System of Care

JCFS’s System of Care (SOC) program provides an array of services, from assessment to intensive therapy to wards of the state of Illinois. SOC works with emotionally and behaviorally disturbed infants, children, youths and their families. Philosophically, SOC operates on a strength-based model, and intervenes multi-systemically. In order to help eliminate some barriers in accessing assistance, SOC provides services primarily at off-site locations, usually the client's current foster home.

SOC is an intervention for achieving emotional and behavioral well-being and placement stability for our clients. SOC focuses on permanency for children within their own communities and attempts to avoid placement in more restrictive settings, such as group homes or residential treatment facilities.

JCFS's SOC clientele are referred by their caseworkers. The caseworker completes the SOC referral form and forwards it to JCFS's SOC intake supervisor. JCFS will work with eligible foster children who live in our assigned Local Area Networks (LANs). JCFS's SOC program is assigned LANs 37A, 40, 41, 63, 65 and half of LAN 67 (Austin and West Garfield Park neighborhoods).

To be eligible, SOC clients must live in a relative placement, traditional foster home, or a DCFS foster home. SOC is also able to work with clients who are returning home from residential treatment settings to the homes of their parents. The planned average length of service of an SOC client is six months.

All accepted SOC cases begin with assessments and are followed by a Child and Family Team meeting convened by the SOC Clinician. Other services may include individual therapy, family therapy, group therapy, 24-hour emergency response, crisis intervention, court/school/community advocacy, collateral therapeutic interventions, respite services, and linkage services.

In regards to System of Care, a hearing officer at Juvenile Court remarked, “The clinicians seem to be everywhere the client is: in the home, in the school, even at the park. Since they really know these children, their testimony and recommendations to the court are highly valued.”

We Provide

Intake and Consultation

The SOC intake supervisor can accept referrals Monday through Friday, during normal working hours. A POS/DCFS caseworker may complete an SOC referral form prior to submitting a referral packet. Upon receiving an SOC referral form, the intake supervisor verifies client eligibility and, if eligible, requests a referral packet from the caseworker. A referral packet is crucial in knowing how to best proceed with the case and in assigning a case to a clinician. Once accepted, an SOC supervisor will contact the caseworker to schedule an initial staffing. This staffing will include the SOC clinician assigned to the case, their SOC supervisor, and the caseworker. In addition, the caseworker's supervisor is strongly encouraged to attend the initial staffing. Following the initial staffing, a home visit will be scheduled for the caseworker to introduce the SOC clinician to the client and the family. At this visit, the clinician explains SOC's assessment service and arranges mutually convenient meeting times to complete this process.

Not all cases referred to SOC are appropriate for acceptance. In this situation, SOC staff will provide a consultation regarding service utilization and resource availability to the referring caseworker.

Assessment

SOC clinicians perform assessments on each accepted client. Psychosocial assessments are completed based upon discussions with the client and their family, initial staffing with the caseworker, written documentation and conversations with significant people in the client's life. This assessment directs the clinician's work with the client and family and is the basis of SOC's Care Plan. The written assessment is completed and provided to the caseworker. The interventions summarized in the Care Plan are developed, shared, and regularly reviewed with the client, family and caseworker.

Child and Family Teams

Following the assessment, the SOC clinician convenes a Child and Family Team meeting. The results of the assessment are discussed along with recommendations from various Team participants. The purpose of these meetings is to enlist the client's support system to help ensure the child's safety and optimal functioning within his/her current placement. Together, the Team identifies individual and family strengths, as well as needs and available resources.

SOC clinicians meet with clients and their families to determine the members of the Child and Family Team. Members of the team may include other family members, friends, individuals from the community and involved professionals. Anyone who has value to the client and/or family are typically invited to Child and Family Team meetings.

Family Therapy

SOC is rooted in the belief that family involvement is critical to solving problems. Family therapy, provided by Master’s level clinicians, is an important component of most cases. Family therapy can be instrumental in helping foster children transition to, and navigate within, different familial systems and form healthier relationships. SOC clinicians can provide short-term family therapy to help mediate crisis situations and promote placement stability, as well as work longer term with families to help facilitate change.

