Table of Contents
- Youth Services
- Youth Services Policies
- Teen REACH
- Teen REACH Policies
Youth Services
Under the Illinois Department of Human Services' Division of Community Health and Prevention, the community-based programs in youth services offer prevention, diversion, intervention and treatment services targeting youth to support families in crisis. The most important feature of eCornerstone to youth services is its assessment function. The Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument (YASI II) is a computerized tool that assesses the risk level and protective factors of youth. Results of the assessment will serve as a guide to development of a service plan.
The following youth services programs utilize eCornerstone:
Comprehensive Community Based Youth Services (CCBYS): This statewide program serves youth ages 10 to 17 that are at risk of involvement in the child welfare and/or the juvenile justice system. The primary purpose of Comprehensive Community Based Youth Services is to provide services to youth in emergency situations according to their needs, with a primary goal of family preservation or reunification. Services are directed at assuring that youth who come in contact or may come in contact with the child welfare or juvenile justice systems will have access to needed community services. A 24 hour crisis intervention response system is available to link agencies to youth in emergency situations.
Homeless Youth (HY): The homeless youth program is comprised of three components: Transitional Living, Emergency Shelter, and Outreach. Transitional Living programs provide housing and services for up to 24 months with the goal to reunify the youth with his/her family when possible, or to help youth transition from homelessness to self-sufficient living. Emergency Shelter program provide temporary housing and services for up to 120 days designed to reunify the youth with his/her family or to transition toward independent living or transitional housing programs. Outreach programs provide services in areas where homeless youth are located, designed to assist them in making healthy lifestyle choices.
Juvenile Reentry:
Release Upon Request (RUR): The Release Upon Request program serves youth 12 to 17 years of age who have been ordered released from the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center, but remain there because a parent, guardian or custodian has failed to accept the custody. This program is offered only in Cook County. The purpose of this program is to ensure that the youth is removed from detention within 24 hours of referral. Once that is accomplished, the focus of the program turns to effectively reuniting the family.
Youth Build (YB): The Youth Build program enrolls youth and young adults aged 16 to 24 who have dropped out of school, are unemployed and/or have limited job skills. The purpose of the Youth Build program is to empower struggling teens and young adults. Youth Build focuses on academic goals while also helping youth to develop job skills by building homes for low-income families.
Youth Services Policies
- Support staff that enters information other than the YASI Pre-Assessment or YASI Assessment must have completed eCornerstone training.
- A participant may be enrolled in more than one youth services program at the same time, and at more than one provider within the eCornerstone system. For example, a participant may be enrolled in CCBYS at one agency and Teen REACH at other agency. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the Participant Lookup must be completed on each participant to ensure that a duplicate record is not created for the same participant.
- A record in eCornerstone is the electronic copy of the information collected on the participant that included in the electronic file. This record will be maintained for five years.
- The original signed eCornerstone Informed Consent Form and client notes that required confidentiality under the Mental Health Code should be maintained in the client's file at the agency. The client file should be maintained for five (5) years.
- Participant Intake information must be entered into eCornerstone within 72 hours of initial contact with participant.
- The provider shall conduct a standardized assessment for all youth referred for service including, if possible, an interview with the youth's parents or guardians and other appropriate family members. During the interview, the provider is expected to gather sufficient information to determine whether further services are required or appropriate.
- Once the Agency is been set up on the eCornerstone system, all the cases on or after the live date must be entered into eCornerstone, whether or not a consent form has been signed.
- If the agency elects to administer the YASI assessment to youth who are participating in a program not funded by DHS and the agency still wants to use the eCornerstone system for enrollment, then the agency user can do that by selecting the Other YS Program option on the Enrollment page.
- Information entered on the Progress Notes page in eCornerstone should be limited to information on the participant's progress toward meeting the objectives and goals related to eCornerstone assessments.
Teen REACH
Teen REACH is a program offered by Illinois Department of Human Services' Division of Community Health and Prevention. The program offers year round services to youth ages 6 through 17. Services are offered during the summer and after school hours. Many children are left alone during these hours because their parents or guardians are working outside the home. The Teen REACH program provides the following core services:
- Academic Assistance: This includes time to do homework, tutoring in basic skills and enrichment programs that encourage creativity.
- Life skills education: Help prevent a range of risky behaviors, such as substance abuse, criminal involvement, violence, sexual activity.
- Parental involvement: Parents and guardians have opportunities to meet with staff to discuss their children's activities and to participate in events that strengthen parent/child bonds and community involvement.
- Recreation, sport, cultural and artistic activities: Provide safe outlets for the participants to try new skills, develop new interests, and build friendships.
- Positive adult mentors: Allows opportunities for participants to develop and maintain positive, sustained relationships with adults through mentoring and other programs that emphasize one-on-one interactions.
- Non-core Service: An activity or event that does not fall under the previous five services: such as snacks, meals and transportation to and from a field trip.
Teen REACH Policies
- No policy in the eCornerstone User Manual should be assumed to supersede the Teen REACH Community Services Agreement (Contract) or the Teen REACH Policy and Procedure Manual.
- Prior to accessing the system, the worker must complete the web-based eCornerstone training offered by the Community Health Training Center (www.chtc.org).
- A participant's intake and program enrollment must be completed in eCornerstone prior to attendance at any scheduled event.
- Teen REACH agencies are required to enter academic information on every participant enrolled in the program for every grading period (as defined by the local school system).
- Attendance data must be entered into eCornerstone system within 24 hours of the scheduled event.
- An enrollment period cannot be longer than 365 days.
- A legal name must be entered into eCornerstone for all Teen REACH participants.
- A participant's "Initial Contact Date" must be the date when the participant was first enrolled in any Teen REACH program. Therefore, this historical date is the date the participant first signed a Teen REACH enrollment form.
- Teen REACH agencies are required to enter demographic information for every participant for Race, Ethnic, Status, Language Preference and Level of Education.
- Each Teen REACH agency must have a written policy manual to address local policy issues. This manual must be reviewed annually, and updated each year as necessary. Local policies are not limited to, but should include:
- What fields, if any, that are required to be completed by eCornerstone or the Teen REACH program, will be required to be completed under local policy.
- If staff is restricted in the physical location where they can access and use eCornerstone.
- What address, if any, is entered in eCornerstone for participants with no known address, or for participants who may be homeless.
- Progress Note: What should be included in the progress note and what should not. In what instance progress notes should be private, and in what instance the progress notes should be shared within the agency.
- In what time frame local staff must enter the academic date for participants.
- When to terminate the participant manually.
- Policy to obtain consent from the participant's family.
- A procedure to report problems to eCornerstone support staff.
- A procedure for dissemination of information received from DHS, i.e., application updates, bulletins, other email correspondence and messages.
Chapter Two
