Section 311.1  Purpose

The purpose of this Part is to delineate the involvement of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with the Departments of Corrections, Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities and the Illinois State Board of Education in the execution of the Governor's Youth Services Initiative.

Section 311.2  Definitions

"Court liaisons" are representatives of the juvenile court who attend staffings and provide contact between the court and the Initiative.

"Multi-problemed youth" means youth with multiple problems in domains of mental illness or retardation, emotional disturbance, juvenile delinquency, serious criminal offense, child abuse or neglect, behavioral disorders, or educational handicapping conditions. For a youth to be eligible for the Governor's Youth Services Initiative, the criteria set forth in Section 311.4 must be met.

"Policy Board" is the decision-making board of the Governor's Youth Services Initiative composed of state agency liaisons appointed by the Directors of the Departments of Children and Family Services, Corrections, Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities and the State Superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education.

"Program Administrator" chairs the Policy Board and supervises the regional coordinators.

"Regional Conveners" are regional representatives of the Departments of Children and Family Services, Corrections, and Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, and representatives of a local school district in lieu of the Illinois State Board of Education, who participate in staffings on Governor's Youth Services Initiative cases and who have the authority to facilitate the implementation of treatment plans.

            "Regional Coordinators" are those staff located in selected regions of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services who chair staffings on cases, initiate services and monitor implementation of treatment plans.

"Staffings" means conferences involving Regional Conveners which result in an assessment of needs, the development or modification of a client service plan, the identification of a case manager and the monitoring or review of a plan for all severely multi-problemed youth served by the Initiative.

Section 311.3  Purpose of the Governor's Youth Services Initiative

The Governor's Youth Services Initiative (G.Y.S.I.) is a program which is cooperatively sponsored by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (DMHDD), the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC), and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).  The initiative is designed to perform four basic functions:

a)         Assist in conflict resolution over disagreements between state agencies and/or the juvenile court in accessing or planning appropriate services for multi-problem youth.

b)         Assist in case planning, management, and coordination for multi-problem youth whose problems are not the clear responsibility of any state agency.

c)         Identify policy, procedural, and programming gaps in the network of state and local community service systems.

d)         Promote the development of a full continuum of in-state programs to meet the needs of multi-problem youth.

Section 311.4  Referral Criteria

In order for a youth to be referred to the Governor's Youth Services Initiative, the presiding juvenile judge or designee must determine that one or more of the following criteria are met:

a)         There is a major disagreement between the court and a state agency as to that state agency's responsibility for the child or as to the type of service that the child is to receive.  A major disagreement is one which creates the appearance that litigation is imminent or probable.  This disagreement must arise between the court and the state agency which is expected to respond to the major presenting problem.

b)         There is a major disagreement between state agencies as to which agency is responsible for service delivery.

c)         If neither subsections (a) nor (b) above apply, then all regular channels designed to elicit services must have been pursued and failed and documentation which shows services have been denied must be available in the Juvenile Court file.

Section 311.5  Responsibilities of the Policy Board

a)         The Policy Board is responsible at the state level for:

1)         Developing and approving criteria for decision making for the Initiative in areas of referral, service delivery, case management, termination and funding.

2)         Approving an annual operational plan prepared by Initiative staff.

3)         Identifying, analyzing and resolving issues of mutual concern regarding the delivery of services to children and adolescents in Illinois.

b)         The Policy Board shall meet at least quarterly.

c)         The Policy Board makes decisions through a process of consensus with each agency represented by one vote.

Section 311.6  Regional Staffings

a)         At the regional level the Initiative conducts multi-disciplinary staffings on individual youth, which insure that the needs of the youth are thoroughly assessed and analyzed, a client service plan is developed and implemented, and regular monitoring and review of the plan take place at least quarterly.  Youth have a right to be present at and participate in the needs assessment phase of the staffings and to be represented by counsel at their own expense.

b)         Staffing decisions are made through a process of consensus or majority rule of regional conveners present with adherence to approved criteria referenced above in Section 311.5(a).  If a decision appears to contradict approved criteria, the Program Administrator has authority to request further consideration if the decision appears to be against the manifest weight of the evidence. The Program Administrator retains the authority to change decisions based upon the manifest weight of the evidence after the reconsideration process is completed.

c)         Regional Conveners and staff are to expedite both planning and service initiation for referrals to the Initiative.  Initial staffings must occur within 9 working days of receipt of the referral information and a written client service plan will be available within 60 working days of the initial staffing.