	Group Living Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-GLS 3: Assessment

A comprehensive, individualized, strengths-based, family focused, culturally responsive assessment, completed with the resident and family members in a timely manner, is the basis for service planning, service delivery, and, when appropriate, planning for a future stable living arrangement.

Interpretation: Assessments should be child, adult, or family-focused, as appropriate to the needs and wishes of the service recipient, the service population, or program type.

Note: Refer to the Assessment Matrix for additional assessment criteria. The elements of the matrix can be tailored according to the needs of specific individuals or service design.

PA-GLS 3.01

Personnel who conduct assessments are qualified by training, skill, and experience and are able to recognize individuals and families with special needs.

PA-GLS 3.02

The information gathered for assessments is comprehensive, directed at concerns identified in the initial screening, and limited to material pertinent for meeting service requests and objectives.

PA-GLS 3.03

Individuals receive a timely, individualized assessment of:

psychosocial functioning;
family, environmental, religious, and cultural factors;
education and vocational interests;
additional tests and assessments needed; and
strengths, skills, and special interests.

Interpretation: Assessments are completed within timeframes established by the agency and are updated periodically.

Note: The agency should have mechanisms in place for confidential sharing of information among service providers to encourage continuity of care and treatment.

PA-GLS 3.04

When an individual’s initial assessment indicates the presence of substance use conditions, the agency:

takes a thorough alcohol and drug use history, including an evaluation of the impact of alcohol and other drug use on the individual's family;
arranges for an appropriate level of care and, as necessary, detoxification; or
provides referral when it does not serve individuals with substance use conditions.

PA-GLS 3.05

Assessments consider factors related to successful group living including:

possible reciprocal individual and group effects;
the individual’s ability to adjust to a group; and
previous placements.

Interpretation: Safety issues may arise when placing individuals with little or no notice into a residential living environment prior to completion of a full assessment. The agency must ensure the smoothest transition possible for new and current residents.

NA The agency only receives clients who are placed through the court system.

PA-GLS 3.06

The agency assesses and treats or refers identified victims and perpetrators of abuse and neglect.

Interpretation: The agency complies with mandatory reporting laws and only releases information with the written, informed consent of the person or legal guardian.

PA-GLS 3.07

Assessments are conducted in a culturally responsive manner and identify resources that can increase service participation and support the achievement of agreed upon goals.

Interpretation: Culturally responsive assessments can include attention to geographic location, language of choice, and the person’s religious, racial, ethnic, and cultural background. Other important factors that contribute to a responsive assessment include attention to age, sexual orientation, and developmental level.

QUICK JUMP TO


	PURPOSE: Individuals who receive Group Living Services regain, maintain, and improve life skills and functioning in a safe, stable, community-based living arrangement.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	PLANNING The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.


	SERVICE RECIPIENT The individuals, groups, organizations, or communities that use, receive, or benefit from programs and services. Service recipients can include consumers, patients, family members, legal guardians, advocates, public/private organizations, employers, and purchasers. All are regarded as significant stakeholders served in a variety of agencies and practice settings.


	SERVICE POPULATION A group or target population that the organization's services are designed to serve in accord with its mission, and which includes the organization's service recipients. An organization's service population may be defined by geographic location, specific problems or needs, religion, ethnicity, culture, or other factors.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	CRITERIA Systematically developed, objective, and quantifiable statements used to assess the appropriateness of specific decisions, services, and outcomes.


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	OBJECTIVE A sub-goal stated in operational terms, i.e., a statement that makes clear what expected results are to be measured or assessed.


	DETOXIFICATION The process by which drugs or other harmful substances are removed from a person's body for a time period sufficient to restore adequate physiological and psychosocial functioning.


	CLIENT See service recipient.


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	EVALUATION The review and assessment of organizational operations, programs and services.


	MANDATORY REPORTING The legal obligation to report specific forms of child abuse to a government authority when a person suspects that abuse has occurred. State laws outline specific reporting requirements for professionals if they have information related to public or private safety issues. For example, certain professionals are required to report to state authorities if they see evidence of child abuse or neglect, or have knowledge that someone is likely to be dangerous to themselves or others.


	INFORMED CONSENT The explicit granting of permission by a consumer or his/her legal guardian to the service provider and organization to use a specific intervention or participate in research. The consent is predicated on full disclosure of the facts to enable the consumer to make a decision based on knowledge of the risks and alternatives.


	LEGAL GUARDIAN A person who has legal responsibility for the care and management of a person incapable of administering his/her own affairs. In the case of a minor child, the guardian is charged with the legal responsibility for the care and management of the child and of the minor child's estate.