health and community services, workgroup participants developed a resource flyer to share with providers and other professionals. During the development of this flyer, it was noted that multiple resources exist independent of one another, but they were not widely known about or utilized. Therefore, instead of developing new resources, the workgroup decided to combine the information into one document that could serve as a one-stop resource for professionals and created a dissemination plan for the flyer.

Ensure Appropriate and Adequate Rates so Providers Can Afford to Scale Up Services

During the initial stakeholder focus group, it was noted how difficult it has been to recruit and retain qualified staff to meet the behavioral health needs of youth and families. Workgroup participants decided to look at data across the catchment to create a proposal to increase the reimbursement rate for services that could be used to support the provision of services by ensuring there are adequate providers.

Continue Identifying Obstacles to Parents Receiving Services

The workgroup was curious and wanted to learn more about barriers experienced by birth parents to receiving mental health and substance use treatment. They understand that to effectively serve youth in care, they also need to understand and address the needs of birth parents. The workgroup held a focus group with birth parents who also serve as peer supports and family partners to learn more about the obstacles that exist while being child-welfare involved and navigating treatment. Some of the feedback included: difficulties engaging in treatment while also working, long waitlists for treatment impacting recovery and reunification, treatment groups are not always available or accessible at times when parents are available, and the treatment approach should be individualized. The workgroup is using this feedback to think through an additional solution to better support birth parents.

Develop a Clear Understanding of Sharing Parent’s Information Between DSS & Behavioral Health Providers

This solution was developed after hearing from workgroup participants that often when County DSS offices request parents’ treatment information from providers, they receive very minimal information that can help them make permanency planning decisions. Therefore, the workgroup has been exploring state and federal laws that support the sharing of information between behavioral health providers and the processes of informed consent to create a resource that will ultimately assist in better information sharing.

The workgroup continues to work on the development of resources to support these solutions. They are also developing implementation plans to these solutions to effect continued improvement in the availability and accessibility of mental health services across the Vaya Health catchment.

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