Anthony L. Hemmelgarn

The experience of parents in helping their children access and use mental health services is linked to service outcomes. Parent peer support service, based on the principles of family-centered care, is one model to improve parent experience and engagement in services. Yet, little is known about how best to integrate this service into the existing array of mental health services. Integration is challenged by philosophical differences between family-centered services and traditional children’s treatment services, and is influenced by the organizational social contexts in which these services are embedded. We describe an organizational and frontline team intervention that draws on research in behavior change, technology transfer, and organizational social context for youth with serious emotional disturbance. The two-pronged intervention, called FAMILY (FCC and ARC Model to Improve the Lives of Youth) is guided by the evidence-based Availability, Responsiveness, and Continuity (ARC) organizational intervention, targeted primarily at program and upper management leadership and includes a family-centered care (FCC) intervention, targeted at frontline providers. The approach employs multilevel implementation strategies to promote the uptake, implementation and sustainability of new practices. We include examples of exercises and tools, and highlight implementation challenges and lessons learned in facilitating program and staff level changes in family-centered service delivery.

This study tests the validity of the Shortform Assessment for Children (SAC), a one-page, 48-item measure of a child's overall mental health. Designed as a rapid assessment instrument for child welfare and juvenile justice systems, the SAC measures the broadband constructs of internalizing and externalizing problems using either parents or teachers as respondents. Method: The convergent, divergent, and criterion validity of the SAC (completed by both parents and teachers) was assessed with data gathered on 188 children in two urban child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Results: The validity of the SAC was supported for both parent and teacher respondents. Conclusions: The SAC's brevity, validity, and utility (completed by a teacher or parent) provide an efficient and effective assessment tool for child welfare and juvenile justice systems.