A Continuum of Care
Providing mental and behavioral health services to children, youth and their families.
DCF is committed to community-based, family-focused care in the home with placement and hospitalization only as a last resort. Services include:
- Mobile Response & Stabilization Services
- Community Based Care Management
o Care Management Organizations (CMOs)
o Youth Case Management Programs (YCMs)
o Family Support Organizations (FSOs)
- Behavioral Assistance & Intensive In-Community Services
- Residential Services
o Treatment Homes
o Group Homes
o Psychiatric Community Residences & Specialty Beds
o Residential Treatment Centers (RTC)
o Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS)
- Partial care, outpatient, in-patient hospitalization & in-patient intermediate & acute in-patient treatment
Mobile Response & Stabilization Services (MRSS)
Care Management Organizations (CMO)
Youth Case Management (YCM)
Family Support Organizations (FSO)
Residential Placement
Mobile Response & Stabilization Services (MRSS)
A phone call brings clinical staff rapidly to the home to respond to crisis.
- Clinical staff respond within one hour of dispatch
- Families receive up to 72 hour in-home crisis and stabilization services which can be followed by up to eight weeks of intensive in-community, behavioral assistance or wrap-around services
GOALS: Maintain children and youth in their home environment and avoid unnecessary hospitalization or out of home placement.
Click on the above graph for larger, printable version (pdf).
Click on the above graph for larger, printable version (pdf).
Care Management Organizations (CMO)
DCF has worked to build an intensive level of community-based case management designed to coordinate services for multi-system involved youth with high levels of need.
Caseload standard of one care manager for every ten youth.
Regionally organized into 15 areas with one provider per area:
- 12 Areas have 180 slots each
- 2 Areas have 140 slots each (Morris/Sussex & Hunterdon/Somerset/Warren) – scheduled to expand to 180 each in FY 2008
- 1 Area – Essex – has 300 slots
GOALS: Maintain children at home with access to wraparound, community-based services. In the exceptional cases when residential care is necessary, facilitate entry, maintain family contact throughout placement - and plan and execute step-down.
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DCF serves over 2,800 children, with a focus on the high-need adolescent population and their families.
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While the majority of youth are male, the need for services designed for young women is significant.
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Race and Ethnicity
Note: Data limitations suggest participation of Hispanic/Latino youth are under-represented below.
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DCF strives to successfully maintain the majority of youth in-home by utilizing a broad continuum of services.
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Youth Case Management (YCM)
Youth Case Management (YCM) is a moderate level of community-based case management designed to coordinate services for multi-system involved youth with moderate levels of need.
Caseload standard of one case manager for every 22 youth.
Organized into 21 county-based agencies:
- Hunterdon County has the smallest YCM with 37 children.
- Essex County has the largest YCM with 598 children.
GOALS: Maintain children at home with access to wrap-around community-based services. Primary agencies responsible for providing 14-day plans for children involved with the juvenile court.
Youth Case Management Children by Service Area
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YCM serves over 4,200 children, with a focus on the adolescent population and their families.
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There is a slightly higher percentage of males in YCM than CMO.
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Race and Ethnicity
Note: Data limitations suggest participation of Hispanic/Latino youth are under-represented below.
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Types of Services
Serving a broad array of youth utilizing a contiuum of services.
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Family Support Organizations (FSO)
Family Support Organizations (FSO) are agencies designed to provide support, advocacy, and encouragement to families of children with mental and behavioral health needs.
FSOs are regionally organized into 15 areas with one provider per area.
GOALS: Provide individual and group support to parents and family members of children involved with DCBHS services. Provide community education and outreach on childhood mental and behavioral health needs and the System of Care. Provide youth partnerships for positive peer interactions for youth in their community.
FSOs provide peer support to many families of children with mental and behavioral health needs.
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Residential Placement
Residential placement is reserved for youth with the highest levels of need who cannot be maintained at home. The demand for residential care remains high across the wide continuum of services.
DCF's continuing reform of the residential care system presents opportunities to maximize utilization of existing services and develop proven community-based alternatives to high end residential care which will eventually allow New Jersey to reduce reliance on out of state placements.
Residential care includes (from least to most restrictive):
- Treatment Homes
- Group Homes
- Psychiatric Community Residences & Specialty Beds
- Residential Treatment Centers
- Intensive Residential Treatment (IRT)
Treatment homes are the most commonly utilized placement, followed by residential treatment centers.
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Most of the youth in residential placement are adolescents.
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Similar to the CMO and YCM populations, most youth in residential placement are male.
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The participation by youth of color increases significantly at the placement end of the continuum.
Note: Data limitations suggest participation of Hispanic/Latino youth are under-represented below.
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OUT-OF-STATE PLACEMENTS
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