	Youth Independent Living Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-YIL 11: Personnel

Personnel have the training, skills, and experience to promote youth self-determination and participation in planning, including resource identification and use, and setting achievable goals.

PA-YIL 11.01

Personnel providing counseling and case coordination services:

hold a bachelor’s degree in social work or a bachelor's degree and two years of relevant youth work experience;
are knowledgeable about normative youth development and effects on youth development of early trauma, educational gaps and delays, and abuse and neglect; and
possess case work, group work, and case coordination skills.

PA-YIL 11.02

Supervisors have experience delivering youth services and are qualified by:

an advanced degree in social work or a related field and supervisory experience; or
a bachelor’s degree in social work or a related field, two years of direct service experience with a comparable population, and three years of supervisory experience.

PA-YIL 11.03

When serving severely and persistently mentally ill, HIV diagnosed, or chemically dependent youth, or youth with other special health and mental health issues, staff-to-supervisor ratios are 1:6.

NA The program is not designed to serve youth with special health or mental health needs.

PA-YIL 11.04

Youth worker workloads generally range between 12 and 20 cases, and support the achievement of youth outcomes, and assignments are made, reviewed regularly, and adjusted based on consideration of the following:

case complexity, special needs and circumstances;
age and population characteristics, including ethnic and cultural factors;
qualifications, competencies and experience of the worker, including level of supervision needed;
work and time required to accomplish assigned tasks and job responsibilities;
case status, and progress toward achievement of desired outcomes; and
service volume, accounting for needs of new clients and pending referrals.

Interpretation: The number of cases carried would be smaller when youth receive counseling or other intensive services and the worker's travel time or geographic area is extensive, than when a worker is providing primarily follow-up contact, less intensive and more centralized services.

PA-YIL 11.05

Case managers receive in-service training on the following topics:

positive youth development;
establishment of a service recipient/case manager relationship;
knowledge of service programs, purposes, and effective practices and approaches;
knowledge of public assistance programs, eligibility requirements, and benefits;
skills in case advocacy;
local housing resources; and
knowledge of the community service delivery system.

QUICK JUMP TO


	PURPOSE: Young adults who receive Independent Living Services obtain safe and stable housing, develop life skills and competencies including work readiness, achieve educational and financial growth goals, and establish healthy, supportive adult and peer relationships.

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.


	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.


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


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	SOCIAL WORK Professionally responsible interventions carried out by persons with formal, professional education at the BSW or MSW level from an accredited school of social work and appropriate licensing, certification, and registration credentials. Interventions are directed toward improving the transactions between people and environments to enhance the adaptive capacities of the participants and improve environments for all that function within them. Social work is a professional practice with a consumer group consisting of individuals, families, small groups, organizations, neighborhoods, and communities and involving the disciplined application of knowledge and skill.


	ADVANCED DEGREE A degree at the Master's level or beyond from an institution of higher education. An advanced degree does not include a Bachelor's degree, an associate's degree, or an educational certificate.


	WORKLOAD The amount of work assigned to or expected from a person within a specified period of time. See also CASELOAD.


	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.


	SUPERVISION Assumption of responsibility for directly overseeing and evaluating the work or work products of personnel within an organization. Also includes inspecting the act or process of accomplishing a function or activity.


	CLIENT See service recipient.


	REFERRALS Resource suggestions provided to consumers to address problems or needs that are beyond the scope of the organization's mission.


	IN-SERVICE TRAINING Educational programs provided by an organization to help personnel become more knowledgeable, skilled, and effective in accomplishing specific tasks or meeting the overall objectives of the organization. Such training often occurs on the job and for short time periods.


	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.


	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.


	Effective Practice Applies to practices supported by consistent findings of benefit in a large number of studies, conducted over time, in multiple applied settings using the most rigorous designs feasible given the phenomenon of interest, and with conclusions that are clearly compatible with the study methodology and findings. Outcomes are both identified and explained. A wide range of evidentiary support has been found for most practices labeled effective.


	ELIGIBILITY The degree to which an individual, family, group, or community meets the specific criteria and qualifications required to receive goods, benefits, or services.


	ADVOCACY An act performed with or on behalf of others through direct intervention, empowerment, or representation. Case advocacy refers to actions taken in relation to a particular individual consumer. Cause, social, or systems advocacy refers to actions taken in relation to a common issue affecting a group of persons.


	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.