The second year of the agreement that allows the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) and Department of Human Services (DHS) to integrate data brought opportunities to improve school performance of children involved in human services. For example, the Administration for Children and Families Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services awarded DHS a grant to develop new ways to use data to address truancy and improve the educational stability of children in care. DHS was also one of four agencies selected to receive a grant from the MacArthur Foundation to study the relationship between public housing residency and students’ academic performance and outcomes.

This publication details the challenges and achievements of the second year of DHS’s data sharing agreement with local school districts.

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Click here to read Improving Education and Well Being Outcomes: June 2011 Update.

In 2008, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services hired four Youth Support Partners (YSP), young adults with lived experiences in human services, to serve as positive role models and peer supports for young people involved in the system. From that beginning, the Youth Support Partners program has expanded to include a manager, four supervisors and 15 YSPs. The YSPs have developed effective relationships with the youth while earning the respect of colleagues and others involved in the lives of the youth (e.g., judges, caseworkers and providers).

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Between 1993 and 2011, Allegheny County Department of Human Services received three SAMHSA grants to implement systems of care designed to support youth with serious emotional disturbances who were involved in multiple child-serving systems. Evaluation was a critical piece of these grants, which prioritized family empowerment and inclusion.  In keeping with this priority, and its values, DHS involved families in evaluation in three ways: 1) family members were hired as evaluation staff; 2) family members served on evaluation committees; and 3) family members were provided training and technical assistance opportunities regarding training.  This report describes the experience, its challenges and rewards, and makes recommendations about ways to increase the success of such involvement by family members.

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This report summarizes the development, implementation and evaluation of a crisis intervention training program designed to teach police officers how to identify and intervene appropriately and safely with individuals with mental illness.

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Northwestern University

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This report provides an overview of Allegheny County’s Juvenile Justice Related Services, created to ensure that adolescents in the juvenile justice system who are struggling with behavioral health issues receive coordinated services tailored to their individual needs.

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• Executive Summary of Juvenile Justice Related Services in Allegheny County
• Key Characteristics of Juvenile Justice Related Services in Allegheny County
• Parent Participation, a Successful Approach to Involving Parents in Allegheny County

Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

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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.

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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.

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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.

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OCD | Developments by the University of Pittsburgh

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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:
  • Human Service Involvement of PPS Students
  • Academic Outcomes of PPS Students Involved in Human Services
  • Academic Outcomes by Race of PPS Students Receiving Human Services

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.

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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.

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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.