Intake to St. Vincent’s Residential Program

The process of placement at St. Vincent’s starts with a call from a child welfare worker or a mental health case manager (or, in the case of children funded by Adoptions Assistance, a parent) to the Intake Coordinator at St. Vincent’s Residential Program at 415-507-4264. The Intake Coordinator will gather as much information about the potential client as possible and then ask that as much documentation be sent as possible.

It is critically important that the Intake Coordinator be able to review as much information as is available in order to make a well-informed decision about whether this program will be able to serve the child and his family. In addition, regulatory agencies such as Community Care Licensing demand that before any child is accepted for placement, certain types of information are available in the medical record.

Accordingly, the Intake Coordinator will request the following documents whenever possible and available:

For court dependents, the jurisdictional and dispositional summaries

For children placed through AB3632, the mental health assessment which recommended residential placement

Any and all psychological and psychoeducational evaluations

Recent court reports

Recent psychiatric notes and summaries

Recent IEP

Recent provider summaries; e.g., quarterly reports, treatment reviews, day treatment summaries

All hospitalization discharge summaries

Relevant medical information

After the Intake Coordinator has reviewed the material with the Clinical Director, s/he will provide feedback to the referral agent and either decline the placement or proceed with a preplacement interview here at St. Vincent’s. This visit is very important because it gives the child and the parents a chance to see where he might live and go to school, and to meet the staff and talk about hopes and worries about this potential placement. Similarly, it gives the staff an opportunity to see and interact with the child and decide whether he and they would be a “good fit.” In the majority of cases, children who come for preplacement visits are accepted to placement.

Once acceptance is established, the Intake Coordinator will arrange a placement date as soon as a bed is available. This timeline will be discussed before the preplacement visit so that there is no confusion about when the child might be able to come for placement. At the time of placement, it is imperative that several legal forms are in place. St. Vincent’s is not authorized by Community Care Licensing to accept children without the Consent for Treatment, the Group Home Agreement, the Consent for Medical Care and the Resident Complaint Agreement. There are several other forms which must be signed by the guardian, as well.

Whenever possible, parents are encouraged to accompany their child to St. Vincent’s at the time of placement. Children make much better progress in their treatment here when they know that their parents have been here and have met the people who now care for them. During the first two days of placement, the child will be examined by the nurse so that if he needs immediate medical care, she can arrange it. Otherwise, he will see the pediatrician and the dentist within 30 days of placement.

The Intake Coordinator will conduct a mental health assessment of the newly placed client within the first 30 days of placement and generate an assessment document from which the child’s therapist can devise an initial treatment plan. This Plan of Care will be formulated in conjunction with parents, referral workers, staff and the client himself and will be reviewed every six months or whenever there is a significant change in the client’s life. New clients will see their psychiatrists within the first seven days of placement.

At the time of placement, the Intake Coordinator will discuss preliminary discharge criteria and estimated length of stay with the parents, the client and the referral agent. These criteria will be incorporated in the Plan of Care and reviewed regularly.