Saturday, April 20, 2024
4/20/2024
Led by the Boston Public Health Commission (the city’s health department), the proposed Boston FIRST (Family Independence, Resilience, Support, and Treatment SOC) focuses on young children ages 0-48 months and their families in Boston, Massachusetts who are involved with the state child welfare system and are diagnosed with or at risk of serious emotional disturbances (SED). Demographics and clinical concerns: The project focuses on Boston neighborhoods with the largest number of children and families (predominantly Black or Latino) involved with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF). Children involved with child welfare may be at greater risk for mental and behavioral health issues than children in the general population because of histories of trauma, including experiencing maltreatment or separation from parents or siblings. Goals, objectives and strategies: The overarching goals of the FIRST SOC project are to: (1) improve access to high-quality, culturally competent, evidence-based behavioral health services through an innovative Family Partner/Clinician service model that will reach at least 210 children ages 0-48 months and their families in Boston who are involved with the child welfare system; and, (2) through evaluation, dissemination and infrastructure development, expand promising elements of the project to the DCF system and providers statewide. Key objectives includes (1) Partnerships through a local governance board, statewide infrastructure and community engagement. (2) Local services: Using an innovative Family Partner/Clinician service model along with a newly created Review Board to monitor and improve access to services, in partnership with Children’s Services of Roxbury and DCF, over the project period Boston SOC will provide a full-range of behavioral health engagement, assessment, treatment, family support and referral services to at least 210 children in Boston ages 0-48 months with or at risk of SED, and their families, who are involved with the child welfare system. (3) Statewide infrastructure and dissemination: With the support of the project’s statewide Partnership for ECMH, by Year 2 Month 5, develop and disseminate an interim report that provides information on project activities and results; and by Year 4 Month 5, produce a final report on project activities, results, challenges, insights, and recommendations for scaling promising elements of the model across the child welfare system. The unduplicated number of individuals to be served is: Year 1:30 children/60 caregivers, Year 2 60/120, Year 3 60/120, Year 4 60/120. Over the project period, we will serve 630 unduplicated individuals.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
