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Q&A
Plans to address potential increases in APS referrals
0:54:19
·
130 sec
Council Member Crystal Hudson inquires about the city's plan to address potential increases in APS referrals due to the growing older adult population, housing instability, and mental health needs. John Rojas, Chief Special Services Officer, outlines the strategies being considered.
- Collaborating with partner agencies to better triage cases
- Educating referring agencies to connect individuals directly to needed services when appropriate
- Working with legal services providers and the office of civil justice
- Utilizing court services and guardian ad litem for faster resolution of housing cases
- Balancing the need for comprehensive assessments with efficient service delivery
Crystal Hudson
0:54:19
Thank you.
0:54:20
And then what is the city's plan to address the potential increase in referrals due to the growing older adult population, housing instability, and mental health needs?
John Rojas
0:54:33
So I I think that's something we're looking at with our partner agencies as well as internally looking at what other resources we have since we do see that a lot of the referrals we have currently the 11% acceptance rate, how do we better triage our cases or work with our referring agencies, both sister city agencies as well as CBLs to see how we could better educate them to connect the individual to the services that they need rather than going through APS because APS actually in many cases may delay the process of connecting to the services that they need.
0:55:04
So if they need a one shot deal, coming to us if they need the services, great, but if they don't necessarily need the services, they rather need someone in a system with a one shot deal, Homebase might be a better fit for them or it might be case manager and program elsewhere.
0:55:20
So I think what we're looking at is how do we triage our referrals, how do we work, who are the providers who are referred most to us.
0:55:28
We have a lot of legal services providers referring to us, so we work closely with our office of civil justice, our right to contact to see how can we address that.
0:55:37
We also have services in the courts many times either through us or a judge will have a guardian ad litem to assist particularly with housing cases because we do see housing cases.
0:55:50
And many times that is an avenue to a faster resolution to the housing crisis that our individual may be facing than coming through APS because as Ms.
0:55:59
Hershkovitskyim state, the assessment process is very extensive and having someone come into your home, talk to your neighbors and your loved ones may actually delay you accessing services.
0:56:11
Well, we could help you do that, but at the same time if you're not eligible, we would connect you to that.
0:56:15
So we want to make sure that the referrals that are coming to us are for those who most need it, but we will never not take a referral because we know that that's necessary.
0:56:24
And we never want to take the risk of not assessing someone who may be at risk or who is eligible for our care.