	Domestic Violence Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-DV 5: Service Planning and Monitoring

Survivors participate in the development and ongoing review of service plans that are the basis for delivery of services and supports that respond to their circumstances, needs, and preferences.

PA-DV 5.01

A service plan is developed within an appropriate timeframe with the full participation of the survivor, and expedited service planning is available when crisis or urgent need is identified.

Interpretation: Service planning is to be conducted so that the survivor retains as much personal responsibility and self-determination as possible and desired. Individuals with limited ability in making independent choices can receive help with making or learning to make decisions. When the survivor is a minor, or an adult under the care of a guardian, the agency should follow applicable state laws or regulations requiring involvement or consent of survivors’ legal guardians.

PA-DV 5.02

The service plan is based on the assessment and includes:

agreed upon goals, desired outcomes, and timeframes for achieving them;
services and supports to be provided and by whom; and
the survivor’s signature.

PA-DV 5.03

During service planning the agency explains:

available options;
how the agency can support the achievement of desired outcomes; and
the benefits, alternatives, and risks or consequences of planned services.

PA-DV 5.04

Survivors are the primary planners of their goals and objectives, and have the right to decline services.

Interpretation: Although personnel should help identify available services and evaluate options, survivors should ultimately make their own decisions.

Research Note: Some research suggests that survivors find services more helpful and effective when they have a greater sense of control and when staff listen to and respect them.

PA-DV 5.05

The service plan addresses, as appropriate and with the survivor’s consent:

relationships with family members; and
the need for support from family and informal social networks.

Interpretation: Non-offending family members and significant others, as appropriate and with the consent of the survivor, can be advised of ongoing progress and invited to participate in case conferences. The agency can facilitate their participation by, for example, helping arrange transportation or including them in scheduling decisions.

PA-DV 5.06

The provider and survivor regularly review progress toward achievement of agreed upon goals and sign revisions to service goals and plans.

PA-DV 5.07

The provider and a supervisor, or a clinical, service, or peer team, review the case to assess:

service plan implementation;
progress toward achieving goals and desired outcomes; and
the continuing appropriateness of agreed upon goals.

Interpretation: Experienced providers may conduct reviews of their own cases. In such cases, the provider’s supervisor reviews a sample of the provider’s evaluations as per the requirements of the standard.

Agencies providing non-residential services should review plans quarterly, and agencies providing housing services should review plans biweekly. Timeframes for service plan review should be adjusted depending upon issues and needs of persons receiving services, and the frequency and intensity of services provided.

QUICK JUMP TO


	PURPOSE: Individuals who receive Domestic Violence Services gain a sense of empowerment, improve their well-being, and increase their ability to live safely and independently.

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.


	EMPOWERMENT The process of helping individuals, families, groups, or communities to increase their personal, interpersonal, political, social, and/or economic strength or position and to develop influence that may impact their circumstances.


	SERVICE PLAN A written plan of action based on the assessment of consumer needs and strengths that identifies problems, sets goals, and describes a strategy for achieving those goals and engaging in joint problem solving with the consumer. Also known as a "treatment plan".


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


	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.


	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.


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


	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


	RESEARCH For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.


	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."


	SERVICE GOALS Broad, issue-oriented statements that reflect the realistic achievements to be accomplished in the short or long term. Goals are achieved through the accomplishment of specific quantifiable objectives.


	CLINICAL The study, assessment, and diagnosis of the client situation followed by direct treatment to help the client achieve prescribed goals.


	APPROPRIATENESS The degree to which a particular service, placement, treatment, intervention, or activity is: best suited to an individual's needs; not excessive, unduly intrusive, or restrictive; anticipated to be effective in achieving the desired and specified outcomes; and adequate or sufficient in quantity to address the problem.


	SAMPLE A portion or representative percentage of a greater whole.


	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.


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