Family & Youth Services
The Family & Youth Services Department
serves children and youth with serious emotional, behavioral and substance
abuse problems. The goal of the department is to provide a variety of services
to the child and family in their home, school and community to reduce the risk
of out of home placements. Funding for services in the department comes from a
variety of sources: Missouri Department of Mental Health, Medicaid and other
health insurance, Jackson County Mil Levy tax, Jackson County COMBAT (Drug
abuse prevention services), Missouri Children’s Trust Fund,
Following is a list of programs in the department:
Youth Targeted Case Management/Community Psychiatric Rehabilitation – Case managers provide services on a weekly basis to assist children and youth to remain in their homes. Case managers can assist with coordinating care between a variety of community social service and treatment providers, referring families to needed services, acting as an advocate and monitoring the child’s treatment plan. Case managers also can link families to needed services such as food pantry, rent and utility assistance, housing, etc.
CSTAR Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program – CSTAR provides intensive, community-based outpatient treatment services for youth ages 12-18 who have a substance use, abuse or dependency problem. Three levels of care can be provided from one day to five days a week depending on need; the program has a limited capacity to provide for specialized foster care for youth who need to be away from their own homes for a period of time in order to begin work on their substance abuse issues. Services provided include substance abuse education, individual and group substance abuse counseling, family therapy and case management. CSTAR staff coordinate with schools and other community social service and treatment providers to provide a continuity of care for the youth in the program.
School Services – Staff in this program are master’s level, licensed, and provide a wide variety of services to school districts in Eastern Jackson County. Funding comes from the Department of Mental Health, school districts, Caring Communities programs, Missouri Children’s Trust Fund, Jackson County Mil Levy Board and Jackson County COMBAT. Services can include individual and family treatment, group counseling and education, parent and child education on mental health issues, sexual abuse prevention, teacher education, teacher and school staff consultation, and drug education and prevention. Services are provided on site at numerous schools in the area.
Treatment Family Home and Respite Care – Children and youth in services at the mental health center may also access services in this program. Treatment Family Home providers are foster families specially trained to provide care for children and youth with severe emotional and behavior disorders and/or with substance abuse problems. Typically, children and youth admitted for services are in need of an out of home placement, but are not in need of the more intensive care provided by a psychiatric residential treatment center. Length of stay in the Treatment Family Home program can range from several weeks to several months, based on clinical need.
Treatment Family Home providers also are available for respite care services. Respite care provides short-term care, typically one to two weekends per month, for children and families who need a break from each other. Respite care can be used when a child or youth goes into a crisis but does not need the level of care provided by an inpatient psychiatric facility. Respite care frequently is used as part of the package of services provided to maintain at risk children in their homes and communities.
In addition to the services listed above, clients in the Family & Youth Services department also have access to other services within the mental health center: outpatient therapy, psychiatric and medication services, psycho-education classes, etc.