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Washington and Allegany Counties Partner on Regional
Family Navigation Strategy
The Family Network Begins Operation
As reported in the October 2006 “Partnerships E-
Newsletter,” the Washington County Community Partnership for
Children & Families (WCCP) and The Local Management Board
of Allegany County, Inc. have elected to partner in developing
a regional family navigation strategy. The Maryland Coalition
of Families for Children’s Mental Health (Coalition) will
administer the family navigation program in Washington and
Allegany counties. The regional family navigation strategy is
to be known operationally as The Family Network. Debbie Green
has been hired as the regional family navigation coordinator
to oversee family navigation in both counties. Vivian Miller,
former Coalition Community Outreach Staff in Washington
County, and Mary Bowling have been hired as family navigators
(FN) in Washington County and Ula Mills has been hired as a FN
in Allegany County.
The Family Network will have an office in Washington County
adjacent to the WCCP’s office suite at 33 West Washington
Street, Suite 207 and in Allegany County, out of which they
will conduct business.
What
The Family Network Will Look Like:
The FN will be
assigned to a family that, based on a brief screening tool,
has been determined to have a child, birth through 21 years of
age, with intensive* behavioral, educational, developmental,
physical and/or mental health needs and: 1) the family is not
currently linked with, has been ruled as ineligible for, or
has exhausted case management services elsewhere; 2)
coordination of multiple service agencies is requested; and/or
3) assistance identifying linkages to appropriate resources
and services is requested. For calls or walk-ins received at
The Family Network that have not been previously screened, the
FN will provide information and referral and administer the
brief screening tool if warranted based on the family's needs.
It is through this screening process that it will be
determined what level of service The Family Network will
provide the family; i.e. information and referral or
full-scale family navigation services.
What Family Navigation Services Will Look Like:
The FN will conduct a face-to-face interview with the
family to determine what the family’s needs are, what services
they have tried to meet those needs and assist them in
identifying what resources they have available to them, both
natural and clinical supports, to meet the identified needs.
If, based on the FN’s assessment, the child or youth’s needs
can be met by appropriate referral(s) to a public agency or
service provider, the FN will refer the family to the
appropriate services. The FN will follow up 30 days after the
family has completed intake and has initiated a mutually
agreed upon family service plan with the referral source. If
the FN determines that a family has exhausted the available
natural and clinical supports and the family requires services
from multiple agencies to meet their needs, the FN will refer
the family to the Child and Family Team (CFT), the entry point
for the Washington County System of Care (SOC) wraparound
component. The membership of the CFT team will be
individualized to meet the needs of the child, youth and
family and will include persons providing natural as well as
clinical support to the family. The FN will accompany the
parent to the first CFT meeting and be available to the family
for informal support and consultation afterward on an ongoing
basis.
For more
information about The Family Network, please contact Debbie
Green, Regional Family Navigation Coordinator for The Family
Network, at 240-313-2086.
* The
child’s needs exceed the resources of a single public agency;
and/or there is no legally mandated funding source to meet the
child’s needs.
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January is Poverty Awareness Month
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"Families Finding Voices" 
