Throughout 2004, a Task Group
under the Community Services Council has been meeting to examine the County “Systems
of Care.” The building blocks of these systems are the many social and health
services programs funded primarily through the State and federal government. The Task
Group includes Public Health, Human Services, Probation, Behavioral Health, Sheriff’s
Office, County Office of Education, Karuk Health Services and several non-profits, such as
the Family Resource Center Network.
The Group discussed new trends and requirements such as Child Welfare
Services Redesign http://www.cwsredesign.ca.gov/ , the President’s Commission
on Mental Health Services Report http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/reports/FinalReport/toc.html
, and the Little Hoover Report on Drug and Alcohol Services http://www.lhc.ca.gov/lhc.html
. The Group also discussed the needs of local service consumers, barriers to access for
services, lack of services for ages 0-5 and for Seniors.
In exploring possible solutions, the Group looked for ways to deliver
services that that would be better coordinated, reduce duplication of services, save the
County dollars, leverage non-County funds and resources, and that would be community
based.
The Task Group made a presentation of several proposed strategies for
County Systems of Care at a December meeting of the Board of Supervisors. The following
are some of the initial recommendations that were discussed at that meeting:
Reduce costs by eliminating duplicative services and coordinating
transportation of multiple staff to rural communities. Reduce costs of transporting
multiple clients to Yreka by delivering services in the local community.
Co-locate services at a single point of entry in Family Resource
Centers (FRCs) or other local non-profit community-based organizations. (Public and
private service providers would contract with the FRCs for space and support as is
currently done with Behavioral Health Services and the Happy Camp FRC.) The FRCs would
continue to maintain their identities and the core roles and functions they perform in
their local communities.
Services must be available for all age groups, individuals and family
– as appropriate. Services must focus on recovery and hope for independence from
County government agencies. Progress toward a goal of reducing the number of days that
clients utilize service because of the increased ability to live independent of government
agencies will be measured.
Multi-disciplinary teams will develop strategies to meet prevention
and service needs of specific communities.
With the newly voter-passed Mental Health Initiative and new trends
in service delivery on the State and federal levels, there are many changes in motion for
the new year. I would encourage anyone who is interested in working on the County Systems
of Care concept or in helping to develop their local Family Resource Centers to contact
the Siskiyou County Community Services Council at (530) 926-5127 for more information or
referral.
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