View
1
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
WHO WE ARE
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to
serving youth who are victims of abuse, neglect and aban-
donment. Our live-in population of boys range in age from
11 to 18 years. These disadvantaged boys have endured se-
vere trauma and are at risk of mental illness, substance
abuse, academic failure, underemployment or chronic un-
employment, homelessness and incarceration.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Youth Services Network is founded on the value and principle that every child is wor-
thy of dignity, love and support, and that without these qualities present, the life of
each child is diminished, and so too are we.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to provide safety, stability, support and a full range services to help
our boys overcome their challenges, and develop the emotional health, practical
skills, and family and community resources they need to achieve permanency and,
ultimately, a productive, self-sustaining, and meaningful adulthood.
In this issue:
WHO WE ARE P.1
WORDS FROM OUR E.D. P.2
ACHIEVEMENTS P.3
WHO WE SERVE P.4
2016 OUTCOMES P.5, 6, 7 HIGHLIGHTS P.8
2016 STAKEHOLDERS REPORT
This has
been an ex-
citing year
for Youth
Services Network! With the pas-
sage of AB403, Continuum of
Care Reform is well underway in
California, and with it significant
and positive changes in the care
and services we deliver to our
children and their families. The
end goal of “permanency” in-
forms all of our practices, mak-
ing it possible for each boy to
have the enduring support of
family relationships, whether bi-
ological, foster or adoptive. YSN
is committed to provide compre-
hensive services to minimize or
avoid altogether the trauma of
out-of-home care placement, to
effectively address the mental
health, behavioral, and social
challenges our boys face, to sup-
port the health and stability of
their families, and to ensure
that our boys leave our program
with the tools and building
blocks they need for a positive,
stable and meaningful future.
As part of this transformation,
YSN achieved national accredita-
tion in July 2016 by the Council
of Accreditation, a year- long
process during which YSN devel-
oped practices in alignment with
evidence-based models which
have demonstrated to lead to de-
sired outcomes. YSN was al-
ready delivering many of those
services and then put into place
a more formalized structure to
facilitate better coordination of
mental health treatment and to
allow for detailed data collection
at all levels of our program. This
is supported by our Continuous
Quality Control practices, where
we are always evaluating how
effective our service delivery is,
and what we can do to improve
to it.
Yes…our work has become more
challenging. Our youth present
increasingly serious emotional
and behavioral disorders and re-
quire more intensive and special-
ized services. As CCR imple-
mentation impacts every sector
of child welfare, lack of coordi-
nation, gaps in preventive ser-
vices, and “unfunded mandates”
most often manifest at the “front
lines” of care…that is, the acute,
daily needs of the youth and
families we serve. Our data
shows that these challenges can
result in higher “awols” and less
than optimal outcomes. But
numbers don’t always tell the
whole story. YSN’s skilled and
committed staff keep their focus
on delivering the highest quality
of care possible, while I, as the
Executive Director, am focused
on ensuring YSN transforms suc-
cessfully to expand our services
to prevention, family finding,
and aftercare, while continuing
to achieve at the highest stand-
ards of care.
As we embark on another excit-
ing and transformative year, YSN
is positioned to acquire its li-
cense as a Short-Term Residen-
tial Treatment Program and a
contract with the Department of
Mental Health. This new opera-
tional model will support our
goal of providing the most effec-
tive services to youth and fami-
lies, while utilizing residential
care in our 3 treatment homes to
provide each youth with a range
of individualized services and
activities in the community. We
firmly believe that achieving real
“permanency” requires three es-
sential elements: 1) a compre-
hensive mental health program,
2) family involvement, support,
and stabilization 2) individual-
ized services and activities for
personal development and skills
building. All three components
are the necessary building blocks
of a positive, self-sustaining, and
meaningful future that each one
of our boys have the potential
and right to achieve. And it
continues to be our commitment
to provide our boys "whatever is
needed" to achieve it!
FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:
MIRIAM KORN
YSN is proud to have achieved National Accreditation by the Council on
Accreditation (COA) in 2016.
COA accredits over 2,000 private and public organizations and programs that
serve more than 7 million individuals and families in the United States, Canada,
and overseas.
The formal evaluation of an organization or program against best practices
standards. It is both a status and a process:
As a Status:
It signifies that an organization or program meets standards of quality set forth
by the accrediting body.
