SYVPI Risk Assessment Frequently Asked Questions May 26, 2015 1. Who should complete the Initial long risk assessment? The Networks will conduct all initial risk assessments for traditional referrals into the Initiative within 60 days of enrolling the youth. Networks will then make referrals to Street Outreach or Case Management after the Initial Assessment is complete. Exception: When Case Management or Street Outreach makes a non-traditional referral, they will conduct the initial long assessment. 2. I m a Street Outreach Worker or a Case Manager if I receive a referral from the Network after they were enrolled in SYVPI and had the initial risk assessment, what are my responsibilities for conducting a risk assessment? Case Managers and Street Outreach Workers who receive the referral from the Networks within 60 days of the youth s enrollment into the Initiative may update the risk assessment in the database if they gather additional or more updated information on the youth. Street Outreach Workers will review the initial assessment during case staffing with their supervisor and any information that needs to be added or updated will be provided in that meeting. Outreach program management will update information in the database as necessary. 3. I m a Street Outreach Worker or a Case Manager I received a Network referral and an initial assessment has not been completed. Should I conduct the initial assessment and enter the information into the database? No, check the Intake page in the database first to see if the youth is on probation. This information is also available on the Eligibility page. We have an agreement with the King County Superior Court that we will not conduct initial risk assessments on youth who are on probation because they have already received a scientifically validated risk assessment (the Washington State Juvenile Assessment System) and have a case plan. If the youth is on probation, you should contact the probation officer listed to discuss the youth s probation plan. If none is listed, contact Paul Daniels at paul.daniels@kingcounty.gov or (206) 205-9470. If the youth is not on probation, contact the referring Network to find out when the initial assessment will be completed. If the youth did not receive an initial assessment within the first 6
months and they were not on probation, you do not need to complete an initial assessment. You will start with the youth check-ins (short form) when they are due. 4. When a youth is enrolled in both Street Outreach and Case Management, who should conduct the youth check-in assessments? The Case Manager should conduct the youth check-in assessment when a youth is enrolled in both services. 5. How do I know when to conduct a youth check-in assessment? The clock starts ticking at enrollment into the Initiative with the goal of spacing the assessments every six months starting from initiative enrollment. The initiative enrollment date is the received date that is located on the Intake page. The daily alert will include a section that informs you when a youth check-in assessment is due. Currently, this function is not active in the database; however, you will receive this information from Vincent Taylor until this function is working. For example, if a youth was enrolled on January 15, but the initial risk assessment was not completed until March 15, the six month Youth Check-In assessment should be conducted six months from January 15, on or around July 15. In other words, in this case, the youth check-in should be completed 6 months after initiative enrollment and 4 months after the initial risk assessment. For youth who have been closed out of the Initiative and re-enrolled, Networks will still complete a new initial assessment ( long form). The youth check-ins will continue to be due based on the original initiative enrollment date ( received date in database). For Case Managers: You will conduct youth check-in assessments at six month intervals from enrollment into the Initiative ( received date in the database); not the ISP completion date. This means that the first youth check-in assessment could be due and needs to be conducted only two months after the ISP was signed. You will still need to alternate every three months between youth check-ins and youth progress reviews. For example: Enrollment Date Referral Received ISP Completed 6 Month Youth Checkin Due Youth Progress Review Due 12 Month Youth Checkin Due 10/10/2014 1/31/2015 2/14/2015 4/10/2015 7/10/2015 10/10/2015 To simplify things, case managers should schedule youth check-ins for six month intervals from the date in which youth were enrolled into the Initiative and alternate with youth progress reviews every three months. As a reminder, this date is called the received date, which is located on the Intake page.
