Q&A
Availability of preventive services without court orders
1:41:31
·
77 sec
Council Member Stevens raises concerns about families needing court orders to access preventive services. Commissioner Dannhauser clarifies that preventive services are free and voluntary, not requiring court orders.
- Preventive services are available without court orders
- There are no wait lists for these services
- Commissioner suggests that court orders might help in accessing certain mental health services, but this is not the norm
Althea V. Stevens
1:41:31
So families and their advocates have reported that being informed that ECS requires a court order to provide substantial material support.
1:41:39
Can prevention services be offered, without a court order, and what are those circumstances?
1:41:41
Because I know we have all these these gateways where we're trying with the FECs and the school and all this, but I'm still hearing from advocates that it is sometimes they are still needing to get court ordered to get some of the services, families that they need.
Jess Dannhauser
1:41:58
They absolutely do not need to get a court order for services.
1:42:01
They're free and voluntary unless there is a court order.
Althea V. Stevens
1:42:05
Because I'm hearing that
Jess Dannhauser
1:42:06
sometimes with a court
Althea V. Stevens
1:42:08
order, they're getting more services.
1:42:10
And so, you know
Jess Dannhauser
1:42:12
There there are times I'd have to sort of look into the specific circumstances.
1:42:18
That's not the case in our system.
1:42:20
There's no wait list.
1:42:22
And so if the, there's availability of services today, and we've got a lot that we can offer, before we get anywhere near, wait list.
1:42:33
The only thing I can think of is perhaps there's a judge's order helps, trump a mental health service or something like that that would be more available to a family.
1:42:43
But I would love to look into the instances so we can I
Althea V. Stevens
1:42:45
know we have some providers who will testify, so maybe they'll clarify, in their testimony later on?
1:42:48
Great.