JCFS SOC uses the Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) model in working with children ages 0-6 years old. This relationship-based model focuses on the relationship with the infant, toddler or child and their primary caregiver. The focus of treatment is to address the trauma experienced by the client when it interferes with the development of age-appropriate milestones. Click here to learn more about the Child-Parent Psychotherapy Pilot in SOC.

Individual Therapy

When clinically indicated, master’s level clinicians provide Individual therapy. With small children and pre-teens, a mix of art and play therapy techniques may be used to facilitate expressed emotion and to “work through” previous trauma and/or current difficulties. With adolescents, SOC clinicians generally use “talk” therapy, yet remain flexible enough to allow for other modalities, including combining therapy and recreational in vivo activities. SOC clinicians literally meet their clients where they are, as most therapy is offered off-site. Therapeutic work through SOC can be done on a basketball court, in a car, or on a back porch. Most often, however, the foster home acts as the clients' therapy space.

Collateral Therapeutic Interventions

SOC clinicians perform collateral therapeutic interventions focusing on placement stability and the child and family’s well being and best interest. Some examples of collateral therapeutic interventions include, but are not limited to: consultation with the child’s psychiatrist regarding the prescription and administration of medication; supporting the process of ensuring a child’s educational needs are being met within the school-setting; attending sibling visitation in an effort to improve sibling interactions; informing case management decision-making, based on a comprehensive understanding of clinical presentation and needs; and, in general, collaboration with other professionals serving the child and family. An SOC clinician does not replace the caseworker, who is still responsible for all case management responsibilities, but clinicians do work collaboratively with the caseworker.

Court, School and Community Advocacy

SOC clinicians act as client advocates within many systems, including, but not limited to: juvenile court, probate offices, schools, and collateral agencies. SOC clinicians may be called upon, in different venues, to report about a client’s progress in services and their functioning within the foster home. SOC clinicians are often involved in advocating for specific services, such as special education and after-school activities, to help ensure that the child’s needs are met.

Linkage Services

SOC clinicians work cooperatively with the caseworker, the family and the SOC resource specialist to find local, community-based supportive services that will enhance the clinical well being of the child and the family. SOC does have limited funding to assist financially in obtaining such services when it is deemed clinically appropriate and when other funding resources are unavailable. SOC clinicians in the past have linked children and families with after-school programs, extra-curricular sports, music or arts classes, tutoring, mentoring, outpatient therapy, psychiatric services and summer camps.

Crisis Intervention

In the event of a crisis, there is always an SOC clinician on call. Current clients and their families can access their assigned clinician or an on-call clinician in the event of an emergency threatening their emotional and/or physical health or the stability of their living arrangement.

SOC on-call clinicians work in conjunction with Screening, Assessment, and Support Services (SASS) in the event that a child requires psychiatric hospitalization. 

Crisis Response

DCFS has established the Crisis Response and Entry Services also known as the CARES Line (1-800-345-9049). When a child's casework agency is unable to meet the crisis needs of the child or family, the hotline will contact SOC's Crisis Response worker. In the event that a psychiatric evaluation is needed the CARES Line will evaluate the child and make referrals for the appropriate services.

SOC clinicians respond to after-hours calls initiated by either the caseworker or the foster parents within JCFS's designated catchment area. SOC clinicians will respond by telephone within 60 minutes of the call, make a clinical assessment based on the information provided, and decide upon the appropriate intervention(s).

Respite Care

JCFS's SOC program has several respite care providers on staff. After clinical consideration of the child and family's needs, respite can be initiated to serve the following functions: 1) to afford foster children the opportunity to improve basic life and social skills; 2) to allow foster parents a short break from parenting and to make time for themselves; 3) to provide foster children with a unique, one-to-one mentoring relationship; and 4) to expose children to the greater Chicago area while participating in an array of recreational and educational activities.

Resource Specialist Services

The Resource Specialist identifies needed community resources for SOC clients through attending LAN meetings, networking, and development of sub-contracting relationships.