Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
With funding from Casey Family Programs, 30 students from grades seven through 12, involved with DHS’s child serving systems, attended studio classes at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh. Participating in classes in ceramics, design, digital arts or photography, the students not only learned skills, but also built confidence and self-discipline.
This report describes Allegheny County’s criminal justice case review process, including factors that have contributed to its success and proposed solutions to ongoing issues.
DHS is committed to meeting the human services needs of county residents, particularly the county’s most vulnerable populations, through an extensive range of prevention, early intervention, crises management and after–care services. While system involvement is sometimes inevitable, necessary and highly beneficial to consumers, DHS believes that preventing the need for such system interventions can ultimately result in safer, healthier and more cost–effective alternatives for consumers and for the region at–large.
This report begins by presenting a framework for prevention in the human services field. It then goes on to classify and catalog all prevention efforts across DHS, including program descriptions and other key pieces of information that are important to understanding the evaluation status and priorities of each program or service.
OCD | Developments by the University of Pittsburgh
A data-sharing agreement between the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) now makes it possible to integrate and analyze student data from the schools, human services agencies, juvenile justice and other sources. A 2010 preliminary analysis of that data offers the most comprehensive statistical profile to date of city public school students receiving services, as well as students with prior service involvement.
The following publications include data and analysis related to human services involvement among PPS students:
- An in-depth look at the human services involvement of PPS students: Disparities in Achievement: Human Services Involvement of Children in Pittsburgh Public Schools
- Brief snapshots of analysis about human service involvement of PPS students:
Click here to read about the data sharing agreement between PPS and DHS.
The first year of the agreement that allows the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) and Department of Human Services (DHS) to integrate data saw steady progress in building a collaborative relationship to improve the academic outcomes and well-being of students of mutual interest. By the end of 2010, the focus had shifted from organizational and technical issues to investigating ways to use the novel data resource for the benefit of students and to improve the effectiveness of the systems that support them.
This publication details the first initiative that was undertaken using integrated student data to develop strategies and interventions to improve education and well being outcomes.
Click here to read the report.
Click here to read about the data sharing agreement between PPS and DHS.
DHS’s Improving Outcomes for Child and Families initiative utilized a service integration focus to serve families with multiple needs. It was based on the belief that making systems work together as a team would improve services and reduce the confusion that families face when they need to interact with staff from a variety of child-serving systems. Specifically, DHS believed that widespread service integration could further reduce the number and length of out-of-home child welfare placements. This paper describes the objectives incorporated into the initiative and the process of implementation.
Click to read the full report.
Click here to view a related report, “Informing the Design of the DHS ‘Improving Outcomes for Children and Families Initiative.'”
This report informed the early planning efforts of the “Improving Outcomes” Initiative by analyzing child welfare placement data and trends in point-in time placement from the years 1996-2008.
Integrating Pittsburgh Public School (PPS) data with the Department of Human Services (DHS) Data Warehouse allows unprecedented collaboration between human services and school social workers. Our partnerships with local school districts have lead to a better understanding of the impact certain interventions have on children’s education. And they have provided the basis for richer analyses, which, in turn, helps us to identify areas of need and suggest new approaches to addressing them.
This report describes the process that led to the Memorandum of Understanding between DHS and local school districts.
Click to read a one-page brief about the key aspects of the data-sharing partnership.
This report details the transformational administrative and operational changes within DHS from its creation in 1997 through 2010.
RESPOND is an intensive treatment program designed to serve youth whose multiple needs (intellectual disability and significant behavioral challenges) are not able to be met through DHS’s current array of services. RESPOND operates on a collaborative model that integrates effective clinical treatment with principles of psychiatric rehabilitation, applied behavior analysis and community support programs. This report was prepared in order to examine – through evaluation of program data, interviews with caregivers and professional supports, and analysis of service and cost data – whether the program’s goals are being achieved.
Starting Early Together, a program of Allegheny County’s System of Care Initiative, was designed to serve children under six with serious emotional disturbances, and their families, in four high-need Allegheny County communities. The program combined service coordination with formal family supports, and was intended to transform the mental health system for children and families and its relationship to early intervention, child welfare, child care and family support. Focus groups were held to determine the strengths of the program as well as any service gaps. The results of the focus groups, and related recommendations, are included in this report.
This analysis uses summary violations and criminal convictions to compare recidivism rates of graduates of the Allegheny County Mental Health Court, which was established in 2001 to address the needs of people with mental illness and/or substance use disorders in judicial proceedings.