Specialized Behavioral Health

The Specialized Behavioral Health (SBH) Program at A Second Chance Inc. will provide services to children in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties who have higher level behavioral needs and require a safe, supportive and nurturing environment to live.  The program will provide SBH foster homes by way of community recruitment as well as provide support to SBH identified kinship and foster homes.  While receiving services from ASCI, our dedicated staff works to ensure that Adoption, Reunification, Permanent Legal Custody, and Independent Living goals are met for our children.  Our Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Office have been extremely successful in ensuring permanency options for our children in partnership with the Statewide Adoption Network 

ASCI caseworkers must be equipped to assess all of the families with whom we work.  Therefore, our training provides practical experiences which foster competency in the issues regarding the child welfare system.  All caseworkers are trained in the areas of:

  • child development;
  • permanency planning;
  • trauma;
  • issues of separation & loss;
  • behavior management;
  • human diversity; 
  • sensitivity to issues of ethnicity, race, socio-cultural and economic status.

Recruitment of SBH Resource Parents

Recruitment of SBH resource parents will be done on an ongoing basis through advertising, organizing and attending recruitment events and utilizing community resources.  Perspective SBH resource parents will be screened and assessed on their willingness to provide the needed services for youth and then taken through the certification process.   

The Certification Process 

  • 30 Hours of Training
  • Prudent Parents, CPSL and CPR/First Aid training
  • Criminal Clearance/Act 34 for every person in the household 18 years or older
  • Child Abuse/Act 33 Clearance (for every person in the household 18 years or older and every state resided in over the past 5 years)
  • FBI Clearances (for every person in the house over 18 years old)
  • Authorization & Disclosure Statements
  • DHS Disclosure 
  • Completed Medical Examinations (for every person in the house over 18 years old)
  • Department of Public Welfare Home Inspection
  • Completed Training Assignments: Autobiography is completed by the caregiver as well as references are completed by individuals who know the caregivers.
  • Signed copies of all ASCI policies 
  • Family Profile is written by the ASCI caseworker

A recruitment worker is assigned to perspective resource families and follows them through the certification process. Once the home is certified, it will be placed on the available resource parent list for placement consideration of identified children.

Referrals to ASCI

ASCI has the capacity to receive SBH, kinship, and general foster care referrals at any time. The Central Referral Unit has the ability to contact our intake department at any point in time during normal business hours and our on-call staff after 4:30 and on weekends for assistance with placement. 

After receiving an emergency placement referral and securing placement, services commence with a visit to the home within 24 hours of placement by the resource home support worker to assess the needs of the child and provide support to the family.  

Service Planning

Ongoing services and planning continue to involve the CUA worker, birth parents, kinship caregiver, child and other additional supports identified. The resource home support worker is responsible to maintain the compliance of the kinship/foster home in regulation with 3700 and ensure that the resource parent is supported throughout the entire placement.  The resource home support worker also serves as a liaison between the resource home and the CUA worker.  

  • ASCI is responsible to ensure that the home remains in compliance with the 3700 regulations.  ASCI will conduct twice a month visits and walkthroughs of the home to make sure all rules are being followed and to provide support to the family.
  • ASCI is responsible to recertify the home in a timely fashion and maintain all client records.
  • ASCI is responsible for implementing in home treatment strategies to support placement stabilization and well-being.
  • ASCI is responsible for maintaining ongoing contact and collaboration with the child’s behavioral health and educational providers
  • ASCI workers complete monthly case notes documenting their visits and the progress made within the case.  The worker ensures continued safety and wellbeing of all children placed within the resource home.
  • ASCI worker will work in conjunction with the CUA worker to address any issues or concerns that arise throughout the case.

Court Testimony

The ASCI caseworker will collaborate with the assigned CUA worker to be informed as to when all court hearings are scheduled for any cases. The ASCI worker will participate in all hearings and pre-conference hearings for any cases when requested to do so. 

Critical Incidents

Any unusual or critical incidents, in accordance with state regulations, must be reported verbally to the County/CUA within 24 hours and then followed up in a written report within 5 calendar days. 

Kinship/Foster Caregiver Homes

All kinship/Foster caregiver homes must comply with PA 3700 regulations and receive ongoing certification and training through ASCI.  SBH caregivers will received 30 hours of initial training to become certified and 24 hours of training yearly to become recertified.  ASCI tracks re-certification on an annual basis for all caregivers to ensure homes are safe and adhere to all regulations. 

CUA Compliance

REPORT SCHEDULE

ReportDate Due
Initial Safety Assessment  (ISA)w/in 24 hours of the placement being received by ASCI
Structure Case Notes (SCN)Monthly 
Resource Parent EvaluationCompleted yearly 3 months prior to the Recertification due date. 
Placement plan agreementw/in 24 hours of the placement being received by ASCI and yearly thereafter. 
*KC/FC  RecertificationDue annually, one year from the initial certification (approval) date.