As a Process:
It involves an in-depth self-review of an organization or program against cur-
rently accepted best practice standards, an onsite visit by an evaluation team
comprised of experts, and a subsequent review and decision by the accrediting
body.
2016 ACHIEVEMENTS
WHO WE SERVE
As Los Angeles County serves a diverse population, so does our Group Home program. We
pride ourselves to being able to serve children and families from a very varied background
from many different cultures and traditions. Our staff is specially trained to meet the needs
of all of our children and families.
This year, YSN also served several LGBTQ youth with unique needs. YSN was proud to wel-
come Care Coordination Teams from the RISE project who aims at improving the lives of
LGBTQ children in out-of-home-care.
2016 OUTCOMES
This past year, YSN continued its Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) project targeting specific benchmarks and
improving outcomes for its clients. YSN continues to develop improvement plans to address the lower than usual
outcomes. YSN continues to develop improvement plans to address the significant challenges and lower than
usual outcomes due to increased mental health needs of its youth.
YSN Achieved national accreditation and completed first requirements for a Department of Mental Health con-
tract. YSN is also on track to submit their new program statement , now called Short Term Residential Program
(STRTP).
In addition, YSN expanded and increased participation of its Board of Directors, and met its fundraising goals.
YSN was able to maintain
occupancy throughout a tu-
multuous year filled with
new county and state regu-
lations. Average Census
throughout the year re-
mained consistent replacing
clients who were dis-
charged, and meet budget
projections.
Discharges fluctuated throughout the year. Although many residents chose to AWOL, they usually came
back within a few days, sometimes a few hours, and were ultimately successfully stabilized. This past year,
YSN successfully met permanency goals by reunifying clients back to their families of origin, discharging to
adoption, moving to transitional housing, and one emancipated.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
AVERAGE DAILY CENSUS
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Discharges to
January February March April
May June July August
September October November December
2016 OUTCOMES cont.
Client’s satisfaction remain at an ultimate high this past year with clients feeling that services offered by
YSN helped deal with their issues. Overall satisfaction peaked in December past 80%.
YSN clients re-
mained in school
and a few even
graduated.
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
Client satisfaction
Overall satisfaction Degree to which services helped you deal with your problems
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Youth Productivity
In School Graduated Working
2016 OUTCOMES cont.
Risky behavior oth-
er than AWOLing
were at an all time
low. Clients were
drug & Alcohol free
throughout the
year. This was a di-
rect result from on-
going groups taking
place.
As mentioned earlier, AWOLs were the bulk of the serious incident reports (SIR) and residents left
the facilities for a short time before returning. School truancy peaked in May but was immediately
dealt with with more services for the clients who struggled with their attendance.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Risky Behavior
Arrests Alcohol/Drug Free Discharged and no arrest Discharged and alcohol/drug free
0102030
Serious Incident Report
Assaultive Behavior Suicide Attempts
Self Injury without suicide attempts School Truancy
AWOL Substance Use
Police Involvement Hospitalization (psychiatric)
Accident/Injury
JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THESE WONDERFUL YOUNG MEN, SO THAT THEY MAY BE-
COME PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF OUR SOCIETY AND LEAD US TO A GREAT FUTURE!
WWW.YOUTHSERVICESNETWORK.ORG
YSN clients often come to YSN with histories of school failure, truancy, and achieving sig-
nificantly below grade level. YSN residents remained in school, improved their attend-
ance, achieved passing grades, accumulated credits to grade level. and a few even gradu-
ated.
Lack of adequate services and resources for abused, neglected and abandoned youth is always a challenge. Traditional, basic care-taking approaches too often fail to help adoles-cents in out-of-home care develop the skills necessary for independent living and self-sufficiency in adulthood, thereby ‘institutionalizing’ them and creating long-term depend-ency on government or institutional support.
Public funding covers basic services, but does not provide for many essential programs that lead to real transformation of the boys’ lives. These youth are typically deprived of opportunities for normal experiences that are necessary for positive social, cultural and spiritual development of a young person.
Despite limitations of public funding, YSN is committed to provide whatever is needed for disadvantaged, emotionally disturbed boys to overcome the deprivations of their past and develop the emotional health, and skills they need to become productive, self-sustaining adults. It is our goal that every boy…whether he returns to his family, is placed with relatives or foster parents, moves to transitional housing, or lives inde-pendently…has the tools and resources he needs to achieve long term permanency and self-sufficiency.
Recommended