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Local Care Team Administration (Frederick County FY23 and Beyond) Annual

Program Summary

FY23

Under Maryland Code (Human Services §8-407) a Local Care Team shall: 

1) be a forum for: 

    a) families of children with intensive needs to receive assistance with the identification of individual needs and potential resources to meet identified needs; and 

    b) interagency discussions and problem solving for individual child and family needs and systemic needs; 

2) refer children and families to: 

    a) care management entities when appropriate; and 

    b) available local and community resources; 

3) provide training and technical assistance to local agency and community partners; 

4) identify and share resource development needs and communicate with the care management entity, local core service agencies, provider networks, local management boards, and other local care teams in surrounding jurisdictions; and 

5) discuss a request for a voluntary placement agreement for a child with a developmental disability or a mental illness under § 5-525 of the Family Law Article. 

Target Population

FY23

The LCT focuses on assisting children and youth (school-age) with intensive emotional, cognitive, behavioral and/or social disabilities and challenges in finding resources and supports within the Frederick County community.  The LCT also reviews requests for out of home placements.

Story Behind the Curve

FY22

How much: # of new cases referred to the Local Care Team

  • Increased outreach efforts generated additional calls for referrals to the LCT.

How much: # of new cases reviewed by the Local Care Team

  • Using the Directive #3 protocol to define what types of cases should be reviewed by the LCT created a decrease in the number of cases reviewed. The cases not reviewed were provided with community resource options.

How much: # of Local Care Team trainings provided

  • A new LCTC expanded outreach within the county to further connect with children and families with intensive behavioral health needs.  Some of the outreach included:
    • Frederick County Public Schools Community Liaisons
    • Asian American Center of Frederick
    • Service Coordination and other therapy offices
    • Participating in annual community events like the Children’s Festival

How well: % of mandated Local Care Team representatives that attend at least 75% of Local Care Team meetings

  • Some mandated members only provide services for children within specific age brackets. Those mandated members do not attend all meetings where the referred child does not qualify based on age.

How well: % of all Local Care Team reviews (new, follow-up, and annual reviews) where the youth’s parents (or legal guardians) attended

  • To ensure that the LCT maintains a person-centered approach, the LCT does not review a case without the parents/guardian’s attendance and participation.

Better off: % of new youth referred for in-state residential placement who are alternatively served through community-based services

  • The number of referrals presented to the LCT seeking in-state residential treatment placements has decreased by almost 50% since 2020. This could be explained because families are becoming more aware of the variety of community resources available to come to their homes or provided virtually due to COVID-19 pandemic safety measures.

FY19

  • The LCT saw a large increase in the number of referrals compared to FY18 due primarily to more outreach efforts and awareness of the LCT.
  • There was a nominal decrease in the percentage of reviews where a parent attended, however it was slight (<3%) and the percentage is still quite high (93.5%).
  • The "percentage of cases referred for in-state residential placement alternatively served through community based services" measure did decrease compared to FY18.  In FY19, more of the cases being referred for in-state placement had significant needs beyond the scope of the resources in Frederick County to address those needs, thus in-state placement is the appropriate course of action.
Local Highlight

