Page 4 - 2016-17 RCS Annual Report

Community Services

Family Linkage a Foster Care and
Adoptions Program
Family Linkage program continues to meet the challenges of the foster care and adoption community. The program is focused on helping
foster youth find permanence through creating forever families and lifelong connections. Over the last year the program has focused on
recruiting families to support the children who are in desperate need of finding a family, including those coming out of the hospital, group
homes and those who have had several failed foster placements. Family Linkage continues to work closely with the state and counites in
implementing the Continuum of Care Reform. The program has received all necessary approvals from the State to transition to a full
Resource Family Approval program and is now able to support families through the entire process. Family Linkage has branched out to also
support family members such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. in becoming certified to take their kin into care. During the last fiscal year,
Family Linkage supported 35 youth in finding loving, stable foster and adoption homes.

Wraparound
Wraparound Monterey County continues to provide high quality, high fidelity Wraparound to the children, youth, and families of Monterey
County. In addition to our individualized, community and strengths-based services, we have continued to grow our monthly community
events and have hosted families in our program in a number of events to help families build connections and participate in family-friendly
activities. Events we have hosted include movie nights, craft nights, family carnivals, and community surfing events. We continue to strive to
find fun, safe, family activities that will assist our children, youth, and family in building pathways to hope, happiness, and well-being.

Katie A. Santa Clara County
Since its implementation in 2014, Santa Clara County expanded Katie A. to provide therapeutic services to children and youth from birth to
the age of 21. Eligibility for services also changed from requiring an open case through social services to simply meeting medical necessity
and having full scope Medi-Cal. This makes Katie A. services accessible to the most vulnerable and at-risk youth in Santa Clara County.
Central to the Katie A program is the use of the Child and Family Team meeting, whereby the youth and family’s voice and choice are
honored, as they are encouraged and supported to actively help create their goals and co-create a plan that outlines how to get the youth
and family to their desired result. Each youth and family work with an Intensive Care Coordinator whose tasks are to help the family build a
support team, facilitate child and family team meetings, help the child and family team develop a plan, and connect the youth and family to
resources. The Child and Family Team meetings often occur in the family’s homes, and are flexible around meeting the scheduling needs of
the family, thus removing barriers to access services. Successful outcomes are more likely to occur when the youth and family are able to take
ownership and responsibility for their goals and plan, thus the child and family teaming process has helped youth and families accomplish the
goals set forth by the team. The majority of youth served in the Katie A program achieve a successful graduation, which is defined by the
Child and Family Team, but often includes improved functioning, and requiring less intensive services. Because Rebekah Children’s Services
offers a wide continuum of care, youth and families in the Katie A program can easily step up to a higher level of service or down to a lower
level of service, while often being able to keep the same clinician or staff working with them. This is a strength in our Katie A program that
many youth and families have expressed appreciation for, and is consistent with a trauma informed approach. In FY 16-17, RCS’ Katie A
program served 210 youth. The Katie A program continues to expand, and is projected to further grow to meet the ever increasing complex
needs of the youth we serve in this county.

Community Counseling Center (Gilroy), Campbell Outpatient Program, First 5, and Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS)
RCS provides behavioral health services at both our Campbell and Gilroy locations. Our programs treat those ages 6-21 years of age as well
as those children who are ages 0-5 through our FIRST 5 program who may need therapeutic, home visitation, and/or developmental specialist
services. RCS’ FIRST 5 program promotes wellness and healthy development through addressing mental health and developmental
concerns using a coordinated care team whose goal is to see each child grow and develop in positive ways as they prepare to enter Kinder-
garten. In FY 16-17 RCS’ FIRST 5 program served 134 children in total and had a successful graduation rate of over 70% . Community Counsel-
ing Center in Gilroy and our Campbell Outpatient Clinic both offer services that include individual, family, and group therapy designed to
individually treat and support those with mild, moderate, or severe mental health needs. We provide services not only within our clinic
settings but also within the client’s home or out in the community if that is what the client and his or her family prefer. As part of our services
that were offered during FY 16-17, we offered several groups including our Latina Leadership Program, health body image groups, affirming
groups for youth who identify as being a member of the LGBTQI2-S community, and art therapy. In total, our outpatient program served
nearly 443 youth and their families and with the majority of youth successfully discharging from our care. As part of our continuum of care,
RCS also offers Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS) as an adjunctive form of treatment for those children and youth with a primary mental
health provider such as a therapist. TBS is designed to serve youth for a specified short-term period of time to help stabilize a youth in living
in the least restrictive living environment possible. This is achieved through resolving targeted maladaptive behaviors and striving to achieve
short-term treatment goals that are behaviorally based. Over the course of FY 17, our TBS program continued to expand our capacity to
serve children and adolescents as well as those with intellectual delays through specialized training, targeted recruitment, and partnership
with our Outpatient program to identify youth, including intellectually delayed youth, who could benefit from additional services to help
achieve permanency and stability. Overall, our TBS program successfully served 109 youth in total for FY 16-17, with a successful graduation
rate of nearly 75%.