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Service Coordination
Guides and Resources for Understanding Service Coordination
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Service Coordination is a resource to help with the children or teens who are having the toughest time: who are involved in multiple public systems, whose families have tried many options and are still struggling.
View the Service Coordination "Tough Case?" video training, or find other helpful links below. |
Service Coordination is just what it sounds like it is – coordinating services – but also much more. It is a process for finding creative solutions for families in need, and connecting with other places and people in a family’s community to decide on close-to-home options. With strong, family-driven service coordination, a child can reduce the amount of time they spend as a client of a public system, and could increase their chances at successful, stable adulthood.
The idea behind Service Coordination is that by working together, agencies and families can reduce duplicated services, and possibly provide innovative, enhanced, or intensive services that are better for a child and family’s long-term health and well-being. Service Coordination also makes it easier to access services, since their family team is working together to make whatever referrals or linkages are necessary.
For public systems and their partners, major benefits of coordination can be saving time and money in the referral process, and eliminating the cost of duplicated or “double” services for families who may be enrolled in various programs. Often, systems also experience greater communication among their staff and partners, more flexibility in using funds to solve problems, and a higher level of family and client satisfaction with the services that are offered.
Cuyahoga County, through the Family & Children First Council, offers resources and guidance for successful service coordination. Many of those resources are housed on this webpage, for community members and public workers to access at their own convenience. Please review our “Resources for Everybody” section, and if you want deeper information, find a section that fits your role as a public worker, community partner, caregiver, or young person.
To learn even more, contact Cuyahoga County’s Service Coordination Specialist, Denise Pietrzak, at 216-443-6115.
Resources for Everybody
Definition of Service Coordination:
Service Coordination is a navigation process for systems and community providers to link families to necessary services and resources, using a family-driven, team approach.
Definition of the Service Coordination Team (SCT):
Liaisons from each public system serve on the Service Coordination Team (SCT). The team exists to help multi-need, multi-system children and their families access appropriate community services and to assure the effective coordination and delivery of services among systems for their best possible health and safety. This team works within the public systems to ensure families are not experiencing system barriers. SCT works with wrap teams to assist when children are in crisis and in need of a short term placement. These system liaisons are able to commit dollars on behalf of the systems they represent, and help monitor the child’s length of stay.
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Service Coordination Mechanism for Cuyahoga County
This is the official document submitted to the State of Ohio to describe the Service Coordination process for Cuyahoga County.
Service Coordination Brochure
This is a general brochure that can be used with providers, families, or anyone else interested in learning about the benefits and goals of coordination.
State of Ohio’s Service Coordination Toolkit
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Resources for Public Workers
Resources for Parents or Caregivers
Resources for Youth
Who is a youth?
In the context of Service Coordination, a youth is any child or adolescent who is experiencing Service Coordination through any public system of Cuyahoga County (child welfare, juvenile justice, alcohol and drug, mental health, etc.). The youth also is called the “client.”
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Service Coordination Video Story
"Tough Case?" Video Training
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Useful Links:
Youth Pages
This teen-friendly booklet lists resources and contact information for programs across Cuyahoga County.
Ohio’s Children’s Rights Guide
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Resources for Community Providers
Resources for Friends and Neighbors of Family Teams (Informal Supports)
Who is a friend or neighbor?
In the context of Service Coordination, a friend or neighbor is someone who is taking an active role in supporting a family that is currently experiencing Service Coordination through any public system of Cuyahoga County (child welfare, juvenile justice, alcohol and drug, mental health, etc.). These friends are often called “informal supports.” They are not offering a formal service through a neighborhood agency, but they do help the family team through tough times. Sometimes these friends actually attend family team meetings as well.
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Service Coordination Video Story
"Tough Case?" Video Training
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Useful Links:
Wraparound User’s Guide
This document was NOT developed specifically for Cuyahoga County, but it is a family-friendly resource for understanding how a family team might function. Page 23 includes a list of 10 principles that are good for any family supporter to read.
Guide to Child-Serving Systems
Service Coordination Mechanism for Cuyahoga County
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