FY21

  • Increased the number of LCT presentations/outreach from 18 in FY20 to 20 in FY21 (11% increase)
  • A few organizations that the LCT was able to present to include:
    • Sheppard Pratt (formerly Way Station, Inc.)
    • Service Coordination
    • Heartly House
    • Family Partnership of Frederick County
    • Asian-American Center
    • Affordable Housing Council
  • Accommodated an increase of families seeking assistance by increasing the number of LCT meetings from 17 in FY20 to 18 in FY21; seven emergency meetings (6% increase)
  • Increased the number of in-service trainings that were provided to LCT members from five in FY20 to eight in FY21 (60% increase)
  • The Local Care Team financially supported several identified families through our LCT Flex Funds program provided by the county; $3100 was spent on various school, mental health support including trauma-focused counseling services, and extracurricular activities.
  • Invited to become a member of the United in Kindness Committee, collaborative program, which includes several local non-profit and government organizations and the Frederick County Public School System, who share an interest in addressing issues of bullying in our schools and communities. The Coalition promotes anti-bullying efforts through awareness, education and community forums. 
  • Hosted three virtual professional development trainings to the LCT members resulting in 5.75 CEUs for the attendees. The trainings were:
    • Finding Joy/Avoiding Burnout by Julie Gaver, Gaver Discoveries
    • Safe, Social, and Connected: Creating a Way Forward Together, by Inner Evolution Therapy (3 CEUs)
    • Supporting Positive Change While Growing You, by Frank Kros (2.75 CEUs)
  • Invited to become a member of the newly formed Frederick County Transition Council, a committee focused on ensuring quality services being delivered to youth with disabilities in our community and also to discuss and address where they may be gaps in services. The Local Care Team is represented in the Behavioral Health sub-committee.
  • The Local Care Team staff worked with a local language translation agency to translate a few LCT documents including the Release of Information for LCT meetings.
  • The Local Care Team Assistant was invited to represent the Local Care Team at a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meeting through our Child Advocacy Center to discuss and create a safety plan and service recommendation for a mutual client.
  • The Local Care Team received its first referral from the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office in collaboration with the Frederick County Police Department for a youth/family needing resource/supportive services.

FY20

  • LCT was a member of the Crossover Youth Practice Model, a team comprised of several agencies working towards addressing the youth who are involved with both DSS and DJS.
  • LCT created a Flex Fund Policy to financially assist LCT families who may not otherwise be able to access services, etc. due to income
  • LCT created a marketing video that showcases and highlights what the LCT is all about; utilized actual partners and LCT members to describe experiences and what the LCT means to them (produced by Fred Co Govt Video Services)
  • LCT Assistant has met with and/or outreached to 18 different agencies/organizations/potential partners to raise awareness of the LCT
  • LCT Assistant invited 3 different organizations to our LCT meetings to discuss their organization’s mission and how their services could assist our LCT members and the families we serve
  • LCT hosted a Winter Lunch-n-Learn for its members: “Understanding C.P.S. and its process” Presenter: CPS Social Worker/Forensic Interviewer
  • LCT hosted a formal Spring training for its members with facilitator Lisa Dinhofer from Koden Consulting Services on: “Soul Burn the Time of a Pandemic for High Stress Professionals”

FY19

  • The LCT is comprised of over fifteen community organizations who volunteer their time assisting families in the Frederick County through the LCT. This past year was filled with several exciting initiatives and learning opportunities for our members. We were able to secure new membership from DORS and Lead4Life, assisting us with those youths who either have severe disabilities and/or serious and persistent mental illness; their membership on our LCT has been invaluable.
  • The new LCT Assistant was being able to provide outreach/awareness opportunities to 16 different organizations around Frederick County; this has allowed the number of referrals to the LCT to double in volume from FY18 to FY19. The majority of referrals for FY19 were for technical assistance (vs. out-of-home placement). This tells us that we capturing these families earlier in their crisis mode, and thus are able to focus more on preventative measures (i.e. community resources) to keep that child in the home, rather than looking at out-of-home placement options.
  • The LCT provided an in-service training from the University of Maryland Early Intervention Program for the LCT members. Several staff members from the UMD School of Social Work came to Frederick to discuss this program, which specializes in early identification, evaluation, and comprehensive psychiatric treatment of adolescents and youth adults at risk for early stages of mental illness or psychosis.
  • In addition, the LCT hosted its 1st Annual all-day LCT Spring Training in April 2019, offering attendees 3 CEU’s through a partnership with Fred Co Public Schools. Attendees heard from speakers on emotional wellness, emotional intelligence in client care, and an overview of EMDR therapy. With overwhelming positive feedback, planning for our second annual spring training is underway and set for May 2020.

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