For youth who been in the Initiative for a while and did not have an initial risk assessment but are engaged in Case Management or Street Outreach: The clock starts with Initiative enrollment ( received date in the database), not program enrollment into Case Management or Street Outreach. If a youth is exited from Case Management or Street Outreach and enters Network management, the Networks should conduct youth check-ins based on the youth s initiative enrollment date ( received date in the database). 6. Which form should I use for the 6 month interval risk assessments? You should use the youth check-in form ( short form) for the 6, 12, and 18 month assessments, and if applicable, subsequent six month intervals. Remember to enter all youth check-ins into the database within 2 weeks from completion. 7. Which form should I use for service exit from street outreach or case management? You should use the long risk assessment form for service exits. Remember that all service exits must be entered into the database. The service exit does not replace the youth check-in. If a youth check-in is due at the time of exit, this should still be completed. For long exit assessments, you are not required to fill out the historical items, only those indicated in FAQ #9. 8. Which form do I use when? Initial 6 month 12 month 18 month Service Exit (SO or CM) Long form Youth Check In (aka short form) Youth Check In (aka short form) Youth Check In (aka short form) Long form Closure from SYVPI (Network) Long form 9. When filling out the long form for an exit or closure, do I need to answer all of the items? No. When filling out the long form for an exit or closure, you do not need to fill out the historical items. For example, if you are completing the school section, you do not need to answer items under the title Prior to SYVPI enrollment, has the youth: However, you should answer all of the items where the title refers to the last 6 months, In the last 6 months, has the youth: in addition to the following three items: 1. Attitudes towards school 2. Is the youth old enough for employment? If yes, fill out the check one question 3. Teen parenting and pregnancy Fill out the check all that apply question If the youth is not present/available at the time of the exit or closure assessment, please indicate this in the check-box section titled Was the youth present for this assessment? and
also in the database. For youth who are not present for the long assessment, staff should try and fill out as much information as possible. 10. I have old paper assessments that I did not enter into the database. Now when I go into the database, there is only a place to enter the new assessment. What should I do with the old paper assessments? If you keep paper files, please keep this important information for your reference. At this stage, we will not be entering old assessments into the database. It s a good practice to share these assessments with other service providers who are working with the youth. 11. For Case Management or Street Outreach: I conducted a youth check-in (short form) a few weeks ago, but my client is now unexpectedly exiting my service (e.g., moved away, sentenced to time). Should I conduct an exit risk assessment? If the youth has left SYVPI, you should conduct the service exit assessment. Do not close out the youth if he/she will turn 18 while in detention. 12. What if the youth is being transferred between Networks and a youth check-in is due? The two Networks should have a discussion around who has a stronger relationship with the youth and make the determination of which Network will be responsible for completing and entering the youth check-in. The youth check-in assessment interval will continue to be based on the youth s normal assessment timeline (i.e., starting with the received date in the database). NOTE: The new Network cannot enter the youth check-in into the database until the exit and enrollment into the new Network has been completed in the database. 13. What if the youth was closed out of the Initiative and re-enrolled? If the youth was closed out and re-enrolled, you would complete a new initial long assessment and start their assessment timeline with their original initiative enrollment date ( received date in the database). 14. I need to conduct an Exit Risk Assessment but I can t get in touch with the youth, what should I do? If you have tried every means available to you (e.g., phone, email, text, site visit, talking with other service providers, etc.), you may fill out the exit assessment with the information you have available to you. For example, you may have other sources that can provide you with information such as the schools, parent, mentor, case manager, street outreach worker, etc. A database question has been added to note whether or not the youth was present for the assessment, which will allow you to distinguish this risk assessment from others in the database. If no information is available, indicate this in the Brief statement of concern/current circumstance section.
15. If the youth completes a youth check-in and the score indicates the youth is ready for successful transition out of SYVPI, when should I conduct the exit /closure long assessment? For Networks: As the service provider, you wouldn t want to close out the youth right away. When the youth check-in indicates that a youth is ready for successful transition, consider it a benchmark for exit planning with a goal of closing out the youth within three months and conduct the long closure assessment at that time. Use the SYVPI Transition Plan template. For Case Management and Street Outreach: Conduct an exit long assessment and contact the Network to inform them that you have exited a youth because they are ready for transition out of the Initiative. If the Network closes the youth, the exit long assessment will serve as the closure assessment. Exception: For youth who are in mentoring, contact provider to inform them that the youth will no longer be managed by SYVPI, but that the youth should remain in the mentor/mentee relationship if possible, as mentoring relationships should last at least one year to be effective. As the SYVPI agency, they will no longer be paid for this youth if they continue accessing mentoring services. 16. It is time for a youth I am serving to do a 6-month check-in (or 12, 18, etc.). How much time do I have after his/her due date to get the check-in completed? You should have the youth complete the check-in assessment as soon as possible. For Networks: You have up to six weeks after the check-in is due to conduct the assessment to achieve your contractual target. You can also have the youth fill it out as many as two weeks prior to the assessment due date. If you can t reach the youth within that timeframe, you should implement the Youth Status Policy: After two months of being Inactive, the Network Intake and Referral Specialist will start the close-out process. During the close-out process, the Intake and Referral Specialist will aggressively attempt to re-establish communication with the youth (at least one contact attempt per week for one month). a. If the Intake and Referral Specialist can re-establish communication with the youth and the youth indicates that s/he wants to continue to be a part of the Initiative, the youth is considered Active. b. If the youth indicates that s/he no longer wants to be a part of the Initiative, the youth is considered Closed. c. If communication cannot be established with the youth, the youth is considered Closed. For Case Management and Street Outreach: If you can t get the youth check-in done, you should still try to get it done even after the time has passed. If you can t reach the youth after six weeks after the check-in is due, you should follow your agency protocols for exiting the
youth who will then be Network managed and potentially closed out of the Initiative if the youth remains inactive for two months with an additional month of aggressive attempts at contact (total of three months on being inactive ). NOTE: For Networks, Case management, and Street Outreach, completing and entering youth check-in assessments into the database are considered payment targets. If you have a contractual question related to whether or not you should enter a check-in into the database after the allotted timeframe, please contact your contract manager for clarification. 17. If a youth check-in is due and I am only able to get ahold of the youth by phone, can I conduct the youth check-in over the phone? Yes. In this situation where you have made every effort and have not been able to make face to face contact with the youth, you may conduct the youth check-in over the phone. You will fill out the paper youth survey and input it into the database, just like you would for the long initial form.