AG 1995 05 01 - Laserfiche WebLink

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£61 Page 4A We have found that the home has been full almost constantly. Some of the children at the home have ended up going to psychiatric care including hospitalization and some have gone to training school, We have found the problems of the children placed in the home have been severe and resources for long term placements have declined for the severely emotionally disturbed child. A burglar alarm was installed in the group home on 8/31/?1, and this has tremendously affected the number of runaways. Prior to the installation of the alarm, the juvenile would crawl out of the window during the night and run away. Now, the alarm goes off and staff is alerted during the night; however, juveniles do not attempt to run since they know all windows and doors have an alarm activated. Referrals for placement are accepted from community agencies and the biggest majority come from the Juvenile Court counselors. The counselor notifies the Department of Social Services that a child needs placement and provides information regarding the child. The DSS social worker visits the child and family and assesses for placement at the home. All youth served in this program will be under the custoOy of and recommended by the Cabarrus County Department of Social Services. The decision for admitting a youth will be the responsibility of the program manager in consultation with the director of the facility. Any youth may be admitted except those who are so emotionally handicapped that their inclusion would possibly be harmful to the other youths or the staff. A youth may be admitted to the program at any time through the day or night on any day of the year. He may remain for a maximum of ninety days after consultation with the director of the facility. A child remains in the program as long as there is a need, not to exceed ninety days unless an extension is granted. Child is terminated from the program when a long- term placement is located; the child is returned to his natural home; or the child is admitted to some other facility including treatment for psychiatric problems. Work with families of these residents is done mainly by the DSS social worker. The social worker begins by doing an assessment of the home setting including identifying problems that contributed to the child's placement. A service agreement is then finalized between the parent and social worker identifying goals and time limits and activities to alleviate those problems.